lancekoz55-1 This movie starts out fresh with all sorts of charm and clever writing... but turns into something else altogether after mid-point. The dreary situation of Sandler's marriage and attraction to Vega causes him to mostly... sit there and mumble. The drinking scene in the restaurant is just slow and thinly written. The interactions of the two families involved is fun and touching... and that part alone is good enough for me to rate it well. After awhile, though, the writer just seemed to run low on plot. I've seen this happen in a lot of comedies... writers seem to always want to make material DEEP or be sure they've punched the 'cry' button. If it stayed light and was shorter... it would have been tighter and more entertaining all around.

mark.waltz This touching drama with comedy throughout is a view of relationships that build with time, trust and character. Paz Vega is sincere, wide- eyed and curious, yet fearful of stepping out of what she knows as a Mexican lady who struggles with cultural conflicts with raising her bilingual daughter who herself is anxious to mix both of her cultures. As the maid to Tea Leoni, a neurotic Bel Air housewife who takes many liberties with her role as Vega's employer, especially with Vega's daughter, Shelbie Bruce, Vega becomes more important to everyone in the household. As Leoni becomes increasingly difficult, Vega spends more time with Leoni's daughter who teaches her better English and finds herself more involved in her employer's troubles than she wanted to be.Both comical commentary and sage wisdom are offered by Leoni's delightful mother (the scene stealing Cloris Leachman), a former singing star who loves her wine and sees her daughter for the mess she is, often siding with Sandler. Quite subtle for a change, Sandler is more of a reactor, and often it seems like he's dumbfounded by Leoni's often hammy performance. It seems like she's biting off more meat than she can swallow, and tried too hard to keep up with the Oscar winning Cloris. Young Sarah Steele is a nice find as Leoni and Sandler's chubby daughter who strives for typical awkward teen acceptance without becoming cloying.This isn't quite a masterpiece, but it is quite pleasing in spite of Leoni's forced performance and a few deep plot holes. Surprisingly well written and directed by Joseph Brooks, it is a bit of a sleeper and filled with some unpredictable moments. As Sandler and Vega bond, a different kind of love grows, and it becomes very revealing into all of these character's hearts. I didn't see the need however to tell this through flashbacks as it already seemed to be set in modern times and could have just added a prologue to wrap things up.

gavin6942 A woman (Paz Vega) and her daughter emigrate from Mexico for a better life in America, where they start working for a family where the patriarch (Adam Sandler) is a newly celebrated chef with an insecure wife (Tea Leoni).The biggest problem with this movie: Tea Leoni is a truly awful actress. But even besides that, as many have pointed out, the word for this film is "uneven". There is not a clear plot arc, it wavers from comedy to drama to something else. There was probably a good movie in here, but it gets lost somehow.Adam Sandler takes the lead to some extent, but his acting is just alright. After "Punch Drunk Love", we know he can do drama just as well as comedy. But here, he seems like he is always ready to crack a joke and not really fully committed to his serious, fatherly role.

2karl- from the director of as good as its gets James l brooks comes a quirky ~ but crazy family story we meet Flor and her daughter escaping for a new life in America from Mexico her daughter is well able to hold her own with her mother as her mother looks for a job she finds a job as housekeeper jobs with the claskys an all American family misfits of a chef john clasky playing it straight as devoted dad and passion for cooking he is a owner of a restaurant which is crazy busy he had downgraded from new York to 3 stars but likes he life with out constraints we meet his kids his alcoholic mother and his eccentric wife who acting strange like a midlife crises so Flor comes and gets the jobs but feels that he child is being taking by the claskes wife as she is buying her daughter life and feels her daughter is moving away from her Flor has to fight with herself to learn the language and love and passion to love her daughter and not get involved in the family claskys martial issues things come to a head in this dramedy so what does Flor do stay or go 7/10 this film is 2hrs long it doesn't feel like that my 66 review