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A Reel Life film section

Issue: Summer 2004-5


Spanglish (2004) movie review

When Cultures Clash, People Come Together

Told through a college admission essay, a young woman tells the story of the most impressive person she knows -- her mother.

Flor (Paz Vega) leaves Mexico with her daughter to find a better life in the U.S. She finds work and life in the Spanish-speaking ghettos working two jobs until her daughter shows signs of reaching puberty and needing more supervision.

Flor takes a job as a maid and teaches herself English with the help of a language course. The couple she works for (Adam Sandler and Téa Leoni) and their child have their troubles and when everyone goes to the beach for the summer, the family becomes mixed and the lines cross between work and friendships.

Movie poster, Spanglish; Festivale film review

Movie poster, Spanglish
A comedy with a language all its own.

Adam Sandler is at his least annoying, playing a likeable, and somewhat put-upon cook. Téa Leoni does some of her best, and most comedic work as the over-achieving wife who can't accept her daughter's weight.

As Flor, Vega is gentle, but with an iron will that is necessary for a single parent with few resources. It is sometimes difficult in this film to know exactly what we want as the happy ending, if there is to be one, but that is part of the realism of this enjoyable comedy.

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by Ali Kayn
Due for Australian release 17 February 2005
For credits and official site details, see below
Search Festivale for more work by the film-makers below.

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Just the facts:

Title: Spanglish(2004)
Written by: James L. Brooks
Directed by: James L. Brooks
running time: 131 mins
rating: M


The Players: Adam Sandler, Téa Leoni, Paz Vega, Cloris Leachman, Thomas Haden Church


IMDb entry


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