“Acapulco” is a sitcom that wants to be two things at once: a fish-out-of-water story about a working-class man getting his dream job in a luxury resort, and a family soap about the mess he brings into the place. It lands closer to the soap than the comedy, and mostly earns it.
The series follows Maximo Gallardo, played by Eugenio Derbez, as he takes a job at Las Colinas, a high-end resort in Acapulco in 1984. The premise is simple: Maximo lands the role of a lifetime, but the job turns out to be far more complicated than he ever expected. The show is created by Austin Winsberg, Eduardo Cisneros, and Jason Shuman, and it premiered on Apple TV+ on October 8, 2021. It ran for four seasons, 40 episodes, before ending on September 16, 2025.
Trailer, via Apple TV.
The Dream Job
Maximo’s central struggle is the engine of the show. He is hired to work at Las Colinas, a resort that feels like a different world from his home, and he believes he has finally made it. The series plays this dream-job setup straight for long stretches, and it works best when it does. Derbez plays Maximo with a kind of wide-eyed optimism that feels genuine, even when the situation around him is crumbling.
The supporting cast fills out the world around him. Enrique Arrizon plays Young Maximo, which is a clever framing device that lets the show jump between the character’s past and present. Raphael Alejandro plays Hugo, a fellow worker at the resort who becomes Maximo’s closest friend there. Camila Perez plays Julia, and Chord Overstreet plays Chad. Fernando Carsa plays Memo, Jessica Collins plays Diane, Vanessa Bauche plays Nora, Regina Reynoso plays Sara, Rafael Cebrian plays Hector, Bianca Marroquín plays Older Sara, and Regina Orozco plays Lupe, Older Lorena.
The Soap Underneath
What makes “Acapulco” more than a simple job comedy is its family drama. Maximo’s family is the source of almost all his trouble, and the show spends as much time on them as it does on his coworkers. His wife, his mother, his sisters, and his father all show up with their own schemes, their own resentments, and their own versions of what they believe Maximo owes them. The show leans into these family conflicts, and it is here that the series finds its emotional weight.
The family drama is where the show’s heart lives. The comedy often sits on top of it, and the two rarely merge into something seamless. A joke about a guest’s ridiculous request lands well, but the real stakes come from Maximo’s wife demanding money or his father showing up drunk. The show understands that the tension between Maximo’s desire to succeed and his duty to his family drives everything.
The Tone Problem
The show’s central problem is its tone. “Acapulco” wants to be a comedy, but it keeps dipping into drama, and that shift is not always smooth. A scene can start as a gag about a guest’s eccentricity and end as a tense confrontation with Maximo’s sister. The show does not always trust its own jokes, and it leans on pathos more than it does on wit.
This is a character-comedy problem, not a flaw in the writing. Maximo is a good man in a bad situation, and the show knows that. It just does not always know when to laugh at him and when to feel sorry for him. The tone shifts can be jarring, but they are also honest. This is a man who is trying to do the right thing in a world that does not care, and the show does not pretend otherwise.
The Final Season
The fourth season came with a promise of closure. The show was renewed for a fourth and final season in August 2024, and it premiered on July 23, 2025. That promise of an ending was a draw for viewers who had followed the show since its debut. The final season兑现了这个承诺，给了Maximo一个真正的结局，虽然不是每个人都满意。
The performance of Derbez carries the show from start to finish. He plays Maximo with a warmth that makes the character’s failures feel earned, and his scenes with Arrizon, playing his younger self, are among the show’s best. The show also leans on its supporting cast to carry the weight of its subplots, and they mostly deliver.
The show is at its best when it trusts its own premise and lets Maximo’s struggle with his family be the center of the story. When it tries to be a broader comedy, it stumbles.
The Verdict
“Acapulco” is a show with a clear idea and a strong heart, but it struggles to find a consistent tone. It is a family drama with jokes, and a comedy with a heavy emotional core. Neither identity is a failure on its own, but the two are not always joined together.
The show’s final season delivered a conclusion that tied up many of the threads it had spent three seasons building. It gave Maximo the ending he deserved, even if it did not always match what viewers wanted. The show ends with Maximo having grown, but not without cost, and that balance between growth and loss is the show’s true subject.
Key Facts:
– 4 seasons, 40 episodes
– Premiered October 8, 2021
– Renewed for a fourth and final season in August 2024
– Final season premiered July 23, 2025
– Score: 7.3/10
“Acapulco” is a show worth watching for its heart, and a show worth skimming for its jokes. It is not a perfect comedy, but it is a sincere one.
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