THE PEREZ FAMILY
A film review by Ben Hoffman
Copyright 1995 Ben Hoffman
Back in 1980, the U.S. and Castro reached an agreement whereby Fidel would allow thousands of Cubans to emigrate to the U.S. This became known as the Mariel boatlift. Among those who in the film who are on one of the boats is the hyper, lovely, sexy, irrepressible Dottie (Marisa Tomei) and a handsome man, Juan Raul Perez (Alfred Molina). Juan has just been freed after 20 years in jail and expects to have his wife Carmela (Anjelica Huston) waiting for him when the boat docks. In the turmoil of the landings, the going through a not particularly friendly Immigration, they do not meet and she assumes he is dead.
Miami's Little Havana is colorfully photographed but only a hint of the miserable conditions that exist there that have made it the capital of crime in the U.S., is actually shown. While not a political film, it would not have hurt to show that the freedom the refugees expected to find in the U.S. was not entirely all that they had been lead to believe. Drugs, prostitution, crowded conditions, are more or less skimmed over. Rather than a political film it is a romantic comedy.
When the detective (Chazz Palminteri), looking for illegal aliens, arrives at Carmela Perez's home he is instantly smitten with her. She, for her part, thinking her husband is dead in Cuba, is amenable to his advances. Palminteri is one of the finest actors currently appearing on the screen. He looks like a Hollywood stereotypical Italian gangster (he was the gangster in THE BRONX TALE ... and also wrote the story) ... and was the gangster whose job it was to watch over the dumb blond actress in Woody Allen's BULLETS OVER BROADWAY. But he exudes a certain charm, a goodness and kindness that are always evident. He is in a class by himself.
Most of the story concerns getting together a Perez family as the more there are in the family, the less time will have to be spent before being released in Miami. The hilarious comedy scenes derive from getting this mythical family together to present to Immigration and sexy Dottie will knock you out with her innocence, charm and wiggling.
Everyone in the cast is terrific but Tomei (who put on 20 pounds on her derriere so she could swing it wildly) and her wholesome lovely smile and good humor are what carries the movie.
Directed by Ms. Mira Nair.
3 Bytes
4 Bytes = Superb 3 Bytes = Too good to be missed. 2 Bytes = So so. 1 Byte = Save your money.
Ben Hoffman
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