Spanglish
by James L. Brooks
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Adam Sandler, Cloris Leachman, Paz Vega, Shelbie Bruce, Téa LeoniDirector: James L. Brooks
Brand: SANDLER,ADAM
Producer: James L. Brooks
Writer: James L. Brooks
Producer: Aldric La'auli Porter
Producer: Christy Haubegger
Producer: Francine Maisler
Producer: Joan Bradshaw
Producer: Julie Ansell
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish (Original Language); French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 1.85:1
Running Time: 131 minutes
Published: 2005-04-01
DVD Release Date: 2005-04-05
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Movie Reviews of Spanglish
Movie Review: It will grab your heart and never let go!
Summary: 5 Stars
A movie has never touched me so much before until I watched Spanglish. As I put in the DVD into the player, I prepared myself to watch what I thought would be a falt out comedy with Adam Sandler as the star. I was wrong. It was more the character Flor played by Paz Vega that touched me more than anything. Vega is the essence of beauty. Natural beauty with her curly hair brown hair and freckled cheeks and dimple in her chin. I found myself really looking at her. Looking into Flor.
The movie begins with Flor's daughter Crisitna narating an essay she has written to Princeton. She sets up the movie by explaining that her mother is the person she looks up to most. I begin to think that maybe this movie is your usual rags to riches story, but it is so much more. Even as I write this now, I can't help but tear up.
Flor and her daughter are from Mexico. Her husband left her, which in turn has turned her into a strong independent woman. The usual cliche, true. She doesn't show her greif in front of her daughter, and when they decide to move to LA, she tells Christina that one tear is enough to shed. Flor is then hired on as a housekeeper in an upscale neighborhood for an eccentric family. Adam Sandler doesn't come into the picture until at least 20 minutes into the movie. I had almost forgot he was in this movie. I don't know why he was listed first in the credits, and Paz listed third after Tea Leoni (who looks remarkably like Naomi Watts). The whole movie is about Flor.
I can relate so much to Flor. The way she lives through her daughter; wanting what is best for her. Flor claches with Deb, the wife of John (Sandler) in the way two mothers compete for the adoration of their offspring. Deb is a controling manipulative exerholic who gives her attention to Cristina instead of her own daughter who she tossed aside because she isn't as thin as she wants to be. Each mother takes matters into their own hands; Deb taking Cristina out shopping and dying her hair, while Flor lets out the hem of Deb's daughter's new clothes to make her feel special. It is always a battle between the two.
There are a few side stories that play into the plot. John is a chef at a 4 star restaraunt who can not express himself very well, and tends to tune out emotionally fast talkind Deb. Deb on the other hand is secretly having an affair with their realator. All the while, Deb's mother sits in the background spouting off life's wisdom.
Of couse, there are some laugh out loud funny moments. I loved seeing Flor learning English. Hence, Spanglish: A mixture of English and Spanish.
Flor never looses her cool. She a role model for all women out there. Everyone in the family is moved by her. When John tells Deb about the affair, he leaves and takes Flor to his restaraunt. He cooks her dinner and they talk all night. I never knew that food could be so sexual, but in an innocent way. Even when the intimacy steps out of the box breifly, Flor knows when to stop. She would never lower herself to the likes of Deb. She is a ritous woman. It was like in the scene where Deb and Flor are racing down the street. It was like they were racing to see who would win the family. Flor hesitated for one instant, and Deb won. "It was a good try, " Deb told Flor. Flor knew after the dinner with John, that she had to quit her job.
Cristina was devistated. She would never see the Clasky family again, or go to their ritzy private school. As Mother and daughter were walking to the bus stop, Cristina yells at her mother saying she ruined her life. Yet, she walks on telling Cristina calmly to come to the bus stop. Flor knows what she is doing is hard, but it is for the best. As Cristina stands there, Flor walks over to her. "I need some space, " Cristina says like many of the other characters do throughout the story. "No, space, " Flor replies in broken English. "I am your mother. Don't ever forget who you are."
This was the most heartwrenching scene. Tears spilled as I watched them get on the bus, sitting in sepreate seats. Then slowly, Cristina moves over next to Flor. The movie ends with the two locked in an embrace and this line: "All I know is that I am my mother's daughter."
I usually toss movies aside when I watch them. Yes, there are some good ones out there, but none that I could hold high on a pedistool. Spanglish is by far one of the best movies of all time.
Summary of Spanglish
With the arrival of a beautiful Mexican maid and her daughter to their houshold the already troubled Clasky family face even more challenges in their domestic life.Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 4-APR-2006
Media Type: DVD
Anyone familiar with writer/director James L. Brooks (Broadcast News, As Good As It Gets) knows the man has a real feel for interesting women and a disarming way with a one-liner. The main women in Spanglish are Deborah Clasky (Téa Leoni), a moneyed SoCal mom, and non-English speaking Flor Moreno (Paz Vega), the beautiful Latina whom Deborah hires as a housekeeper. The one-liners, some of them amusing, are everywhere. Brooks provides an intriguing set-up for the two women to butt heads--Deborah's pudgy daughter Bernice (Sarah Steele) needs the affection at which Flor excels, while Flor's clever, bi-lingual daughter Cristina (Shelbie Bruce) is enamored of the financial advantages Deborah can provide--then proceeds to make Deborah so hatefully ignorant you can't imagine why her neuroses are the main thrust of the film. And Deborah's celebrated chef husband John (Adam Sandler, way over his head) is such a perfect parent he doesn't seem human--what happened to the Brooks who had Terms of Endearment mom Debra Winger turn to her scowling little boy and grunt "Don't make me hit you in the street"? Cloris Leachman has a nifty supporting role as Deborah's boozy, ex-jazz singer mother, but it's only one offbeat chord in an earnest film that hits all the wrong notes. --Steve Wiecking
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