James Brooks is a bit of a throwback. He makes "pictures," not movies or films. He's interested in spending time with characters and is not afraid of really long scenes. And Spanglish ought to be judged against his other work not other romantic comedies, because his work is usually quite superior. Even in his worst films, you are guaranteed of two hours of thought-provoking, sometimes beautiful moments, which he agonizes for years to craft. That said, sometimes he hits and sometimes he misses. It's hard to call Spanglish a miss because it has all these requisite Brooksian hallmarks. There's intelligent dialogue, there are honest characterizations and there are beautiful pictures usually coupled with memorable music. I would argue this movie has all the elements storywise to rate amongst his best, but a number of niggling details eventually bring it down from a classic such as Terms of Enderament or Broadcast News. First of all there is the casting. I don't have much bad to say about Adam Sandler's performance except that I just don't think he's a leading man. I think he would be a terrific supporting actor in a drama, but as a romantic lead he just doesn't nail it. Part of the problem is that he is trying so hard to suppress this goofy persona that he overdoes it with the nice guy. Not that there's anything wrong with nice guys, but nice guys who are romantic leads usually have some serious acting chops or they're obscenely handsome. I like Sandler's character here, it's just think his casting doesn't allow the picture to go to the next level, although I must admit Brooks is so smart he's written an explanation as to why Paz Vega's character would find this attractive because her first husband was unable to express himself to her. The real problem in this picture is the kids. Very tough roles here, and it is obviously Mr. Brooks style to be generous with his actors, even though both the Bernice and Christina actresses were both newbies. I don't want to spend much time criticizing their noble efforts, I just want to point out that they come across less as real kids and more as just-so-super-happy-to-be-on-a-movie. Plenty of real choker moments here (the dangling feet scene in the restaurant is a classic) and much to recommend, but not his best effort
Review of Spanglish
