“Spanglish” is the story of a mother and daughter who move from Mexico to Los Angeles.

The move is not motivated by a need for opportunity but rather a need for a change of scenery. Once settled in L.A., the mother Flor, played by Paz Vega, finds a job as a housekeeper and nanny for the Clasky family.

The Claskys are quite the clan. The father, John, is played by Adam Sandler and is a world-class chef at an increasingly popular restaurant. The mother, Deborah, (Tea Leoni) has recently become a stay-at-home mom due to the downsizing of her company. Deborah’s mother, Evelyn, also lives with the family and can best be described as a flaky, alcoholic grandmother.

Given this backdrop of characters, Spanglish has a plot that could be described in many ways. It could be about the difficulties of parenting, the clashing of two cultures, the anatomy of a marriage on the brink of collapse, the way a mother is seen through her daughter’s eyes, or even a look at the relationship between two very different families.

The subplots make it difficult for the movie to address any one topic well. Rather, the movie excels in looking at how each of the characters relates to, and affects, another.

The characters and dialogue allow for some genuine laughs, as well as, scenes of true heartache. “Spanglish” is enjoyable because it is easy to care about the people and get drawn into the story, and I think that makes it the type of movie most will enjoy.

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Mark Stansbury is an accountant who lives in Pendleton. He can be reached at Mark_Stansbury@hotmail.com.