Sugar cane worker Dorita Evita Perez (Marisa Tomei) is looking for a brighter Hollywood life. Political prisoner Juan Raul Perez (Alfred Molina) is released with the Mariel boatlift. The two Cuban refugees of the same last name are mistakenly put together as husband and wife by Immigration officials. He has not seen his real wife Carmela Perez (Anjelica Huston) for 20 years who is in Miami with their daughter Teresa Perez (Trini Alvarado). Carmela's brother Angel Diaz comes looking for him and finds him with Dorita as his wife. Lt. John Pirelli (Chazz Palminteri) is investigating and gets close to Carmela. Dorita pushes Juan to stay together to get a sponsor. She mistakes Hollywood, Florida for Hollywood, California and is devastated when she's told that John Wayne is dead. After collecting more members, the new Perez family sets off to find their way.

Marisa Tomei is effervescent and brash. This may work better if it stayed only with her and Molina. I'm less sure about his family in America. They seem to be trying to be comedic which doesn't always work. I'm not sure about what Angel is doing. That side of the movie complicates the romance. The love story gets twisted into a pretzel. I can't help but wonder if it would be infinitely sweeter to have Juan find Teresa at the end of the movie with a daughter he never knew existed. Instead, it's all complicated by Angel and diverting romances.

This is a cute little film starring Marisa Tomei (Wild Hogs, My Cousin Vinny) and Alfred Molina (Spider-Man 2, Frida) as Cubans who came over on the Marial boat lift in the 80s.

Juan Raul Perez (Molina) is married to Carmela (Anjelica Huston),who came to America 20 years previous while Juan languished in a Cuban prison. He is stuck in an immigration facility with Dorita Evita Perez (Tomei),who is not related to him, but pretends to be his wife so they can get out. They even pick up a father and a son in their attempt at freedom.

While Juan is trying to escape and reunite with Carmela, her brother, Angel (Diego Wallraff) is trying to keep them apart. Further complicating the adventure is a cop, Lt. John Pirelli (Chazz Palminteri),who is falling in love with Carmela.

It is a sweet little comedy that Tomei does so well and worth spending some time with.

"The Perez Family" can't decide what it wants to be--a romance, a comedy, or a historical documentation of a period. The story comes from a novel about Cuban refugees--and maybe the novel was effective--but this rendition of the story is undermined by a confusing tone. It seems to move from tragedy to comedy to the surreal with such alacrity and little sense of purpose that the entire film feels inconsequential.

All of the actors do a fine job. But they are given a script that devalues their performances. Marisa Tomei, in particular, gives a sensual performance that is just tossed away by the schizophrenic narrative. In the end, "The Perez Family" feels populated by caricatures.

Within this film, I think there are the beginnings of a solid serious film. And a lighthearted comedy. And a sensual love story. But misdirection, bad editing and/or bad writing have mashed them all together into a lump of confusion.

I do think it is possible to blend comedy, tragedy and more in one film. For a surreal, artistic, symbolistic example (that is even a musical),see Francis Ford Coppola's "One From the Heart". When I think how well some of the "Perez" characters could fit into a story like that, it reinforces my disappointment of this film.

There are parts of this film that could be very striking if they were within a coherent story. Too bad.