Summer of Love

 Santa Maria! Have you seen the teaser trailer for the new (well, more like re-released) flick How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer? It would be the one starring a not-yet Ugly Betty-ized America Ferrera and perennial television actress Elizabeth Peña. Nothing? Well you’re missing out! The thing’s like a damn porno: Picture an arid Mexican town, the dry heat doing something funky to the folks within. The air is dusty and full of longing, and you get the feeling that everyone is getting the itch to sweat, but it won’t come. Cue the sultry brass. A bearded man gets into a car with an 80-year-old woman. They feed each other peripheral looks, and his hand brushes her chest lightly, clenching her legs together. Then a young girl (Ferrera) gets in a truck with a boy. She kisses his face softly, but with passion, and their eyes meet on fire. A middle-aged woman (Peña) just gets off — she hikes up her dress, drops her panties, and hops into bed with a vibrator. Finally, a truck penetrates a distant horizon, and the teaser ends with a lusty moan. And I’m spent!

While the teaser for the 2005 Sundance selection — finally seeing (semi) wide release after Ferrera hit it big on Betty — may paint the film as awfully risqué, chances are it gravitates mostly to that hormone-filled space between coitus where no one actually gets off. Still, that’s kind of sexier place to be anyway, especially when Ferrera, who’s the furthest thing from ugly you could imagine, occupies it. Moral of the story? Garcia Girls, starting Friday at Muvico Paradise 24 (15601 Sheridan Street, Davie), makes a great date movie. Tickets cost $7 and up. Call 954-680-0171.
May 16-22, 2008