Spanglish (or, Language divide divides audiences)

Spanglish is an audience divider. One of those films that you either love or you hate.

I am one of the lovers but every time I have seen the film there has always been a hater.

Last night, our audience was divided at exactly the one hour and twenty two minute mark when Andrew remarked, "This is shit, I'm going home!" See what I mean.

Stuart loved it though. It is just one of those films. Andrew is right, the characters are caricaturishly paper thin. Watching Adam Sandler's heartfelt chef, Tèa Leoni's emotionally repressed health freak mother, and Paz Vega's beautiful windswept beauty of a Mexican housekeeper interact is like watching a cartoon (hell, the guy did write The Simpsons) but I've always felt that the sum is more than the parts.

It is cheesy and heavy handed but it is also heartfelt, if you are game enough to buy into it. And who could pass up the opportunity of seeing Cloris Leachman on screen, especially when she is given lines like - Lately your low self esteem is just good common sense.

Spanglish is one of those films that suffers because the line between drama and comedy became a little too blurred. Is it a dramedy or a comedrama? I suppose it is what you choose to pull out of it but that doesn't help you when you are looking to pull something off the shelf at your local dvd conglomerate mega-store.

I'd recommend it, Andrew wouldn't, Stuart would, Byron would, James wouldn't and if memory serves neither would Donald.

Take from that what you will.