![]() ![]() Played mostly for laughs, the ‘Spidys’ have a levity about them, as their young protagonist goes about his heroic duties, whilst trying to woo his girlfriend and ensure that he gets a proper education. I was a big fan of the comic books back in the day and the films – all three of the major strands – have always had that lightness of touch that somehow steps aside from the pomposity of so many Marvel projects. CAPTION: Tomei and Molina pretend to be married.I’ve seen most of the superhero movies and the one franchise I consistently enjoy is Spider-Man. But who knows? Maybe your grandmother will make a sudden appearance." THE PEREZ FAMILY (R) - Contains sexual situations and partial nudity. When Tomei claims to have found grandfather Perez, a catatonic, old gentleman who likes to perch naked in trees, Chowdhry retorts in a sarcastic Indian lilt: "With only three members, you are Number 27. "The Perez Family" is best when Nair shows her hand: the warm, brown tones of the cinematography, for instance, or the casting of the wonderful Indian actor Ranjit Chowdhry as the immigration official who must listen to Tomei's lies about more "discovered" relatives. There's something too comically forced about a person who would sob inconsolably upon hearing of John Wayne's demise. Brimming over with exotic sultriness and Desi Arnaz pronunciations (as in "joo" for "you"), she's a real strain on the movie. Molina, Huston and Palminteri exude enjoyable, empathetic presence with their performances, but Tomei is so cha-cha precious, you want to smack the little Cuban impersonator. After 20 years away from his real family, Molina finds himself with a shellshocked "grandfather" (Lazaro Perez) and a teenage "son" (Jose Felipe Padron). In a bid to raise her number even higher in the sponsorship lottery, Tomei searches for more Perezes to adopt. So she persuades Molina (who shares her last name of Perez) to pose as her husband. Stuck with the other refugees in the Orange Bowl football stadium, Tomei learns she can draw an American sponsor faster if she's part of a big family. (The alarm is triggered at one point by Molina, who runs off in terror before Huston gets to the door.) This makes her more susceptible to the attentions of police officer Palminteri - constantly responding to Huston's overly sensitive burglar alarm. ![]() When Cuban strongman Fidel Castro empties his prisons in the Mariel boat lift of 1980, thousands are allowed to flee to the United States.Īmong the one-way travelers are Molina, a sugar cane field proprietor whose wife (Huston) and daughter (Trini Alvarado) have lived without him in Miami for 20 years, and Tomei, a lusty, streetwise personality who wants to go to the land of Elvis, rock 'n' roll and John Wayne.ĭue to the kind of frustrating destiny that only happens in romantic comedies, Huston is led to believe that her husband is not among the Marielitos. But she does so at the cost of the movie: "The Perez Family," which also throws Anjelica Huston, Alfred Molina and Chazz Palminteri into the pot, is an accumulation of clashing flavors in an overambitious stew.Īs with "Mississippi Masala" (in which an Indian family settles in the American South, following Idi Amin's expulsion of Asians from Uganda), Nair launches her story with a political incident. Director Mira Nair, who made "Mississippi Masala," feels such goodwill toward her characters, she goes out of her way to indulge them. Marisa Tomei's annoyingly over-the-top performance as a curvaceous, earthy free spirit will attest to that alone. ![]() "THE PEREZ Family," a slow-burning romantic comedy in which Cuban immigrants resolve their troubled love lives in Miami, is too overcooked for its own good.
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