Spanglish Review
by Steve Rhodes (Steve DOT Rhodes AT InternetReviews DOT com)December 18th, 2004
SPANGLISH
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2004 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): ****
It was worth the wait. It has been seven long years since writer/director James L. Brooks blessed moviegoers with one of his films. His last picture, AS GOOD AS IT GETS, was just about as good as movies can get. For the record, his BROADCAST NEWS is something of a gold standard in my book for a comedic drama.
Brooks's latest, SPANGLISH, a warmly inviting story that sneaks up on you and grabs you, is easily one of the best movies of the year. Although it starts off as just a pleasant little comedy, by the end of the first act, it has blossomed into an absolutely wonderful motion picture, full of marvelously endearing characters that you're not likely to forget. And with performances that you hope the Academy will remember fondly as well when it comes time for Oscar nominations. After seeing the movie, however, Academy members should realize that there is no point in voting this year in the supporting actress category. They should just FedEx the statuette to Cloris Leachman now since her performance, as the lovable lush of a mother, is flat out brilliant. Not only funny, her character has some of the script's most insightful and memorable lines. Typical of these is her advice to her daughter, played by Téa Leoni in another Oscar caliber performance. "Honey," the mother tells her daughter, "lately your low self esteem is just good common sense."
When we meet the Clasky family, mother Deborah (Leoni) is a busy woman without a job who needs to hire a full-time maid. Since they live in L.A., which is forty-nine percent Hispanic, Deborah employees an eager and incredibly attractive Mexican maid named Flor (Paz Vega, seen in such popular Spanish films as TALK TO HER and SEX AND LUCIA), who speaks almost no English whatsoever. Flor -- a funny scene has Flor teaching Deborah how to trill the "r" in Flor -- has been in the U.S. for many years, but she has spent her whole time in the barrios where no English is required. Vega, who is terrific in the role, spoke little English herself before getting it. Brooks makes a brilliant strategic decision to never use subtitles -- which don't occur in real-life -- so that the only way Deborah, or the audience, knows what Flor says is if someone happens to be around for translation.
The movie's funniest scene, which is the funniest movie moment in any film this year, occurs when Cristina (Shelbie Bruce), Flor's precocious little charmer of a daughter, translates during a sticky moment between Flor and her employer's husband, John (Adam Sandler). Cristina not only says the words with great humorous panache, she also mimics the adults' body language perfectly.
Speaking of wonderful pieces of acting, Sandler reminds us how good an actor he can be so long as he isn't in the typical Adam Sandler-brand of dumb comedies. Here he plays an up-and-coming chef who is worried that his restaurant might get awarded the top rating of **** -- it does to his great consternation -- since he doesn't want the pressure. He is also the most kind and supportive father and general human being imaginable. He has an especially exemplary relationship with Bernice (Sarah Steele), his pudgy and self-conscious daughter, whose smiles come through her mouth full of metal braces to show what a sweetheart she really is. All she gets from her mother are nice, new dresses one size too small as inspirations to lose weight. Her mother is an obsessively competitive runner who can't stand the thought of a single extra ounce of fat on one's body.
Deborah, who means well but is a bull in the china shop of human emotions, clearly doesn't deserve John. "I don't exist," Deborah says to no one in particular in a key defining moment early in the movie. She is a selfish overachiever with nothing to achieve. No matter how sweet she tries to be, she's is constantly overpowering and obnoxious without ever realizing it. She can also be quite funny, as she is in an orgasm episode that is the funniest one since Meg Ryan faked it in WHEN HARRY MET SALLY… The best demonstration of Deborah's cluelessness occurs when she first lays eyes on Cristina, a looker just like her mom. "Look at that child," Deborah says to Flor. "You could make a fortune at surrogate pregnancy." Her daughter claims to be unable to translate this for her mother, either because she can't or, more likely, because she is too embarrassed to do so.
The great script is good-spirited, heart-warming, genuine and honest, covering subjects from familial relationships to class and race conflicts. It's a gem.
When the movie comes to its natural and perfectly logical conclusion, which manages to avoid some easy traps, I wasn't ready to let go. The characters were ready to leave, but I wasn't ready for them to exit. I will miss them too much.
SPANGLISH runs 2:11. It is rated PG-13 for "some sexual content and brief language" and would be acceptable for kids around 12 and up.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, December 17, 2004. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas.
Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com
Email: [email protected]
***********************************************************************
Want free reviews and weekly movie and video recommendations via Email?
Just send me a letter with the word "subscribe" in the subject line.
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
