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`Garcia Girls' is low budget but lovely

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-05-16 16:45

Meanwhile, Blanca's divorced mother, Lolita (Elizabeth Pena), becomes preoccupied by both her doting co-worker at the butcher shop (Rick Najera) and a frequent customer (Steven Bauer) who shamelessly hits on her despite being married. Mostly she's just lonely, though, sitting on the couch smoking and drinking beers by herself until she falls asleep. (This particular scene, which could have had great poignancy, feels jarring because it's shot so poorly.)

And then there's the matriarch, Dona Genoveva (TV and film veteran Lucy Gallardo), who jump-starts all the film's action when she impulsively buys a beat-up pickup truck - even though she doesn't know how to drive. After many years of living a quiet, conservative life alone, she's startled to find herself falling for her gardener (Jorge Cervera), who's kindly offered to give her driving lessons. This usually consists of her stalling out, over and over, down the same stretch of dirt road.

So maybe it's obvious where all these women's story lines will end up. And yeah, the acting by the supporting cast can be a little stiff, though all three stars seem to be performing effortlessly.

What's refreshing about "Garcia Girls" is that it presents a vivid slice of Mexican-American family life that anyone can connect with, regardless of ethnicity. And Reidel also deserves credit for depicting the possibility of finding love at all ages, something that larger and more mainstream movies so often shy away from showing.

"How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer," from Maya Releasing, is rated R for sexual content and some language. Running time: 128 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.

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