The Netflix Report: Real Women Have Curves
Real Women Have Curves is not a surprising movie. Ana, a high school senior in East Los Angeles, feels pulled towards a life outside of her family and her neighborhood, but lacks the resources and support to actually get there. In the end, she works in her sister’s sweatshop for the rest of her life, gains zero respect for the women in her family, never falls in love, and remains trapped below an educational and economic glass ceiling based on the inherent drawbacks of the capitalist economy. The end.
Kidding.
The first part is true, of course, and we at CH bet you can guess a thing or two about how everything plays out. But a fairly obvious ending doesn’t make the journey any less pleasant, and anyway, the revelation of America Ferrera’s first movie is no small thing. We’ve been fans of Ferrera’s since she sobbed at Bradley Whitford (who shouldn’t be anybody’s father, because he’s Josh Lyman and that’s that) over the phone in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants–no offense to the rest of the sisterhood, but she routinely acts circles around them, even Amber Tamblyn, of whom we are also fond–but she carries this movie, dramatic substance and all, without even breaking a sweat. It seems risky, in retrospect, for a film to rest on the shoulders of an “and introducing…”-type actor, but she’s so graceful and so uninhibited onscreen that, in practice, we can’t imagine things going any other way. We’ve never been surprised at Ferrera’s awards-show dominance in the last year, and from now on we’ll only be surprised when she doesn’t end up on the dais.
Now can she come over for a sleepover? We’ll make popcorn!
Real Women Have Curves, Netflix, America Ferrerra
October 27th, 2007 at 7:48 pm
This is a great film. I love it. And yet..I still can’t bring myself to watch Ugly Betty.
So…where is your Dan in Real Life review?? I know, probably you haven’t seen it yet. But when you do, I’d like to know what you think - blog or no blog. I always like hearing your opinion on films and TV, because, while they often differ from my opinions, I love your thought process when analyzing them. If that makes sense. Anyway…let me know what you think.