[Brooks] once again delivers flesh-and-blood characters with minds, unexpected dialogue, and a lovely, emotional payoff.
Spanglish (2004)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:157
Fresh:82
Rotten:75
Average Rating:5.9/10
Consensus: Vega shines, but the heartwarming elements feel phony, as though they belonged in a sitcom, and there is a mean streak underneath it all.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] some sexual content and brief language
Runtime: 2 hrs 11 mins
Genre: Comedies
Theatrical Release:Dec 17, 2004 Wide
Box Office: $42,044,321
Synopsis: With SPANGLISH, writer/director/producer James L. Brooks (AS GOOD AS IT GETS) unfurls yet another accomplished, tender, romantic comedy. Celebrated chef John Clasky (Adam Sandler) is the patriarch... With SPANGLISH, writer/director/producer James L. Brooks (AS GOOD AS IT GETS) unfurls yet another accomplished, tender, romantic comedy. Celebrated chef John Clasky (Adam Sandler) is the patriarch of the Clasky household, but the mood swings of his hypersensitive wife, Deborah (Tea Leoni), are what really runs the show. When the Claskys hire the beautiful Flor (Paz Vega) to be their maid, their already rocky relationship faces some even bigger boulders. Spanish-speaking Flor is a sincere, loving single mother whose daughter, Christina (Shelbie Bruce), receives lavish displays of affection from Deborah. Meanwhile, Deborah neglects her own son and daughter in much the same way that her self-absorbed, alcoholic mother, Evelyn (Cloris Leachman), neglected her. Eventually Deborah crosses a line when she betrays her husband with the real estate broker who is helping her search for a beach house. Faced with this challenge, John and Flor, who share a clear attraction to one another, get the chance to explore their feelings. Brooks populates his film with wholly believable characters. On first glance they may seem like broad caricatures (especially in the case of the roles played by Leoni and Leachman), but the characters subvert viewers' expectations by turning into full-fledged, three-dimensional humans by the end of the film. As in PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE, Sandler delivers a performance that shows his wide range of talent. [More]
Starring: Adam Sandler, Paz Vega, Tea Leoni, Cloris Leachman
Starring: Adam Sandler, Paz Vega, Tea Leoni, Cloris Leachman
Director: James L. Brooks
Director: James L. Brooks
Screenwriter: James L. Brooks
Producer: Richard Sakai, Joan Bradshaw, Julie Ansell, James L. Brooks
Composer: Hans Zimmer
Studio: Sony Pictures Entertainment
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Reviews for Spanglish
It needs to be trimmed, toned and focused better before it is put on public display -- but since it's too late for that, it probably just needs to be disregarded.
By the end of the film, Adam Sandler is the only grownup that's the least bit likeable.
As Spanglish caroms from sitcom-cute comedy to heavy emotional crisis and back again, we can't understand why a nice guy like John would marry a hopeless harpy like Deborah in the first place.
Offensive because it turns liberal self-abasement into self-congratulation.
a richly entertaining film that examines, as its title suggests, what happens when people from two very different worlds are brought together in an imperfect union.
Less a story than a snapshot of a crumbling marriage populated by sitcom characters.
Sometimes Brooks's ideas are legitimate, but his way of putting them across is dishonest. Sometimes the ideas are dishonest, but his way of putting them across is legitimate.
...Spanglish is a sometimes entertaining, sometimes poignant, but more often than not, cliché-ridden drama/comedy...
The characters are exquisitely drawn and the performances delicately nuanced.
Enormously entertaining, Spanglish also praises the nobility of everyday life,
So rancid is Brooks's fury that it's clouded his judgment, so that each of his main characters is a stereotype of the most broad-brush, malodorous nature.
A performer's showcase. While the pleasantly sentimental comedy doesn't bowl you over with cinematic technique, it's likely to make audiences happy.
This commingling of Down and Out in Beverly Hills and El Norte is best described by the following Spanglish phrase: Una less than caliente James L. Brooks.
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This weekend, multiplexes hope to cram in lots of moviegoers thanks to a wide selection of new films. Six movies open or expand nationally on Friday making for what will be one... More...
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June 24, 2005:
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