Movie Review: Spanglish
Just finished watching Spanglish and I thought it was terrific. Probably the best movie I have seen in a while. While Adam Sandler gets top billing, it really isn’t about him. The movie is about Flor Moreno (played by the very fetching Paz Vega) and her daughter Christina (played by the relatively unknown Shelbie Bruce). The Morenos come to America to find a better life after Mr. Moreno leaves them. The spend their first 6 years in Los Angeles and then Flor, for the first time since being in America, enters a different country to find a better job. She stumbles upon the Clasky household. The father John (Sandler) is a famous chef and the mother, Deborah (played by Tea Leoni) is a little unhinged.
Without spoiling too much of the movie, we see Flor look at the this family and compare it to her family. She tries to help as best she can. Things really start to come to a head when she and her daughter move in with the family for the summer. Flor doesn’t really want them to, but she wants to keep the job. Sparks to fly between Sandler and Vega, very subtle but noticeable. A very well done scene finds the daughter translating for her mother in a fight with Sandler. Very well acted by all involved, especially Bruce. After that point, the mother decides to learn English. This really turns up the heat between her and Sandler. After one talk on the beach where it really starts to become evident he says, “It’s nice to meet you.”
Flor’s biggest concern is that her daughter is going to turn into someone else by being spoiler by Mrs. Clasky and there way of life. She struggles to balance that concern vs. her love of her daughter.
Overall, as I said, great movie, I really enjoyed. I think there were some really great acting jobs by the four main characters, along with the Clasky daughter, Bernice, (played by Sarah Steele) and Deborah’s mother, Evelyn (played by Cloris Leachman who also stars with Sandler in the The Longest Yard). Besides Sandler, it is a cast of non-famous people but they work very well together. I would definitely suggest it, it tugs at the heart and makes you think about family and what you want with life. Kind of makes you consider what has influences who you are.
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Tags: Movie Review, Reviews
