Spanglish (2004)

Summary: Deborah Clasky (Téa Leoni) hires Flor (Paz Vega) as a nanny/housekeeper for her two children, Bernice (Sarah Steele) and Georgie (Ian Hyland), and her alcoholic former singer mother, Evelyn (Cloris Leachman). Deb's relationship with her husband, John (Adam Sandler), is strained at best, and things become even worse when Flor and her daughter, Cristina (Shelbie Bruce), move in with the Claskys for the summer.

James L. Brooks. James L. Brooks. What are his movies about, really? Terms of Endearment? As Good as it Gets? I don't know. I liked both those movies, but it's been too long since I've watched either one of them for me to recall what was so special about them. Funny? Absolutely. Strangely warm? Without a doubt. Great performances? Who could argue with that?

But what does it all mean? What does it add up to? I rather enjoyed his writing and directing here. He didn't entirely go for the big Hollywood ending, instead giving us some of it and leaving the rest to imagination.

Or did he? No. You know what, it was supposed to feel that way, but he didn't really leave anything to the imagination. It's the sets that give everything away. Consider the two houses were the Clasky spend their time. Each is filled with stuff, yet neither comes across as cluttered. They're supposed to have all this stuff, you think. That's life. An accumulation of things that never seem out of place. Only it's not. It's trying too hard.

You get the humour and heart of Brooks movie without any of the weight you would really need to carry it through. I laughed and laughed, and very little of it has any staying power beyond that.

Vega, of Sex and Lucia fame, is a sexily confused and high strung joy in this movie. Wonderfully clad in flowing skirts and peasanty tops, Vega very nearly steals the show. She's so strong and stupid all that the same time.

Leoni, on the other hand, does nothing so worthwhile. Her character is such a bitch, which is exactly what I kept saying during the movie, and she's the worst kind of bitch because she has absolutely no idea what a huge bitch she is. The worst part, however, is that nothing about Brooks' screenplay or Leoni's performance makes Deborah redeemable or worthy of John in anyway.

Sandler, who I have judged to be something of a one performance actor in the past(which the box office never seems to mind), may have something here. Sure, he resorts of his old tricks once or twice, but he showing signs of something deeper here. Something real. We'll see how long he sticks with it.

Leachman, oh Leachman. She is a riot! Evelyn's a joy in every scene she appears in, and nothing about her performance is unnatural in anyway. Frankly, I would have been just as apt to see a movie about her influence on the family as I was to see Flor's.

Vega and Leachman may be worth my time, but I'm not yet convinced about the rest of it. Mostly because of the lack of anything to drive Leoni's character to behave the way she does. B-