Spanglish
***1
/2
Rated
: PG-13 for some sexual content and brief language
Cast
: Adam Sandler, Téa Leoni, Paz Vega, Cloris Leachman
Writer/director
: James L. Brooks
Family call
: The amount of sexual content may make parents uneasy.
Running time
: 128 minutes
Opens Friday at
: Park Place, El Con, Century Park, Foothills, Desert Sky, Uptown
Writer/director James L. Brooks, whose "Spanglish" opens Friday, has proved to be a master at funneling powerful acting and stark emotion into dramatic entertainment. Some examples:
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Terms of Endearment (1983)
- Orchestrating excellent performances from Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger and Jack Nicholson in a relationship-focused tale of loss and redemption, Brooks swept the Oscars for best picture, best director and best adapted screenplay.
Broadcast News (1987)
- Brooks sinks his teeth into the competitive, sometimes amoral world of television news, with a story of two rival reporters (William Hurt, Albert Brooks) who compete for career prominence, as well as the affections of an overachieving producer played by Holly Hunter.
I'll Do Anything (1994)
- In what is regarded as Brooks' weakest film to date, Nick Nolte stars as a gruff, unsuccessful actor who is forced to suddenly face single parenthood.
As Good as It Gets (1997)
- Guiding another stellar performance by Nicholson, this time as an obsessive-compulsive grump, Brooks tells a comic, heartwarming love story with sharp edges. Helen Hunt plays Nicholson's beleaguered romantic interest.
