anitiru I started watching this just hoping for a few laughs, this being an Adam Sandler movie. Instead, I found a deep story dealing with issues relevant to real life: what are the values that define you as a person? What is acceptable and what is not? Why one has to draw the distinction between what feels good and what is good?Spanglish is a good movie backed up by some great performances by Paz Vega and Adam Sandler. Tea Leoni performs her role well and Cloris Leachman is an able support, at times adding a flavor of dry comedy. I won't reveal the plot. All I'll say is it is worth your time. A funny movie with a solid story and something to take away later.

jonescincy-09924 It really amazes me how unbelievably people miss the point behind movies. It also amazes me how someone can watch a well written movie and somehow not realize it. The stories this movie tells are life. The cheating wife and the husband who is being driven crazy but her ridiculous behavior. The parents who cannot agree on the proper way to raise their children. The good hearted person who has life happen to him instead of taking it by the horns. The mother who loves her daughter so much she lives her own life for her. She tries to protect her from everything including being spoiled and this changing her personality into something she doesn't approve of. The characters are well done and each serves their roles very well. The casting of Sandler was interesting but like others have said I was pleasantly surprised with his acting. He wasn't the typical goofy Adam Sandler. Not a goofy funny movie but a well written story that has moments of fun but is mostly just subtle humor well done by the actors.

vchimpanzee This is a wonderful and inspiring story about a family with flaws and two new members welcomed into that family.And of course it is the story of a Latina girl who has the chance to stand out among many equally qualified candidates for Princeton. Aimee Garcia does quite nicely narrating.Tea Leoni as Deborah is pretty but comes across as shallow, really trying to be nice but constantly messing up. It's a fine performance. One of the best scenes has her enthusiastically welcoming Cristina, the beautiful daughter she didn't know Flor had, because now she can have a perfect daughter too. Her own daughter is not physically attractive and is overweight but not unhealthy, and can never seem to please her. And yes, Bernice notices this.Paz Vega reminds me of Salma Hayek, at least in appearance. But both are quality actresses too. Flor is so pleasant and loving but she can get upset when the situation calls for it. And of course once the time comes, she is determined to learn English.Shelbie Bruce does a wonderful job. Her best scene is one where she must translate for her mother, but she does more than merely say the words. She effectively communicates her mother's emotions as well. It's like a scene from "Freaky Friday". And she has another standout moment where John is only kidding but she really seems upset about what he said.Sarah Steele is also likable as the not so perfect Bernice. There's nothing so wrong with her. She's just an ordinary girl, like most girls.Cloris Leachman does her usual wonderful job, especially later in the movie. She mostly just has funny lines which add a lot, but as Deborah's mother advising her daughter who is falling apart, she really stands out.Adam Sandler is the weak link here. That only means everyone in a major role is good, and he is just the least talented among them. He does a great job playing Adam Sandler, the one who is not a loser and is mostly nice. John is quite a likable character. And yet there's nothing really special. John has lessons to learn here but he's less flawed than his wife. And of course he has a difficult choice when he must decide career or family, and his family means everything.I did think Georgie wasn't used enough. That may be the only real weakness here.The ending leaves us wondering. That's all I will say.Is it a family-friendly film? Not quite, but older children should be fine with it. Even younger children might be able to handle the version I saw, which may have been cleaned up for TV.Regardless, it is a worthy effort.

2karl- from the director of as good as its gets James l brooks comes a quirky ~ but crazy family story we meet Flor and her daughter escaping for a new life in America from Mexico her daughter is well able to hold her own with her mother as her mother looks for a job she finds a job as housekeeper jobs with the claskys an all American family misfits of a chef john clasky playing it straight as devoted dad and passion for cooking he is a owner of a restaurant which is crazy busy he had downgraded from new York to 3 stars but likes he life with out constraints we meet his kids his alcoholic mother and his eccentric wife who acting strange like a midlife crises so Flor comes and gets the jobs but feels that he child is being taking by the claskes wife as she is buying her daughter life and feels her daughter is moving away from her Flor has to fight with herself to learn the language and love and passion to love her daughter and not get involved in the family claskys martial issues things come to a head in this dramedy so what does Flor do stay or go 7/10 this film is 2hrs long it doesn't feel like that my 66 review