I had trouble looking past the writers/studio so blatantly misunderstanding and misrepresenting the traditional Hispanic culture and cuisine of New Mexico.
I gave it a fair chance, even forgiving the opening scenes - a hot air balloon flying over lush, green, rolling hills (non-existent in NM) and Latino workers picking green chile in the mountains (where NM green chile doesn't grow). Even after Joel declared "I hate Mexican food" in the company meeting (and again to Javiera's daughter), I thought the story would be about his journey, learning the strong distinction between Mexican and New Mexican cuisine. I was very wrong.
Because it needs to be said -
New Mexico is *not* Mexico in the same way that Mexico is not Spain and Argentina is not El Salvador. New Mexico hasn't been part of Mexico for almost 200 years. It's people, the food, the drinks, the music, use of the Spanish language, and the accents (if any) are all distinctly separate and unique.
The only thing the film got right was the spelling of "chile" (and perhaps that it was filmed largely in NM). The repeated callouts of "special chile sauce" were particularly funny, since NM green chile is most commonly served roasted/plain/diced and not as a sauce. The cooking scenes using raw, unroasted green chile were a travesty. And, for crying out loud, the official state question is "red or green?", yet red chile wasn't mentioned once.
Dania Ramirez, a Dominican-American actress with a stereotypical Spanish accent, was an interesting choice for the role of Javiera. It was not representative whatsoever of a traditional, hispanic woman from New Mexico. Not to mention the other family members in the story.
Although it completely missed the mark in the cultural and historical respect, the story itself was charming and entertaining. The acting could have been better but I didn't find it as bad as some other reviewers did.
I gave it a fair chance, even forgiving the opening scenes - a hot air balloon flying over lush, green, rolling hills (non-existent in NM) and Latino workers picking green chile in the mountains (where NM green chile doesn't grow). Even after Joel declared "I hate Mexican food" in the company meeting (and again to Javiera's daughter), I thought the story would be about his journey, learning the strong distinction between Mexican and New Mexican cuisine. I was very wrong.
Because it needs to be said -
New Mexico is *not* Mexico in the same way that Mexico is not Spain and Argentina is not El Salvador. New Mexico hasn't been part of Mexico for almost 200 years. It's people, the food, the drinks, the music, use of the Spanish language, and the accents (if any) are all distinctly separate and unique.
The only thing the film got right was the spelling of "chile" (and perhaps that it was filmed largely in NM). The repeated callouts of "special chile sauce" were particularly funny, since NM green chile is most commonly served roasted/plain/diced and not as a sauce. The cooking scenes using raw, unroasted green chile were a travesty. And, for crying out loud, the official state question is "red or green?", yet red chile wasn't mentioned once.
Dania Ramirez, a Dominican-American actress with a stereotypical Spanish accent, was an interesting choice for the role of Javiera. It was not representative whatsoever of a traditional, hispanic woman from New Mexico. Not to mention the other family members in the story.
Although it completely missed the mark in the cultural and historical respect, the story itself was charming and entertaining. The acting could have been better but I didn't find it as bad as some other reviewers did.