Communication Breakdown

I have always found it easier to write about films I dislike rather than films I like. That said, composing a review for Spanglish has been the most difficult piece of writing I've attempted all year. The film is overloaded with moments, and while these individual moments all "work" (more or less) the overall effect does not. The film is about miscommunication, and in the end James L. Brooks ends up miscommunicating with his audience. While the relationship between Flor (Paz Vega) and her daughter should be the focus of the film, Brooks becomes sidetracked by the Clasky family. The slowly disintegrating marriage between John (Adam Sandler) and Deborah (Tea Leoni) is established economically and humorously. But then Brooks does something he never has done before, he passes judgment. He turns the high-strung Deborah into such a monster that the audience has no choice but to either hate the character or feel sorry for the very game Tea Leoni. Flor exists for no other reason that to show the audience how great a guy John is and how horrible Deborah is. The film collapses in the third act when Brooks believes he can leave the Clasky story mostly unresolved on a note of very mild redemption for Deborah, and that the ending will satisfy his audiences. He then fumbles the ending between Flor and her daughter by making it highly dramatic when, for the most part, he has abandoned their story to focus on the Clasky's. Brooks wanted to make a film about interpersonal miscommunication, and ends up miscommunicating with the audience.