Well intended and certainly very watchable, but a confusing and often unbelievable narrative makes this a disappointment in spite of a fun cast. This deals with the confusion over a Hispanic last name that has immigration officials assuming that Alfred Molina (just out of a Cuban prison after 20 years) and single former prostitute Marissa Tomei are married. He already has a wife and children in Miami but can't locate them, so Tomei and Molina pretend to be married and find a young orphaned boy and lonely old man to complete it.
While they are very good, I found the story involving Angelica Huston as the missing wife much more interesting because of the quiet fierce way she plays the role, not at all a Latina stereotype, and quite soft spoken until she gets upset. Daughter Trini Alvarado and Tomei get to be spitfire, but Huston delightfully underplays, especially as her character falls in love with federal agent Chazz Palminteri even though she's pined for her husband for decades.
Tomei gets to play various elements of her character, obviously maturing out of her young adulthood and desperate to be respectable in spite of her past. Molina pines for his wife and denies his attraction to Tomei in very funny ways. It's obvious where this is going. The one character who doesn't really get much in the way of decent development is Huston's low life criminal brother, played in a cartoonish manner by Diego Wallraff. The film is colorful and frequently sad (there's an unnecessary death among the major characters), and overall a mixed bag.
While they are very good, I found the story involving Angelica Huston as the missing wife much more interesting because of the quiet fierce way she plays the role, not at all a Latina stereotype, and quite soft spoken until she gets upset. Daughter Trini Alvarado and Tomei get to be spitfire, but Huston delightfully underplays, especially as her character falls in love with federal agent Chazz Palminteri even though she's pined for her husband for decades.
Tomei gets to play various elements of her character, obviously maturing out of her young adulthood and desperate to be respectable in spite of her past. Molina pines for his wife and denies his attraction to Tomei in very funny ways. It's obvious where this is going. The one character who doesn't really get much in the way of decent development is Huston's low life criminal brother, played in a cartoonish manner by Diego Wallraff. The film is colorful and frequently sad (there's an unnecessary death among the major characters), and overall a mixed bag.