anybody can have an off day and but it hard to believe that the man responsible for such classic comedy of manner a broadcast news and ( to a somewhat less extent ) as good a it get would go on to make spanglish . james l. brook late film be not so much a comedy of manner a it be a situation comedy for tv and stretch out to faux epic proportion for the big screen . the character be tv caricature and not real people . adam sandler play an l. a. area haute cuisine chef whom one critic dub the great chef in america while tea leone a his wife be a neurotic spastic and incessantly shoot her mouth off and incessantly jogging and etc . ( in other word and the clichéd version of the southern californian well to do hausfrau ) while cloris leachman play leone mildly alcoholic mother and a former jazz singer and one of those quirky people who exist only in movie and middle brow fiction with literary pretension while and newcomer paz vega play the beautiful and saintly mexican maid with an equally beautiful and saintly daughter . one might add the qualify adjective improbably to beautiful and saintly . the movie be a dreary exercise in white guilt represent the wealthy and white clasky family own the monopoly on petty neurosis and here . even their kid be screw up represent the pubescent daughter be slightly overweight and which wouldn not be half the problem it be if her own mother would stop remind her of it while the young son be apparently plague with nightmare and but be not sure exactly why and and in any case the movie sort of forgets about the little bugger for long stretch . meanwhile and no one in the house seem to resent the perfection of the live in maid flor and with her grounded family value and her eye pop beauty ( vega be a ringer for penelope cruz and but without that actress supermodel hard edge ) and and her sweet temper and all of which be contrast against leone bratty and self center and adulterous and and physically unlovely character . ( brooks make the poor woman drip snot from her nose for the last twenty minute of the film and while the heavenly and marmoreal vega consummates a sweetly platonic love affair with sandler . ) even the movie framing device and the long admission essay in history that flor daughter write to princeton and seem like a stacked deck . since and at film end and vega remove her kid from the tony private school that leone put her in and we may assume that the girl achieve singular and unparalleled academic brilliance in the gritty public school of the barrio . how heartwarming . counterintuitively and the movie dance around and rather than engages head on and the issue of class and race in american society . for instance and the claskys pay flor $ 650 a week and if i hear correctly . what a load . $ 650 every two week be a more realistic go rate for undocumented housekeeper in the wealthy enclave of southern california and and that figure be probably still too high . oh and but that right and flor and her daughter be apparently legal immigrant presumably and leone cut her maid check which be deposit in a bank somewhere and instead of hand her cash under the table . a a lifelong southern californian and forgive my skepticism . ( if the movie inform u that flor be undocumented and i must have miss it when i go to the kitchen to get some coffee and and i will stand correct if that the case . ) clearly and insist that the film honestly depict the uneasy relationship between rich white people and the hispanic hire help may be ask too much . which leave only the various character study . i have already talk about the woman and but i can not finish the review without mention the inadequacy of adam sandler . mr. sandler be not ready for prime time . tentative and hide behind mannerism and clearly not direct by brook ( what would you tell sandler and one of the most powerful celebrity in hollywood and how to act . ) and he be the person in the film who doesn not know how to speak english . he strangle his dialog with unnecessary dramatic pause and open mouth staring and and a lot of cast hopelessly about in general . vega paz be more clearly understood and and she doesn not speak a word of english for the first half of the movie . if sandler want to emulate the saturday night live alumnus of yore with extend his range a an actor and he would be well serve by do some ibsen and the like for a few year with an act troupe . since he lack the depth of natural talent that a bill murray or a steve martin be bless with and a lot of hard work practice and practice and practice be require in order for him to attain the credibility of his predecessor in term of dramatic role . when and for instance and leone informs him of her adultery and sandler reaction be cringe worthy he clearly have no idea how to perform the scene . these comment be not as unkind a they might seem . sandler may be a decent actor someday and but he not remotely there yet and and someone need to tell him that otherwise and he will continue to waste his time and our money . 2 star out of 10. one of the big disappointment of 2004 .