Spanglish (film)
| Spanglish | |
|---|---|
 A comedy with a language all its own. | |
| Directed by | James L. Brooks |
| Written by | James L. Brooks |
| Produced by | Julie Ansell James L. Brooks Richard Sakai |
| Starring | Adam Sandler Téa Leoni Paz Vega Cloris Leachman Thomas Haden Church |
| Cinematography | John Seale |
| Edited by | Richard Marks |
| Music by | Hans Zimmer |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release dates | December 17, 2004 |
Running time | 131 min. |
| Languages | English Spanish |
| Budget | $80,000,000 |
Spanglish is a 2004 American film written and directed by James L. Brooks, and starring Adam Sandler, Téa Leoni, Paz Vega, and Cloris Leachman. Hans Zimmer was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score. It was released in other countries over the first several months of 2005.
Taglines:
- Every family has a hero.
- A comedy with a language all its own.
Plot summary
The movie opens showing a Princeton University admissions board reviewing freshman applications and reading the essays that accompany them. The question for the essay is, “Who has been the most influential person in your life?” The reviewers are met with unremarkable answers and uninteresting explanations, but one essay stands out: that of Cristina Moreno (Shelbie Bruce), who cites her mother, Flor (Paz Vega), as the most influential person in her life. Cristina proceeds to explain, and the movie begins to unfold.
Flor Moreno, a divorced mother from Mexico, has crossed the border into the United States with her young daughter Cristina, in search of a better life. Flor’s cousin, already in the States, helps her find an apartment and two low-paying jobs. Cristina attends schools and over time becomes fluent in the English language; however, since Flor has chosen to seclude herself in the Latino community, she refuses to break the language barrier and continues to conduct her entire American life in Spanish.
Eventually, however, it becomes clear that Flor cannot simply lock herself and Cristina in their own world forever, and so she begins to look outside her community for a single job that can provide them with more income. Again, with the help of her cousin as translator, Flor finds a position as housekeeper for the Clasky family, which is composed of a successful chef named John (Adam Sandler), his insecure wife, Deborah (Tea Leoni), their two children Bernice (Sarah Steele) and Georgie (Ian Hyland), and Deborah's mother, retired singer Evelyn (Cloris Leachman). Though the Claskys and Flor cannot understand one another, Flor tries to help out around the house as best she can, even helping Bernice and Georgie during Deborah’s frenetic outbursts.
Flor learns that as rich as the Claskys are, they have issues that are equal to, if not worse than, her own. She learns that John is an emotional man (a far cry from the tough, macho Latino men she is accustomed to), and that like herself, Deborah is unable to understand what is best for her family and what makes them happy. To make matters worse, Deborah and John’s marriage is on the rocks.
Flor is proud of her Mexican roots, and does not wish to forget her heritage or the values instilled in her. Wishing for her daughter to be as proud of her roots as she is, Flor and Cristina’s relationship is put to the test when Deborah requires Flor to live with the Claskys for the summer, and thus she is forced to bring her daughter along. The Claskys immediately take to Cristina and treat her like their own. Cristina marvels at all that the Claskys have, while Flor watches, forcing herself to be happy for her daughter but watchful of the intrusion into her personal sphere.
The real problems begin to surface when Deborah takes Cristina on a shopping trip without Flor’s permission. Then John gives Cristina a large sum of money for sea glass she found on the beach (though as John explains, she honestly worked for it). After a few verbal spats, Flor finally decides to learn English to better understand her employers.
Deborah manipulates her social connections to get Cristina a scholarship to a very expensive private school, the same school at which Bernice studies. When Cristina learns this, she is delighted, but Flor is appalled, though Deborah managed to hide that the US$20,000 scholarship was her doing. When Deborah allows Cristina to sleep over with her friends rather than attending a family affair with her mother, Flor decides she has had enough and comes to get her daughter. Meanwhile, John goes home after work that night to have Deborah reveal that she has been having an affair with their real estate agent. An emotionally crushed John goes charging out of the house where he meets Flor, who intended to go to the Clasky household to quit her job. The two end up getting into a car and head to John’s restaurant, and it proves an ultimate test for both when they are tempted to engage in an affair. Flor refuses with great difficulty, but not before telling John she loves him. Meanwhile, Evelyn is at the house to support her daughter in her time of need, being brutally honest in the process: “You’re enjoying this, mother'—'No, I’m not; not in the way that you think I am anyway'—'So you are enjoying this?!'”
After the Claskys have a weak reconciliation, Flor arrives to take Cristina, and after a tearful farewell, Cristina asks her mother if she could stay with the Claskys. Flor tells Cristina that she cannot go to the private school anymore and, in turn, she becomes angry with her mother. After a moment of silence at the bus stop, Flor asks Cristina a question that will define the rest of her life: Does she really want to become someone very different from her mother?
Cristina responds by boarding the bus with her mother and embracing her for the duration of their ride. As this scene plays, Cristina as an adult narrates, acknowledging that “all she is today” rests on the simple fact that she is her mother’s daughter.
- Adam Sandler .... John Clasky
- Téa Leoni .... Deborah Clasky
- Paz Vega .... Flor Moreno
- Cloris Leachman .... Evelyn Wright
- Shelbie Bruce .... Cristina Moreno
- Sarah Steele .... Bernice Clasky
- Ian Hyland .... Georgie Clasky
- Victoria Luna .... Cristina Moreno(six-years old)
- Cecilia Suarez .... Monica
- Ricardo Molina .... Flor's husband
- Brenda Canela .... Luz
- Eddy Martin .... Fourteen-year old boy
- Nicole Nieth .... Hostess at fancy restaurant
- Jamie Kaler, James Lancaster .... Businessmen
- Philip Rosenthal .... Pietro
- Angela Goethals .... Gwen
- Sean Smith .... Victor – maitre d'
- Jonathan Hernandez .... Alex
- Thomas Haden Church .... Mike – realtor
- Freddy Soto .... Manuel
- Wendy Braun, Nicole Hiltz .... Yuppie girls
- Aimee Garcia [voice] .... Narrator
- Jean Gaskill .... Arlene – School Director
- Spencer Locke, Sarah Hyland .... Sleepover friends
- Andrew Sikking, Albert Melera .... Chefs
- Liz Carey .... Hostess at John's restaurant
- Anastasia C. Ford, Yasmeen Azizian,
Daisy Cruz, Kristha Sazo .... Girls on balcony - Morgan Ward, Cheryl Ward .... Coffee patrons
- Chris Stone .... UPS guy
- Jason Thornton .... Oscar Mendez
- Antonio Munoz .... Mexican at family dinner
|}
Awards
| Year | Category | Person | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Película más padre | Winner | |
| Year | Category | Person | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Best Original Score | Hans Zimmer | Nominated |
BOX OFFICE
This film made a worldwide gross of $55,041,367, a bomb considering the 80 million dollar Production Budget.