I don’t
have to enjoy the company of a set of characters to admire the film which
they star in. Spanglish abuses this principle by not only containing
some of the most annoying personalities in years, but also exemplifying bad
filmmaking. For over two hours, I watched its diverse assortment of whiners
complain like true idiots. Adding to this awfulness is the work of
writer/director James L. Brooks, who, in addition to constructing poor
dialogue, muddles the movie up in contradicting ideas and unbearable
melodrama. The more one thinks about Spanglish, the worse. The movie
represents an infinite galaxy of awfulness, waiting to be discovered.
Spanglish stars an illegal alien from
Mexico, named Flor Moreno (Paz Vega), and her daughter, Christina (Shelbie
Bruce). Flor hops the American border with Christina, after her husband
leaves her, and they make for L.A. There, she ends up working as a maid for
the Claskys, the stereotypical, stuck-up, rich, white American family. They
are in a state of inner-turmoil, at the moment. John (Adam Sandler) is the
man of the house, in addition to being a world-renowned chef, who must
continually spend more time at his four-star restaurant and less time with
his family. Deborah (Téa Leoni) is the clueless mother, who confuses her
dreams for her family as their own. Their two children are named Bernice
(Sarah Steele) and Georgie (Ian Hyland).
The film is actually somewhat likeable, for
awhile. However, when the Claskys bring Flor and Christina on vacation with
them to their beach-house, Spanglish takes a nose-dive. There,
Christina begins to become Americanized, much to the dismay of her
traditionalist Mexicana mother. Also, a small, bizarre affair between
Flor and John begins to brew. This is further “developed” in the conclusion
of the film. For having hardly any plot, whatsoever, Spanglish
certainly accomplishes a lot, none of which is any good.
John is a whiner because he constantly complains
about having a great life. Deborah is a whiner because she is unwilling to
accept imperfection, while being imperfect, herself. Georgie is a beginning
whiner because of his parents’ spoiling him. Flor is a whiner because she
has been blessed with a job in an accepting America, despite the fact that
she does the government no good, and is still angry when her daughter tries
to adapt to the new culture. The only characters in the movie who seemed at
all human to me were Bernice and Christina, who amazingly survive the wrath
of the incoherent people who surround them. Cloris Leachman plays Deborah’s
very wise alchoholic mother. And don’t tell me that I’m wrong in calling her
this. Anyone who has the sense to drink their way out of Spanglish’s
annoyance is an extremely intelligent one.
I suppose Téa Leoni and Paz Vega deliver good
performances in Spanglish, but I fault them entirely for choosing
such good-for-nothing characters to play. Perhaps they wanted to create some
sort of “groundbreaking” political message that the illegal Mexican worker
is a better asset to America than the standard, U.S. born citizen. Even if
this was the case, the movie didn’t change my strict thoughts on the issue
of border control in the least. I went into it thinking that illegal
immigrants were undeserving of American jobs, and came out with the same
opinion, perhaps even stronger than it was before.
I wouldn’t call Spanglish a missed
opportunity, because I don’t think it takes a wizard to realize just how bad
the script actually is. Why didn’t anyone at the studio stop to think about
green-lighting the picture? Sure, it was made by a very successful filmmaker
and has a usually-appealing list of names for a cast. But, again, I come
back to my original point. Who wants to see a movie about whiners other than
whiners, themselves? Watching Spanglish, I wasn’t sure whether to
cover my eyes or my ears, because, frankly, either way, I was doomed.
-Danny, Bucket Reviews
(Posted in 12.28.2004-2.5.2005 Update)