From Prada to Nada

Ostensibly a modern retelling of Jane Austen's "Sense and Sensibility", the sisters Nora Dominguez (Camilla Belle) and Mary Dominguez (Alex Vega) are now rich Latinas who grew up rich and ignorant of their culture. When they lose their father and their fortune, they are forced to live with their poor relatives in East L.A.

Jane Austen doesn't always translate completely to modern times. Marriage just doesn't have the same importance as in Jane's times. The culture has changed in 200 years. But if we take the story without the Austen expectations, it works relatively fine.

However not everything is as fine as others. Mary is a little too privileged and ignorant to be likable for my taste. Alex Vega is playing her too much like a stereotype. And the production value is a little bit limited. With good actors available, they needed a more experienced director. Angel Gracia could only give us a made-for-TV level of style. Overall this rom-com is much richer of a story than most. It is definitely better than most of Lifetime or Hallmark romance.

Believing this to be a comedy, I sat down to watch it, only to find out that the movie was more of a romantic drama, than it was a comedy. So was that a bad thing? No, because "From Prada to Nada" turned out to be a rather nice cultural movie of sorts.

The story is about two sisters who live in luxury in Beverly Hills, when their father drops dead on his 55th birthday. Finding out that their father was a risk-taker and is in serious debt, the sisters Nora (played by Camilla Belle) and Mary (played by Alexa Vega) have to pack up their things and move to East Los Angeles to live with their Mexican family. This is somewhat of a change of lifestyle and a whole new world for the rich man's daughters.

I will say that "From Prada to Nada" turned out to be more than just a 'riches to rags' story. It deals with finding yourself even when odds are stacked against you, and finding your heritage even after having deluded yourself otherwise. And, of course, it is a story of family bonds and of finding love.

There were aspects and parts of the movie that were venturing down the 'chick flick' lane, while other parts of the movie were so predictable that you saw it coming a mile away. But still, "From Prada to Nada" turned out to be an enjoyable and somewhat beautiful movie.

The people cast for the various roles were doing good jobs, and especially Camilla Belle and Alexa Vega carried the movie quite well. And it was nice to see Wilmer Valderrama in this movie as well.

If you enjoy a moving with a loving story and a story that is close to life and realistic, then you should give "From Prada to Nada" a watch, because it is well worth it.

I have to admit I have a soft spot for Austen and the many, many (did I mention many?) adaptions. Yes I realize that most are less than stellar but there is something about a classic Austen love story that makes me smile. This is most assuredly a knockoff adaption of Sense and Sensibility, if you know the tale you will not be surprised where this story takes you. As far as adaptions go however, this is a very sweet, abet unoriginal version.

The "twist" to this Austen remake is that the cast is mainly Latino and is set in modern day east LA. I am not Hispanic so I cannot speak to the authenticness (and not stereotypical) of the Mexican/American culture but I enjoyed how they incorporated this aspect into the Austen storyline.

I did not expect much so I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. There was a real sense of love and warmth between the family, more so than in many other portrayals. The writers managed to bring the adaption into the modern world and cast the characters well. With the title being what it is I was not expecting the level of acting to be high but I was surprised at how good they depicted their roles. Yes it isn't top notch acting but for the most part they all delivered a solid performance.

In short decent acting, good Austen plot, and warm loving characters made this worth watching at least once.

If I had one word to describe this movie, I would use the word 'awful' and as far as movies go that's a killer. I find it hard to believe that so many reviewers called this movie beautiful, it was nowhere close, a combination of a bad script and pretty awful acting, especially on the behalf of Alexa Vega the movie turned out to be quite a disappointment. Another thing is that the cover is misleading not that that makes a significant difference. Finding it hard to even fill in 10 lines about this awful movie with this kind of a plot where even the main actors has no morals it seemed, made the most absurd and unbelievable decisions and yet predictable. Worst part of it was the acting, all in all, don't watch it, its a waste of time and money.

I knew very little about this film I liked the title, and so the wife and I went to see it on a lark. I knew none of the actors nor anything about the director and it added to my pleasure because I saw it open-minded and my opinion was not affected by users or media critics, This was a realistic comedy in the rom-com sense. Unlike the usual Rom-Com Hollywood crap (staring jenniferAniston, this had romance but emphasized relationships and family values.It deals with education ambition and obstacles for bettering their lives, Everyone seemed real and life like. I cared a great deal about all of the people involved and what happens to them. Every actor in it were superb. They felt like real people. It had some gentle humor regarding immigrants coming to America and the main start was when 2 young women had to return to the barrio and learn how it is to be part of the working class. I loved it see it!!