14. Spanglish (2004)
With stone cold classics like Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News, and As Good as It Gets under his belt, director James L. Brooks disappointed many with his 2004 romantic dramedy Spanglish. But in hindsight, it’s now one of the better turnouts for star Adam Sandler, playing a Los Angeles chef who hires a Spanish-speaking Mexican immigrant (Paz Vega) as a live-in housekeeper. As cultural differences and language barriers create tension, their crowded house becomes a home through shared understanding. Spanglish was not the first mature film to star Sandler – Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love was released just two years prior – but its appeal to actual grownups proved Sandler had, and has, more to offer.
