SPANGLISH is neither particularly good, nor particularly dreadful. Its weak point provide an almost perfect counterbalance to its drawbacks, rendering it the sort of thing you might hit upon while flipping channels when nothing else is on, or buy a ticket for if everything else at the multiplex is sold out. In it, James L. Brooks attempts to take what is essentially a slightly better than mediocre sit-com and transform it into something more profound. He fails.
Our story is about Flor (Paz Vega), a single mother who, for reasons never made quite clear, decides to illegally cross the border into the United States with her small daughter, Christina, in tow. Flash forward several years and Flor, who has made ends meet working two jobs in Los Angeles, decides the time has come to keep a closer eye on her blossoming daughter and so takes a job as a housekeeper for the dysfunctional Clasky family in Beverly Hills. John (Adam Sandler) is a soon-to-be star chef who wants nothing more than a three-and-a-half star rating so that he can still have somewhere to go professionally other than down, Deborah (Tea Leoni), is a recently laid-off marketing executive with a maelstrom of issues, her mother, Evelyn (Cloris Leachman) drinks way too much and teaches torch songs from her days as a sultry jazz singer to son Georgie (Ian Hyland) to cure him of his nightmares, or perhaps cause them, and daughter Bernie (Sarah Steele), basks in her fathers adoration, which doesnt quite make up for her mothers palpable disappointment in her looks, or putative lack thereof. Naturally there are problems, such as Flor never having learned English, and the lady of the house taking a shine to the beautiful Christina (Shelbie Bruce) to the exclusion of Bernie.
The script, though it times out to a hefty two hours or so of screen time, nevertheless has a sketch feel, with its characters defined in broad strokes. Its a device that can work with broad comedy, but fatally undercuts this films aspirations to being a character study of some depth. It does, however, have some lovely moments both funny and heartwarming, a testament, to be sure, to the talent of the actors. Top of that list is Sandler, who in PUNCH DRUNK LOVE proved that when the mood strikes him he is capable of delivering a mature, even sophisticated performance. Here he is a cross between Buddha and Mike Brady from the television bunch, negotiating his wifes overwrought neuroses while playing defensive end against the harm its doing his kids. When he tells Flor that he can no longer make any excuses for the lady of the house, its genuinely moving. Paz, who for most of the film speaks only unsubtitled Spanish nonetheless has such an expressive face that when she finally begins to master English, its almost a let down. Leoni, blessed as she is with an impeccable instinct for comedy, both verbal and physical, makes Deborahs black hole of self-loathing narcissism funny without resorting to schtick, leaving open the possibility of the audience finding some empathy for her deep-seated anguish. The unexpected delight is Steele, who projects a bright and shining soul beneath the braces, baby fat, and impossible hair.
Together and separately these characters making their long days journey into a denouement struggle against the unhappiness that comes of doing the right thing, and, oddly, the unhappiness that comes of doing the wrong thing. What is one to make of the message? That the human condition is fundamentally not just bleak, but hopeless? Was it meant to be, therefore, Strindberg in Beverly Hills, rendered suitably carb-lite? Alas, SPANGLISH offers no answers, and barely manages to form the questions.
Your Thoughts?