How unlike the creator of TV's "Mary Tyler Moore" and the movies "Broadcast News," "Terms of Endearment" and "As Good as It Gets" to cough up "Spanglish."
Not that the latter is terrible. We can't accuse filmmaker James L. Brooks of turning it over to his evil, clueless twin, as he did with "I'll Do Anything."
But the labored "Spanglish" is hugely miscalculated in terms of charm, humor, romance and poignance.
It's a 130-minute trifle that still manages to feel truncated.
Paz Vega has the leading role despite subordinate billing to bigger names.
She plays Flor, a beautiful single-parent Mexican who sneaks up to Los Angeles illegally with her equally beautiful daughter Cristina (Shelbie Bruce). The child is 12 during most of the story.
Flor refuses to learn English. Cristina is fluidly bilingual.
Flor lucks into overcompensated employment at the Bel-Air home of Deborah (Tea Leoni) and John Clasky (Adam Sandler), who have an adolescent daughter of their own, Bernice (Sarah Steele).
They also share their home with Deborah's mother, Evelyn (Cloris Leachman), a wine alcoholic with more horse sense than anyone else.
John is the best cook in the country (somehow The New York Times keeps ruining his life by saying so, a muddily made point at best) and apparently also the owner of his restaurant. He must be if he gives away 20 percent to his head cook. His wife says he's always "stark-raving calm."
Deborah is off-the-chart bipolar and certifiably unstable. Despite having an unbelievably sweet daughter of her own, she appropriates for no clear reason control over the clothing and spoiling of Cristina.
The one clearly delineated issue is Flor's fear that her daughter will be contaminated by privilege, a point underscored by her justifiable annoyance as Deborah lavishes gifts and opportunities on the girl without consulting with the mother.
Didn't Brooks intend to let the girls develop a bond?
"Spanglish" is so superficial about so many issues, including infidelity, manipulation and the employment of illegal immigrants -- a point never even mentioned, that it becomes irrelevant on all of them.
It never even notices that Flor is guilty of accepting unearned opportunities she righteously denies her daughter. Shouldn't she be more deeply conflicted than she is?
The picture isn't rich enough in character and situation to justify anywhere near its length.
It's congenial, and it contains Sandler's most stable portrayal to date -- no winks or asides to distance himself from the content.
But it's also sluggish, unfocused and precious rather than real. And the resolution is so abrupt it glibly cancels out a major disagreement from seconds earlier.
Is this supposed to be justified by a flashback framing device that presupposes a happy ending?
"Spanglish" feels like a picture that was rushed into production from a first draft. It's the sort of material that, if written by someone else, you'd pay Brooks seven figures to polish. Additional Information:
Details
'Spanglish'Director: James L. Brooks
Stars: Paz Vega, Adam Sandler, Tea Leoni
MPAA rating: PG-13 for some sexual content and brief language
