From Prada to Nada

This movie has characters all over it, some with ridiculously short skirts and way too high heels. It has elements of a culture completely unrelated to my country, Australia, yet the peoples emotional connections come through clearly. I've known ethnic groups and come from half Italian one myself, enough to be able to recognise the clarity of the writing with respect to the beliefs and customs of these Mexican people living in LA. I have been to LA but didn't go to East LA apart from some fast food stands in Glendale ;) but the murals and artwork, the street appeal of it all is right there in this movie. It's very real and not just pandering to a pc crowd of wannabe humanitarians, it's the real deal. At the same time it's light hearted enough to be a romantic comedy but deep enough to capture some real human emotion. As I said in my title, it's much better than you'd think it will be. Damn girl that dress is short!

It has 5.5 IMDB rating. If IMDB rating is your major turn on, you better avoid it. However, if you want to watch a light movie that bounds you for fun, you should hit it. It didn't disappoint me. In fact, I enjoyed me evening through midnight.

I enjoyed this movie.It may not have the most amazing acting but I can tell the people in it are having fun. I loved the slices of Mexican/American culture. It is a pretty clean comedy compared to most PG- 13 ones. The expanded rating gives the reasons for the PG-13. It is a unique variation of the Jane Austin movie it is based on. I think the parts in Spanish are much more entertaining if you know Spanish. Although you can still enjoy it even if you do not know Spanish. If you know nothing of LA or some Mexican traditions this is probably not the movie for you. I liked it more for the culture and the moral lessons. I would watch this movie again which is a lot to say since most movies fail to entertain me after one sitting.

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.

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.