Writer-director James L. Brooks has yet to make a poor film.

"Spanglish" is about a woman and her daughter who emigrate from Mexico for a better life in America, where they start working for a family where the patriarch, played by Adam Sandler (Big Daddy), is a newly celebrated chef with an insecure wife, played by Tea Leoni (Deep Impact).

The movie had extremely well written characters, much like Brooks' scripts for "Terms of Endearment," "As Good As It Gets" and "Broadcast News." I loved how Sandler's character was so obsessed with his restaurant not becoming too successful.

Tea Leoni create one of her best performances ever. Her character's neurosis and insecurity makes the viewer extremely uncomfortable, as well as everyone else in the picture.

Sandler's performance was touchd and go. At times, it seems he was trying too hard to make an impression in the genre of light hearted drama; however, in scenes like when Leoni comes clean with him, his control was awesome.

I DID feel the movie's third act was its weekest. I never grasped why Flor, the emmigrant, played by Paz Vega, was so upset by her daughter growing up to be something different than her.

She is so upset in the finale, she leaves the Clasky family and pulls her daughter out of an extremely special private school, even though her daughter earned a scholarship to it. I just didn't quite get it., and that's why act three lacked. It lacked motivation and was far from being as strong as the previous one and a half.

Overall, I think "Spanglish" makes a great rental for couples looking to spend the evening in. It's high quality character writing, but needed a re-write for its finale in my opinion. It has become a part of my DVD collection.

Benn - Where's the Humanity?

This title was requested by a reader.