Spanglish - Lost in Translation
I made a smart decision over the weekend, I purchased the BlockBuster movie pass for 14.99 a month. I rent movies at least three times a week, and so it was costing me about 50-60 dollars a month in movie rentals and I didn't even realize it. Last night I rented Spanglish and although I was delighted to see Adam Sandler play such a sensitive caring role, I was disappointed in the movie on the whole.
Spanglish is a movie that lacks focus and direction. Perhaps the writer/director James L. Brooks purposely chose to drive this movie into many different directions, however, one minute your watching something wonderful unfold in front of you and then suddenly the scene just stops and you are left wondering - "Why did you stop?"
From the previews and what I read about Spanglish I thought it was going to be this great family saga about relationships and the fact that love conquers all - even language barriers. It ended up being this movie about divorce and heartbreak and the simple fact that Americans are depressed and fat and we can't help but fall in love with the really hot Spanish maid. (Paz Vega is beautiful in a very natural sort of way, but in this movie they act like she is a super model... puh-lease.)
My favorite part of the movie is a scene where Tea Leoni, the mother in the movie and the adulteress, is running up a hill and she keeps yelling "Left, Left, Left!" as she is passing people by. These guys try to outrun her as she starts to pass them uphill and she beats them and you know she must - she has to be the best. You see this scene repeatedly, you can feel her need for superiority, but the movie doesn't give you enough time to understand her drive. Her overall perfomance though is superb.
To summarize - the movie is title Spanglish which makes you think that the movie is going to be about broken English and the barriers caused by the inability to communicate, but that isn't the case at all. It isn't so much a movie as a series of poorly strung together scenes, scenes that at the heart are great but are surrounded by so much fabric with an uncoordinated pattern. The movies clashes with itself on so many levels that just typing about it has made me crazy.
I give the movie a C+.
3 Comments:
We Americans are fat though... lol. Won't be seeing that movie. Thanks for the heads up!
Thanks for the movie review Eddo! Saved me the money and the time on what sounds like a less than impressive movie. I caught up on some of your old postings. It's such a small world, after all. I guess I should expect that we know some of the same people, but I was at the Zimmerman's house on Saturday, and I then I saw pictures of Jeremy's wedding on your blog also, and I had met him at a project at Spirit Horse a couple of months ago. Spirit Horse is walking distance from my house. I know, because I really did walk home from there. I read on Jes' blog that y'all played Settlers. I confess with pride that I have won one game of Settlers. It is a tangled web we weave my new friend. Tangled.
eddo - saved me $ and time with that review. I was on the fence about seeing the movie and you pushed me over. Thanks
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