Spanglish

Sandler plays a sweetheart of a hubby in Brooks's problematic social comedy. As celebrity chef John Clasky, he's loving and supportive despite the complete self-absorption of his disturbingly unpleasant wife, Deborah (Leoni). Even Deborah's live-in lush of a mother (Leachman) knows what a horror her daughter is. Into this unhappy household comes lovely Flor (Vega), a Mexican illegal (who doesn't yet speak English) who takes the job as housekeeper because it will offer a better life for her own daughter, Cristina (Bruce). Given John's marital circumstances, is it any wonder that he and Flor become increasingly simpatico? Sandler's sincere and Leoni is nothing if not gutsy but it hardly seems worth the effort.