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America Ferrera has personal experience with this type of situation and this is perhaps why she adds such beauty and understanding to her role. She knows how even school counselors will not always encourage the dreams of their students. While in real life her mother encouraged her educational goals, in this movie, Ana's mother is completely against her daughter's dream of going to college.

As she is evolving very quickly into a woman, Ana learns to accept her body, her needs and her dreams about her future. While her attitude about various subjects are definitely more modern than her families traditional values, she eventually learns to respect and value her family members. Ana is trying to deal with her own inner desires and the expectations of her parents.

I found this movie amusing from the perspective of someone who used to sew all her own clothes as a teenager. Living in Africa did encourage such activities. This is a story about a teenager who thinks sewing and ironing are definitely not as fun as dating and reading a good book. I found out about dating after the sewing.

Like most teenagers in America, Ana finds a part-time job. What is amazing is that while attending Beverly Hills High School, she becomes almost unaware of what the rest of her family struggles with on a daily basis. I think this might have something to do with having to take three buses to get to school and three to get home. Her day is consumed with travel and walking.

On the last day of school, her mother competes for her attention and Ana chooses to ignore her mother's pain and go to school anyway. There is obviously a struggle between her family responsibilities and wanting to create her own life. Her mother (Lupe Ontiveros) is going through menopause and Ana is just finding out about her own sexuality.

The two women are separated by a wide gulf of misunderstandings and life experiences. We laugh as Ana's mother says she is pregnant, all while fearing her daughter might date and become pregnant. This movie tries to also teach a bit about birth control, but fails to emphasis the need for commitment and love before consummation. To Ana, sex just seems to be something fun to do and doesn't seem to care if she sees her boyfriend again. Perhaps this emphasizes her masculine side.

One of her supportive teacher, Mr. Guzman (George Lopez), keeps encouraging Ana to pursue her dreams of college, while her family wants to selfishly keep her to work in the sewing sweatshop. When Ana (the beautiful America Ferrera) does have to help her family to keep the factory working, she learns to appreciate how difficult life has been for her sister, Estela (Ingrid Oliu), and gains a new respect for her mother.

I thought this movie was cute enough to watch three times and enjoyed the commentary! I liked the fact that Ana is willing to accept herself and show the world what a "real" woman looks like.

Ana's mother is a real character and her facial expressions are at times just hilarious. She tries to teach Ana life lessons through stories, but it seems Ana is going to have to learn how to deal with life on her own. Mothers and daughters will relate well to this movie. For some reason they don't focus on any of Ana's female friendships, yet she does seem to have a rich family life and a boyfriend. She has a beautiful relationship with her grandfather who fully supports her in her dreams.

A word of advice: If you burn yourself with an iron, apply an ice cube immediately. It works!

A film about family and seeking fulfillment in your own life. I didn't really find this to be as much a comedy as a comforting story about finding your dreams.

~The Rebecca Review.com

One of the finest of 2002 without a doubt.
Real Women Have Curves (Patricia Cardoso, 2002)

Seeing this one the same weekend the Oscars aired was a travesty. Thoroughly snubbed by the Oscars, this film, which won a large number of other awards (including Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival), stood head and shoulders above much of what there was to see, according to the Academy.

The story centers around Ana, a teen just graduating from high school (America Ferrara, in her screen debut), her insane family, an English teacher who keeps encouraging her to go on to college, and one of her classmates, who's been worshipping her from afar all year. While the main point of the story (reflected in the title) is Ana's unwillingness to cave into her mother's (Lupe Ontiveros [Mi Familia, As Good As It Gets, etc.]) constant cracks about her weight, much of the subtext centers on the plight of first-generation immigrant families in America. Ana and her family have it relatively good, in a number of ways; Ana finagled herself a full scholarship to Beverly Hills high school, her sister (Ingrid Oliu, from Flatliners and Stand and Deliver) is an entrepreneur running her own business, even if it is a chronically-behind-on-its-orders sweatshop, her father has a good job, etc. etc. But, like most families who live day to day wondering when the wave that will push their heads under is coming, when sudden changes occur, the whole fragile network is flung into chaos. Always, in the background, Ana's mother is telling her to lose weight, and Ana responds by refusing to feel bad about it. (And here is where the story hits a slight snag in suspension of disbelief; no matter how good the actress, casting a girl who's maybe size 14-16 in such a role made me wonder if this movie would have ever gotten released were the main character really fat.)

The whole thing is loud, chaotic, and fast-moving without ever going over the top, and in that it is truly distinguished. It makes the viewer feel good without manipulating the viewer into feeling good, and that is a very rare thing in American film these days. A minor, and completely overlooked, gem well worth searching out, and one of the ten best movies of 2002. ****

A beautiful film!!!!
What constitutes a real woman? That's one of many questions delved into by filmmaker Patricia Cardoso in her fresh, frank, funny, and insightful Sundance favorite, Real Women Have Curves, adapted from a play by Josefina Lopez.

Newcomer America Ferrera plays Ana--a spunky, funky, and chunky Latina teenager living in East L.A. She finds herself struggling to break free from the responsibilities and expectations of her mother, Carmen (a brilliantly funny and touching performance by Lupe Ontiveros) and sister Estela (Ingrid Oliu).

While My Big Fat Greek Wedding broke box-office records in 2002, Real Women Have Curves did a better job showing us what's real. This comedic drama takes on a familiar subject--a bright but underappreciated teenager struggling to find her identity--and turns into an authentic celebration of girl power, while showing us how a real family acts and feels.

This is a wonderful film, perfectly paced, funny and touching. It is a unique and refreshing change of pace, even for an independent film. It is definitely one of the best films of 2002. See it!