Tortilla Soup MPAA Rating: PG-13 Entertainment: +2 1/2 Content: -1

The close-knit Naranjo family mixes old-fashioned, Mexican family values with the fast-paced contemporary lifestyles of Los Angeles. Widowed Martin (Hector Elizondo) tries to maintain a balance of letting go and holding on to his three grown daughters. As a master chef, he mandates his girls join him every Sunday evening for a carefully prepared gourmet meal. Middle daughter Carmen (Jacqueline Obradors) has become a very successful business executive. Shes openly sensual, the opposite of her older sister, Leticia (Elizabeth Pena), a dedicated, deeply religious, schoolteacher. Maribel (Tamara Mello), the youngest, just graduated from high school and is a free spirit trying desperately to become independent. At the family dinners, each daughter manages to disrupt Martin's expectations of them with shocking plans of their own. But one Sunday their dad outdoes them all with his startling announcement. Mouth-watering images of Martin's gourmet creations fill the screen, while a rhythmic Latino musical score adds to a festive, light-hearted look into our changing culture. Too slow for action buffs, TORTILLA SOUP presents a pleasant hour-and-a-half of chuckles for adults and older teenagers.

The contrasting personalities of Martin's daughters invite a few negative elements into an otherwise wholesome theme. A sex scene with graphic motion features passionate Carmen and her lover. She flaunts her sexuality by ridiculing puritanical Leticia, who seems destined to be an "old maid." Leticia lives according to her faith, believing in abstinence until marriage. High school graduate Maribel decides to move in with her new boyfriend instead of going away to college. Although disapproving, Martin, like parents everywhere, feels he can't stop her. The teenagers discover, however, that living together requires far more maturity than either of them possess. Meanwhile, neighbor Hortensia (Raquel Welch), a multi- divorced grandmother who describes her "exes" and their weaknesses in blunt terms, aggressively pursues Martin. Leticia offers a heart-felt but rambling blessing at family meals while her father and sisters squirm impatiently. In spite of all their differences the Naranjo sisters care deeply about their father and each other. TORTILLA SOUP could easily be rated PG except for a few swear words, one sex scene and a few explicit comments from Carmen.

Preview Reviewer: Mary Draughon
Distributor: Samuel Goldwyn Films, 1133 Broadway, Suite 1101, New York, NY 10010