Themes: Culture Clash, Servants and Employers, Families in Crisis
Main Cast: Adam Sandler, Téa Leoni, Paz Vega, Cloris Leachman, Shelbie Bruce
Release Year: 2004
Country: US
Run Time: 130 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
A Hispanic woman and her young daughter are thrown into the middle of a well-to-do but remarkably dysfunctional family in this comedy drama from writer and director James L. Brooks. Flor (Paz Vega) is a single mother who has struggled to support her daughter Cristina (Shelbie Bruce) working as a domestic in Mexico. Hoping to give her daughter greater financial security, Flor packs up their belongings and moves the family to California, but Flor refuses to surrender her Latino identity and opts not to learn English; meanwhile, Cristina quickly learns to speak the language fluently. Flor lands a high-paying job working as a housekeeper for Deborah Clasky (Téa Leoni); Deborah doesn't speak a word of Spanish, but this is hardly the most curious thing about their working relationship. A deeply troubled neurotic who has spent time in a mental hospital, Deborah is at once obsessed with her duties as a wife and mother and utterly clueless to her family's needs, and when she learns that Flor has a daughter, she insists that the girl move in with the Claskys. Flor, however, isn't so sure she wants Deborah Americanizing Cristina, especially when Deborah begins doting on the girl at the expense of her relationship with her own daughter, Bernice (Sarah Steele). Deborah's husband, John (Adam Sandler), is an oasis of loving calm and understanding in the midst of his chaotic family, and Flor becomes attracted to this man who shows no signs of the arrogant machismo she's accustomed to. But John's career as a chef is turned upside down when The New York Times gives his restaurant a four-star review, suddenly turning his small eatery into the "in" spot in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Flor reaches the end of her patience when Deborah enrolls Cristina into an exclusive private school which Flor is certain will turn her into a typical American child and drive a wedge between Cristina and her mother. Spanglish also stars Cloris Leachman as Deborah's sharp-tongued mother. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Spanglish will seem familiar in many ways to those familiar with James L. Brooks' work. The thematic center of the film is the relationship between Flor (Paz Vega) and her daughter. The first 20 minutes of the film sets up their characters and shows how the daughter's command of English helps her Spanish-speaking mother communicate -- communication and miscommunication being the motifs of the film. Brooks establishes the emotional and psychological impasse confronting the low-key John Clasky (Adam Sandler) and the high-strung Deborah Clasky (Téa Leoni), with admirably economic storytelling. The middle part of the film concerns how John and Deborah each deal with the communication problems they have with Flor, their new maid, making it clear that John has more patience and empathy. Brooks has always liked his characters, but Spanglish finds him doing something he has never done before -- passing judgment. Deborah is shown to be a monster who might be redeemable, but her moment of redemption seems too slight. The Clasky story ends on a very small note and is left mostly unresolved. The ending is unsatisfactory for the amount of time we spend with them. Conversely, the highly emotional climax of the story about Flor and her daughter does not fit because the audience's involvement in their story has been hijacked by the Clasky family. Sadly, for a film about the dangers of miscommunication, Brooks ends up suffering a communication breakdown with the audience. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
Sarah Steele - Bernice; Ian Hyland - Georgie; Victoria Luna - Cristina (6 years old); Thomas Haden Church - Mike, Realtor; Freddy Soto - Manuel
Credit
Tom Reta - Art Director, Maria Kavanaugh - Associate Producer, Mary Vernieu - Casting, Richard Marks - Co-producer, Aldric La'Auli Porter - Co-producer, Francine Maisler - Co-producer, Shay Cunliffe - Costume Designer, Louise Mingenbach - Costume Designer, Aldric La'Auli Porter - First Assistant Director, James L. Brooks - Director, Bruce A. Block - Second Unit Director, Richard Marks - Editor, Joan Bradshaw - Executive Producer, Christy Haubegger - Executive Producer, Hans Zimmer - Composer (Music Score), Ida Random - Production Designer, John Seale - Cinematographer, James L. Brooks - Producer, Richard Sakai - Producer, Julie Ansell - Producer, Cosmas Demetriou - Set Designer, Julia Levine - Set Designer, Mariko Braswell - Set Designer, Lorrie Campbell - Set Designer, Thomas D. Causey - Sound/Sound Designer, James L. Brooks - Screenwriter, Walt Lloyd - Second Unit Camera, Michael O'Farrell - Supervising Sound Editor, Dennis Drummond - Supervising Sound Editor, Leslie Pope - Set Decorator
Flor Moreno (Paz Vega), a poor, Mexican, single mother gets hired as the housekeeper for John (Adam Sandler) and Deborah Clasky (Téa Leoni), their kids, Bernice (Sarah Steele) and Georgie (Ian Hyland), and Deborah's mother Evelyn Wright (Cloris Leachman), a rich, white American family. Flor's daughter, Cristina is played by Shelbie Bruce. Flor, Cristina, and John are very likeable while Deborah is mean, self-centered, and apathetic to her daughter. Evelyn is a carefree drunk.
Flor doesn't speak English so Cristina translates for her when she needs to talk to the family. Bilingual, skinnier, and overall kind, Cristina impresses Deborah, whom she begins to treat like her own daughter, taking Cristina shopping, getting her hair done, enrolling her in a private school, and showing her more love than her own daughter.
Flor becomes unhappy when it appears that Cristina is influenced by Deborah. This is in part because she wants Cristina to keep in touch with her roots, and partly because Deborah is overstepping her bounds by acting like Cristina's mother. Flor objects to the family's overreaching with Cristina to which John is apologetic.
Flor learns English so she can communicate with them better wherein John and Flor talk more and become closer.
When Evelyn realizes that her daughter is having an affair and that her marriage is in trouble, she sobers up and tells Deborah to knock it off because she'll never get another man as good as John. As Flor heads to their house, Deborah confesses to John that she cheated on him. John walks out, and runs into Flor on the way and they go to his restaurant to "hang out". They have the "greatest conversation of their lives" and confess their love for one another, but Flor leaves and John never mentions that Deborah cheated on him.
Flor quits and takes her daughter home. She tells Cristina that she doesn't want her to go to the private school anymore either, upsetting Cristina and causing her to scream that Flor is ruining her life. Flor tells Cristina that it is time for her to decide the most important question of her life: "Is what you want for yourself to become something very different than me?". Cristina doesn't respond and on their bus ride home she initially sits away from Flor, but ends up embracing her for the duration of their ride.
The film ends with Cristina as an adult, years later, acknowledging that "all she is today" rests on the simple fact that she is her mother's daughter.
Aimee Garcia as the narrator (Adult Cristina Moreno)
Critical reception
The film received a mixed critical reception. Based on 157 reviews collected by the film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 52% of critics gave Spanglish a positive review.[3] Its proponents champion the film as a moving portrayal of the difficulty of family problems and self-identity and to a lesser extent the communication across cultural boundaries. The film also highlights the sexual chemistry between actors Adam Sandler and Tea Leoni. [4] However, its detractors describe it as "uneven," "awkward," and "mean-spirited."
Box office
This film grossed $55,041,367 worldwide, significantly less than the $80 million production budget.[1]
