Spanglish

It’s hard for me to watch an Adam Sandler movie because of the possibly irreparable damage he has done to the American comedy movie … but he’s okay in this. No vain mugging. And I liked a lot of the parts of the movie, particularly the two Hispanic actresses. But it comes up short. It just isn’t believable.

Flor goes to work for a woman who thinks she is liberal and understanding and is actually way beyond loathsome, though she’ll never understand that. When they move to the beach for the summer, it becomes a contest between Flor and her employer for Flor’s very smart daughter’s affections. The chasm between the almost indescribable wealth of these two upper-middle-class white people and the Mexican mother and daughter somehow surviving on $650 a month is vast, and all we really see of it is the daily line of illegal maids trudging from the bus stop to their jobs in a wealthy neighborhood. No mention that, with LA’s horrid bus system they may have had to get up at 4 AM even to get to work, and transfer twice.

Now I know this isn’t meant to be a muckraking expose of the gruesome poverty of illegals, but this movie almost totally ignores it. And that dishonesty taints all that’s good in the picture. [There was good?]

If you want to read a more accurate description of just how wide the gap is between rich and poor, try The Tortilla Curtain, by TC Boyle. It will show you things you never even thought of, a Bonfire of the Vanities for Hispanic/White relations.