***SPOILERS AHEAD***

It seems like it was only yesterday that Mala and I were tweeting that we were surprised we had not been invited to a screening of the upcoming film Our Family Wedding featuring America Ferrera, Carlos Mencia, Regina King, and Forest Whitaker. Then all of a sudden an invitation falls into my inbox! I’ll admit that when I started to see the trailers on television I just took a deep sigh as the images and storyline lead one to believe that it will focus on the racism that Latinos have towards Black people. And ya’ll know how I feel about that already.

The film follows Lucia performed by America Ferrera (Ugly Betty) who is attending Law School at Columbia University in NYC where she meets her fiancé Marcus performed by Lance Gross (House Of Payne, Meet The Browns), who is seeking a medical degree at the same University. We meet them as they are packing to head back to LA to visit family and announce they are getting married. Dating for less than one year, Marcus is excited to share his decision and love for Lucia with his single-father who raised him, Brad, performed by Forest Whitaker (Last King Of Scotland), who is one of LA’s most eligible bachelors ad a well known radio personality. Lucia however, is very concerned about telling her father Miguel performed by Carlos Mencia (The Mind of Mencia) and her mother Sonia performed by Diana-Maria Riva (Chasing Papi, What Women Want) about her wedding plans, dropping out of Law School to become a teaching to immigrant youth, and moving with Marcus to Laos for a Doctors Without Borders opportunity.

As I watched the film, I was entertained, but it became clear to me that the film was written by men because each of the multiple ways the female characters were developed (or not) and how they were portrayed as weak, sad, fearful, or chasing after men. Yet the men are angry, opinionated, and in various ways display levels of power not just within their specific communities but power over the women in their lives as well. Director and co-writer Rick Famuyiwa (Brown Sugar, The Wood), along with Malcolm Spellman and Wayne Conley have crafted this story. First there is Lucia’s character who does not share with her family that she is even dating someone let alone in love. I really had a problem with this part of the storyline because it plays on these fears, the lack of respecting her relationship with her future husband, and the tension that is amplified based on her choices for herself after meeting him (i.e. leaving Law School). It almost sets their relationship as the reason why she made such life altering decisions that will exacerbate her parent’s disappointment in her choices. A scapegoat if you will. It reminded me very much about The Cosby Show episode when Vanessa brings home Dabnis. Then again, this is exactly the same story, as Vanessa didn’t tell her parents about her relationship she created in college either. “It’s in the presentation” of how the women bring home their future spouses. Below is the clip for a reminder; it starts around the 5:30 minute mark:

Is it really difficult to come up with new stories and creative plots? I suppose it is. Lucia begins to display traits that she and her sister Isabella, performed by Anjelah N. Johnson (Ugly Betty), complain of their mother Sonia of having: boring, sad, not living her dreams, ignored by her husband, and losing her life when she became pregnant at a young age. What I appreciated from this discussion between the two sisters was their conversation about the childhood pact they created with one another to not get pregnant or married at a young age. I really thought it was a powerful moment between two Latinas about how they value their future, their potential, and their support of one another to make decisions that will allow them to live the lives they want. I wish this moment had more prominence in the film and more discussion overall. However, it was less than one minute long and it was worth every second!

Sonia overhears her daughters talking about her and is embarrassed. We are introduced to Sonia as a homemaker and artisan who creates jewelry during the day. She rarely has any conversation with her husband Miguel who stands her up for Valentine’s Day, never compliments her, and who cares for her husband through all of his neglect. It is only when she overhears Lucia and Isabella talking about her that she mentions this to her husband, but does nothing about her feelings about her life. We see a change in her only after her husband gives her a gift of a new car. Sonia is vocal about the wedding when it comes to certain cultural rituals such as having Father Paez marrying Lucia and Marcus in a Catholic ceremony. Yet, then she (inappropriately) tries on a wedding gown as Lucia is selecting dresses and although people in the audience laughed, there was also a laugh of pity. The last thing I want to do when I’m sitting in a theater watching a film about people of Color is feel pity for one of the only Latinas in the film who is an artist, enterprenur and survivor.

Angela, performed by Regina Kim (This Christmas, Miss Congeniality), who I have to admit I really adore as a performer, is Brad’s best friend and attorney who has helped him raise Marcus, and the “voice of reason” during the wedding planning between families. At first she is the quintessential professional and “strong” Black woman in the film. She is witty, clever, thoughtful, patient, and playful. However, all of that changes when she decides to make a move on Brad. Yes, you read right: she knows Brad has no interest in monogamous and/or committed relationships, yet makes the first move with Brad and sleeps with him. We are given the impression that Angela thinks now that she and Brad have had sex they are now a couple and becomes upset when she finds Brad with another younger White woman in his home. Yes, it’s the plot of “a woman thinking she can change a man!” I leaned over to my homegirl Ryan and said “he didn’t do anything wrong” because I really think he didn’t especially since neither of them had a conversation about what they wanted from one another. Angela holds a grudge against Brad for hurting her throughout the rest of the film. This would be a great clip to use in the classroom to talk about relationships, expectations, and communication even among adults of Color. However, it’s only a great teaching tool because it is such a stereotypical scenario for women of Color to engage in such films/romantic comedies.

Yet Lucia’s sister Isabella who is sarcastic, smart, and focused stole the screen. She works with her father Miguel in his car shop and displays all the qualities of a femme who works in a male-dominated industry. I’ll admit that as I watched I thought the writers had set her character up as a lesbian who had yet to come out to her parents based on all the stereotypes they had her represent (working as a mechanic, crude use of language, demeanor among her sister, dislike for wearing bridesmaid dress, and feminine in a different way than her sister, drives a truck, and the list goes on of such stereotypes). She holds her sister Lucia accountable and responsible for the pact they made years ago, delivers some of the most hilarious lines, and we discover is also dating inter-racially. One of the huge stereotypes Isabella represented that led me to believe she was a lesbian was that she had a secret relationship with a character we never met through her telephone text messaging. It was a pretty obvious part of her character’s development. Her strong, focused, and vocal characteristics are hushed with the relationship she too is hiding from her family. I wondered what the fear was: fear for her safety, fear of disappointing family, fear of being kicked out of the home, among others.

Towards the end of the film there are two things that stand out for me: conversations about being raised in a race neutral way, and an act of violence during the softball scene. The conversation about being raised in a race neutral home was problematic on numerous levels. Lucia says this to her father and asks “isn’t that how you raised me to not see color” with regards to Marcus’ identity. My eyes rolled really hard at that moment. What’s wrong with recognizing that someone is Black, Latino, or different from you as long as you don’t act out in discriminatory ways based on those differences? Perhaps this family lesson was in direct response to how Momma Cecilia, performed by Lupe Ontiveros’ (Real Women Have Curves), character is suggested to be racist as she faints at the sight of her future son-in-law. She’s not fainting because he’s a man, she expected that, she’s not fainting because he’s tall; she’s fainting because he’s a Black man who loves and is loved by her granddaughter. However, it is never clear whose mother Momma Cecilia is: Miguel’s or Sonia’s. Yeah, another stereotype for viewers: does it matter whose Momma Cecilia is because Latinos value family.
The softball scene was one that I really enjoyed. I think it helped people realize, even if they do not yet, that any body can play the sport even “men with titties” as our homegirl Sparkle says. There were different ages, body shapes, and genders on the teams. I believe this is the same with baseball. I remember when I used to work with a doctor, David Khrol who used to be a pitcher , and he said that there is no set body type to play the sport. The good doctor is right (and he’s the type of doctor that’s a physician). Yet, it’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt, right? Unfortunately, one of the most overt acts of racial and patriarchal violence takes place in this scene. Miguel deliberately hits Marcus on the head with the softball as he’s pitching to him. There are many ways people can read into this action and scene. The people in the theater with us gasped or said “OH!” or laughed. My reaction was more on the “oh hell to the no!” tip. Was it really necessary to have Miguel act out like that in a way that is clearly linked to his ideas of power over his daughter, her choice of a Black husband who is a better baseball player than him, and his warped ideas of what masculinity is? I argue no, this scene could have easily been one of the best until that act of violence was presented.

Finally, there are the cameos (although some of these people had more than a cameo, but not enough of a part, if you know what I mean). What’s a good film without a cameo by some of the leading Black and Latino actors in Hollywood today? More than a cameo, Charlie Murphy (The Perfect Holiday) performs T.J. and has several speaking lines, yet he represents the stereotypes of single Black older men similar to how Brad is represented. He’s also loud, self-entitled, and is clearly a part of the story to show a contrast between Brad as a single Black professional man. Additional cameos include Taye Diggs (Private Practice), Anna Maria Horsford (Amen, The Friday After Next), football player Warren Sapp, Shondrella Avery (The Secret Life of Bees), James Lesure (The Ring Two), Alejandro Patino (The Soloist), and Jacqueline Mazarella (Everybody Hates Chris) to name a few.

There really is a whole lot more to unpack based on these cameos and what they represent and add (if anything) to the storyline. Unfortunately, I know if I keep writing that I’ll give the entire story away, including the ending, and that some of ya’ll will stop reading after a while. So I’ll leave you all with this fun clip from the film, where Brad and T.J. make fun of Marcus for choosing to get married, and in the same breath make fun of how Taye Diggs’ character is “whipped” by his partner. They both sing to them this song:

VL Verdict: 7 out of 10 (if you can, get someone to buy the tickets for you!)