To Maya Jane Hiller
About a year and a half ago I voiced a complaint on this website. My gripe with Hollywood was the lack of films about (not simply featuring) good and decent fathers, when every other weekend there was a new release centered on some wonderful mother bonding with child. Not taking anything away from the estrogen set, but are men not half the parenting community? Kind of a raw deal for the millions of devoted dads who like movies. Well, we can add Spanglish to the short list of “father” films, which includes Kramer v. Kramer and a Steve Martin movie (no, not the inane Father of the Bride which bastardizes fatherhood, but rather Ron Howard's Parenthood which celebrates it).
I believe based on the advertising campaign for Spanglish most moviegoers would be confused as to its premise and surprised, after seeing it, by its content. As one friend of mine put it