Spanglish (2004) is a pretty damn good movie. It had nothing going for it in my opinion, but my opinion was based mostly on the trailer, and boy was the trailer bad. This movie is about a Mexican immigrant woman, Flor, played by Paz Vega, who gets a job as a maid for a rich family to support her daughter. When Flor's relationship with the family becomes less professional and more personal, trouble brews. That description makes it sound pornographic, but it's not.

The film was directed by James L. Brooks, who's made some pretty good movies over the last couple of years. The trailer tells us about his films Terms of Endearment (1983) and Broadcast News (1987), which were great, but ends with As Good As It Gets (1997), which I thought was anything but.

The trailer makes the conflict of the film seem to be about Tea Leoni's character, Deborah, the rich, white, matron of the family, and her relationship with her alcoholic mother, Evelyn, played brilliantly by Cloris Leachman. Although, this is part of the story, the true focus is Flor. No one wants to see a movie about a spoiled, white, rich woman, and though Tea Leoni plays this part beautifully, hers is not the story of the film.

The film is narrated by Flor's daughter, Cristina, played impeccably by Shelbie Bruce, and firmly sets the perspective down Mexico way. Cristina is around to help translate for the language-blocked adults, though she eventually becomes more integral to the plot, when Deborah begins to invade her life, and causes the class difference of the two families to be laid bare.

And finally, probably the main reason I stayed away originally: Adam Sandler. I enjoyed Happy Gilmore, Billy Madison, and The Waterboy, to the point where I wasn't angry when the film was over, but we've never seen Adam Sandler play a human being until now. Adam Sandler turns in a sensative, human, performance. He's really great in this movie. It's a really great movie.

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