Spanglish (2004)

Directed by: James L. Brooks
Written by: James L. Brooks
Starring: Adam Sandler, Téa Leoni, Paz Vega, Cloris Leachman, Shelbie Bruce and Sarah Steele.

I have to preface this review by saying that I'm not a big fan of Adam Sandler. Billy Madison was -- I'm being generous here -- okay but Little Nicky was quite possibly the worst movie I've ever had to suffer through in the theater. I didn't laugh once but instead pondered for perhaps the longest 90 minutes of my life what would possess anyone in the theater -- include the friends that had dragged me there -- to laugh at this drivel.

That said, I had one overarching reason to see Spanglish: Paz Vega.

I first came into contact with the Spanish-born actress while I was living in Madrid. I'd gotten a free DVD of Lucía y el sexo (Sex and Lucia, if you couldn't figure that out), with the Sunday paper. Unfortunately, since it was a giveaway, it didn't have subtitles. From what I could make of the plot, I could tell that it was about Lucia and . . . I'm sure you can guess what else.

Talking with my English students the next day, learned that it is one of those films that messes with your mind. Even if you can understand the dialogue, the plot about a woman looking for her writer boyfriend who has disappeared and switches between reality and his semibiographical writing, is hard to follow.

Still, the visuals were incredible, and I'm not just talking about the cinematography.

However, one of my students, Veronica, who herself was gorgeous, couldn't understand what the big deal about Paz Vega. Her husband liked her but she couldn't see why. She thought Penelope Cruz was attractive and she was obsessed with Angelina Jolie, but she couldn't see the big deal about Paz Vega.

I don't know, I guess she's got that Spanish girl from next door look. I knew it wasn't a fluke with her, when after watching Pedro Almodóvar's Hable con ella I had to find out who the woman was in the black and white short film within the film and, of course, it turned out to be Vega.

Vega got her start in the Spanish television show "7 vidas", which some have called the Spanish "Friends." I've never watched the show.

Later, I saw her in Sólo mía, for which she was nominated for a Goya Award, Spain's equivilent of the Academy Awards (she won for best new actress for Lucía y el sexo). A relevant film for Spain, Sólo mía deals with the rising problem of domestic violence and the difficulties women face in the legal system trying to deal with. Playing her husband is Sergi López who also played the crooked hotel manager in Dirty Pretty Things. A good looking actor, he has the ability to be just as charming as his character is despicable.

Vega was also in Nadie conoce a nadie, a disappointing thriller set in her hometown of Seville. I've read one film writer that I like to read that the Spanish are great with personal dramas but don't do thrillers too well. From my collection of DVDs that I bought before coming back to America. This seems to be the case.

I've seen 2003's Carmen, based on the novel that inspired Bizet's opera, and it is definitely worth watching. During my binge buying as many Spanish DVDs as I could while they were on sale before I moved back to California, I also bought the musical El Otro lado de la cama but unfortunately I've lost my ability to watch region 2 DVDs so I haven't been able to see it.

Suffice it to say, that Paz Vega is my favorite Spanish actress (followed by Penelope Cruz).

However, I didn't see Spanglish, Vega's American debut, in the theater because I read at least one bad review of it and a few mediocre ones. That combined with Adam Sandler's spotty record was enough to put me off.

But I am sincerely disappointed that I waited for so long because I found it both charming and funny. I even liked Adam Sandler in it too (which isn't totally surprising, becauxe he did show potential in PT Anderson's Punch-Drunk Love. It also struck me that if they were ever to do a film about Bob Dylan, they could cast Adam Sandler. Remember, I said it first and give me a production credit.)

Vega plays a single mother named Flor Moreno who brings her daughter to America, euphemistically "economy class," where she begins working in Los Angeles as a housekeeper for John and Deborah Claskey.

Deborah, played by Téa Leoni, is a character that could only reside in Los Angeles. Utterly self-centered and high-strung, she is the kind of person when she asks her husband why no one ever cares about her feelings, you want to respond that she thinks about them enough for the rest of the world. A fitness freak, she is seen running through the neighborhood shrieking "left" as she passes by.

John, played by Adam Sandler, on the other hand, is a lot more laid back. Surprisingly, since he is the head chef of a restaurant that receives four stars from the New York Times, an accomplishment that depresses him because it leaves him no where to go but down and the restaurants prestige, he believes, will only suck the character out of it. Despite his professional success and his rapport with his children, he can't stand up to his wife who pleads with him to stay "on the same page" with her in dealing with them. But there is never any discussion involved, she leads and he is supposed to follow.

Early on Flor gauges the family's predicament when Deb purposefully buys her daughter Bernice a new wardrobe that is one size too small to encourage her to lose weight but only hurts her feelings instead. John doesn't confront her on this and Flor notes that although he has been in contact with Latin Machismo he shows his emotions more like a Latin woman.

Later in the film, when Deb meets Flor's daughter Cristina, played byShelbie Bruce, she tells Flor with characteristic inappropriateness, "You could make a fortune doing surrogate pregnancy!" Seeing in Shelbie Bruce the attractive daughter that she wishes she had, she repeatedly oversteps the boundaries of her relationship with Flor -- she never seems to recognize anyone's boundaries but her own -- and expropriates Cristina as her own daughter.

And so the film is largely about familial boundaries and Flor's struggle to preserve her identity and dignity -- subject matter that I don't think is too typical of Hollywood. Of course, there is the flirtation of a romance with John, which again doesn't exactly follow the Hollywood guidelines. I have to tip my hat to James L. Brooks who wrote and directed the film for finding a unique perspective on an immigrant's experience, which is quite timely as I write this review, with congress debating immigration reform.

As a the executive producer of "The Simpsons," Brooks also incorporated some very effective gags as when Flor argues with John before she can speak English and has Cristina translate for her, doubling her tone of voice, footsteps and hand gestures. (The last few films I've watched have had some impressive performances by child actors.)

Of course, there are some minor complaints. I think Téa Leoni, or at least her character, could be a little over the top. It's also a little unbelievable that Adam Sandler could be a top-rated chef and not speak a word of Spanish (whether or not you are latino, speaking Spanish goes with the territory in the restaurant industry).

I would also have liked to see more about Bernice, who was played by Sarah Steele, who the film much like her mother, ignores. Although she is a sweet girl she just isn't as attractive as Cristina. At least her father recognizes her.

Overall, I think the film dealt with complex human conflicts with humor, warmth and humanity and the performances by Sandler and Vega make it definitely worth renting.