Barnes & Noble

A modestly produced independent film that won the Audience Award at Sundance Film Festival 2002, Real Women Have Curves is an enormously entertaining and uplifting coming-of-age story. Refreshingly free of the glamour girls who populate most of today’s teen movies, Patricia Cardoso’s exuberant comedy-drama stars 18-year-old screen newcomer America Ferrera as Ana, a Mexican-American girl with intelligence, ambition, and a healthy self-image, notwithstanding her Rubenesque proportions. Ana, who’s secretly dating an Anglo boy named Jimmy (Brian Sites), wants to attend college but is pushed by her immigrant parents to work in the dress shop run by her older sister. Ferrera is remarkable in her film debut: natural, unforced, and passionate, she brings both maturity and joie de vivre to the role. She is never less than thoroughly convincing, and the same can be said of Lupe Ontiveros, who plays the overweight mother who can’t forgive herself for becoming fat and wishes Ana felt the same way about herself. Real Women comes to grips with the issue of body image in a celebratory, rational way, and in that respect it provides a real breath of fresh air. The film also focuses on the hopes and aspirations of second-generation children of immigrants whose pursuit of the American Dream occasionally clashes with the older generation's culture and values. Ana’s struggle to assert herself is depicted cleverly but honestly, without resorting to clichés. And that’s what makes Cardoso’s little movie such a delightfully invigorating exercise. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

In this independent drama, Ana (America Ferrera) is a bright and ambitious 18-year-old Latina who has just graduated from high school in East Los Angeles. Ana wants to broaden her horizons and go on to college, but her mother Carmen (Lupe Ontiveros) has other ideas; Ana's older sister Estela (Ingrid Oliu) oversees the family business, a dress factory, and Carmen has decided that Ana should put higher education on hold and go to work as a seamstress. When Estela loses four employees in a week, Ana reluctantly agrees to take a job at the factory to help her out, while she applies for college scholarships without her mother's knowledge. Ana's job at the dress factory proves to be a real eye opener; she gains a new respect for Estela's business acumen, but is also appalled by the low wages and unpleasant working conditions that are part and parcel of the garment industry. While Ana is not unattractive, she carries more than a few extra pounds, a subject her mother mentions at every available opportunity, and as Ana encourages her co-workers at the shop to stand up for themselves and gain a greater perspective of their own worth, she takes a long hard look at her own self-image. Real Women Have Curves won the Audience Award at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, while actresses America Ferrera and Lupe Ontiveros received a Special Jury Prize at the same festival for their performances. Mark Deming

Washington Post

A vivid cinematic portrait. Ann Hornaday

Boston Globe

[Ferrera] has the charisma of a young woman who knows how to hold the screen. Ty Burr

Hollywood Reporter

What enlivens this film, beyond the astute direction of Cardoso and beautifully detailed performances by all of the actors, is a note of defiance over social dictates. Kirk Honeycutt

San Francisco Chronicle

A warm, funny family story that defies popular notions about immigrant families. Carla Meyer

Product Details

• UPC: 026359297229
• Source: HBO HOME VIDEO
• Region Code: 1
• Editions: Dubbed
• Time: 1:26:00
• Sales Rank: 6,565

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