Tourism boards in Spain have said the portrayal of the southern city of Málaga in Netflix’s hit film Murder Mystery is riddled with cliches and 50 years out of date.

The film centres on an American couple, Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler, travelling around Europe. When they arrive in Málaga they are greeted by a Gypsy woman wearing a flamenco dress, a man with a guitar and a guide decked out in the red and yellow of the Spanish flag.

The guide awaits them beside an ancient bus bearing the sign Gonzales Tour. Aside from the fact that Spanish tour buses are usually sleekly modern and air conditioned, the Spanish name is González, not Gonzales.

Arturo Bernal, the director general of the Costa del Sol tourism department, said he was “surprised” at the portrayal because “it’s not like that here”. He accused the film-makers of a lack of research and invited the production company, Happy Madison, to come and see for themselves what the city was really like. No scene was shot in Málaga.

For millions of holidaymakers, Málaga is the place they land before setting off for resorts on the costa but in recent years the city, the birthplace of Pablo Picasso, has worked hard to rebrand itself as a cultural destination.

Not only is there a Picasso museum, there is The Cube, an extension of the Centre Pompidou in Paris as well as a collection of Russian art at the Málaga offshoot of St Petersburg’s State Russian Museum . There is also a museum of contemporary art.

Fátima Oliva, a spokeswoman for Costa del Sol tourism, said: “The image in this film bears no resemblance to what the Costa del Sol is really like. We’re more surprised than indignant. It’s a very old fashioned idea of life here, with a Gypsy at the airport and all that. Málaga has 37 museums and has become an important cultural tourist destination.”

“The image is very retrograde,” she said, adding that the film-makers seem stuck with an idea of Spain from 50 years ago. “Maybe they’ve never been here or they simply prefer to play with cliches. That’s why we’ve invited them to come and see for themselves in situ.”

In the film, Sandler plays a New York police officer on a long-overdue European holiday with his wife, played by Aniston. Their trip takes an unscheduled turn when they become prime suspects in the murder of a billionaire on his yacht.

The film, which is billed as a comedy-thriller and was directed by Kyle Newacheck, broke Netflix records on its first weekend, chalking up 30 million viewers in three days. It was shot in Montreal and various locations in Italy.

Film-makers seem determined to cling to a fantasy version of Spain, with bullfighters, flamenco and donkeys. In Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Woody Allen cast Javier Bardem as a stereotyped roué and Latin lover while his cliched portrait of Barcelona caused much hilarity among residents.

• This article was amended on 8 July 2019 because the Russian art at the Málaga belongs to the State Russian Museum, not St Petersburg’s Hermitage museum as an earlier version said. This has been corrected.