Spanglish 2004

Critics score:
53 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: Now here is something I thought I would never see: an intelligent movie whose most mature, thoughtful character is played by Adam Sandler. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: You're constantly aware of how oddly these people are behaving, and the artificiality spoils the illusion. Read more

Allison Benedikt, Chicago Tribune: Brooks plops moms and dads and kids in the middle of a muddled message movie, losing his characters, his wit and, worst of all, his point. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: The film too often seems to be talking down, to its subjects and to its audience. Read more

Carla Meyer, San Francisco Chronicle: There's fun to be had if you can accept Spanglish's dubious relationship to the actual universe. Read more

David Edelstein, Slate: The movie is what in Hollywood they call 'character-driven,' and it does take its sweet time. But much of that time is sweet indeed. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: Very well done. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Spanglish isn't [Brooks'] best work, but it's infused with humor and humanity. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: Vega radiates effortless strength and charm in her first Hollywood role, and Sandler proves to be a gratifyingly unpredictable leading man, self-effacing one moment and hilariously emphatic the other. Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: Deserves an audience because much of Brooks' writing is still strong and fresh. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: One of the most humane works ever made about the lives of working mothers. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: It gives us ideas to chew on, moments to laugh at and performances to admire, but, like so many current lives, it is also somewhat in disarray, not always equal to its admirable intentions and the grace of its most successful aspects. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: Sometimes Brooks's ideas are legitimate, but his way of putting them across is dishonest. Sometimes the ideas are dishonest, but his way of putting them across is legitimate. Read more

Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: Easy to enjoy, if you're at all susceptible to this sort of thing, but it leaves you with nothing to think about, except for all the opportunities Brooks missed to make something worthwhile out of the material. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: The film's deepest charms come from its ensemble's wacky chemistry and Brooks' warm appreciation of the love between parents and children. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: This is a deeply unpleasant movie masquerading as a heartfelt social commentary on life in these United States (or at least in the wealthy republic of Beverly Hills). Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: Spanglish's central players are like real people touched with the perfect dose of comic exaggeration. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: A desperate, shapeless, overreaching big-screen sitcom of a movie that just wants to be loved. Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: As a TV sitcom veteran, Brooks knows how to fashion a button-pushing formula. But the buttons on this board are too numerous and their prodding more conspicuously annoying. Read more

David Ansen, Newsweek: There are signs that a lot has been cut, and in trimming his film Brooks may have squeezed too tight: his movie needs breathing space. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: Doesn't match Brooks' prior efforts because the characters are too broadly written. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: An unusually shallow and facile work for Brooks, but the writing and the performances -- other than Leoni's -- keep us at least halfway involved. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: It's another movie about a dysfunctional family, but this one is different because they're original, lovable, forgivable and fascinating. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: [Brooks] opts for soothing fakery and empty multicultural rhetoric to send us home feeling good about ourselves and partaking of the surplus smugness that he clearly has to spare. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: The film gets better as it goes along ... and all the characters, including Deborah, become more interesting and appealing as we get to know them better. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Brooks, fumbling around with too many characters and too many issues, can't find the heart of the story or give heart to the part of it he chose to focus on. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Unassuming yet effective. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The movie is not quite the sitcom the setup seems to suggest; there are some character quirks that make it intriguing. Read more

Charles Taylor, Salon.com: Offensive because it turns liberal self-abasement into self-congratulation. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: A distressingly heartwarming domestic drama. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: As in most sentimental yarns, this is a flick where credible characterization is held hostage to the demands of the plot and the needs of its message. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: Feels like inadvertent misogynist psychodrama. Read more

Geoff Andrew, Time Out: This is Hollywood liberal humanism as muted join-the-dots melodrama, all carefully calculated colouring, broad outlines, and no room for fruitful digression. Read more

Mike Clark, USA Today: A performer's showcase. While the pleasantly sentimental comedy doesn't bowl you over with cinematic technique, it's likely to make audiences happy. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: Short on real drama and incident and long on tedium thanks to one irredeemably neurotic central character. Read more

Dennis Lim, Village Voice: As pedestrian as its marital and parental conflicts may be, Spanglish utterly crumbles when it probes matters of cultural identity. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: The movie's funny and wicked fun. Read more

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: So rancid is Brooks's fury that it's clouded his judgment, so that each of his main characters is a stereotype of the most broad-brush, malodorous nature. Read more