The exodus of the Cuban refugees to Florida in the 1980s brought with it a variety of stories: freedom from prison for political prisoners as well as genuine criminals, the sadness of parting from one's native land, the promise of a better future, the hope of reuniting with friends and family in the United States. The Perez Family offers a cheery take on the situation, with young, exuberant Dottie Perez (Marisa Tomei) encountering Juan Raul Perez (Alfred Molina) on the boat across and discovering that he is looking forward to seeing his wife Carmela (Anjelica Houston) for the first time in twenty years. But the fact that Juan has the same last name as she does gives Dottie an idea: in order to have a better chance at getting out of the refugee camp, she wants Juan to pose as her husband... which, of course, sets the stage for more mix-ups.

The Perez Family is a movie that starts off in a fresh and energetic manner, but it fizzles out partway through. It might not have ascended to the heights of great filmmaking, but it could at least have come together better than it actually does. The problem is that the film succumbs to two of deadly diseases of filmmaking: the Idiot Plot Syndrome and the Obligatory Romance Syndrome.

An Idiot Plot is a plot that can only continue if one or more of the characters persistently refuses to do something that is simple, logical, and in character... for the sole reason that if he or she did this, the movie would end and there would be no more story. In the case of The Perez Family, the plot depends on keeping Juan and Carmela apart, but it's painfully obvious that this separation is entirely contrived. It's not the kind of plot hole that can be easily overlooked, either, because the plot requires not just Juan, but also Carmela and her brother Angelo to actively behave idiotically or out of character (or both) to prevent the plot from collapsing in on itself. Needless to say, this didn't do much for my enjoyment of the story. Adding to the basic Idiot Plot is the character of the boy Felipe and a rather unfocused plot thread related to him, which is easily identifiable as not relevant to the story, but added in just to fatten up the movie a bit.

The Perez Family also suffers from the Obligatory Romance Syndrome; you can just imagine the writers thinking "We can't possibly have Marisa Tomei's character end up without a love interest! That would be unthinkable!" So we get a romance shoehorned into the plot where it really doesn't belong. The conclusion of the film is somewhat unexpected (which is a good thing) but it's also utterly unconvincing; apart from incoherencies of the plot, the characters just haven't been developed in a way that makes their final choices believable.

What The Perez Family clearly succeeds at is being a showcase for Marisa Tomei. She bounces, sings, dances, flirts, and leaps around with great energy throughout the film, showing off a great deal of her anatomy in the process. Not to mention her fashion sense; I have to wonder how we're supposed to believe that a Cuban refugee has such an extensive wardrobe of high heels, evening dresses, slinky skirts, and bikinis on hand.

The Perez Family is billed as a comedy, but it balances unevenly between a dramatic and a comedic tone. Most of the film seems to be aiming for drama, so that when comedic elements are stuck in, most notably in Carmela's experiences with the security system at her house, they seem out of place. At two hours long, The Perez Family is overlong by about forty minutes; a tighter editing job might have made it into a cheerful piece of light entertainment, but as it is, it bogs down and doesn't recover.

The DVD

Video

The Perez Family is presented in a very attractive widescreen anamorphic transfer, at the original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. (A pan-and-scan version is also included.) Some edge enhancement is present, but it's not distracting, and apart from that, the image looks very good indeed. Colors are vibrant, bright, and clean, which is very important with the colorful cinematography of this film. The print is clean, with very little noise and no print flaws apparent.

Audio

The Dolby 2.0 soundtrack is fairly straightforward and well suited to the demands of the film. Dialogue is clear and clean, and the music and other effects are well balanced and natural-sounding. A dubbed Spanish 2.0 soundtrack is also provided, along with English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese subtitles.

Extras

The only special feature is a trailer for the film.

Final thoughts

For any viewers enamored of Marisa Tomei (like George Costanza on Seinfeld), The Perez Family will be worth buying just for the sheer on-screen quantity of skin that Tomei manages to display over the course of the movie. For those viewers who are looking for an entertaining movie that stands on its own merits, The Perez Family has some good points, but doesn't really hang together; it might be worth a rental.