'From Prada to Nada' is mere yada yada

Film: From Prada to Nada (U/A)
Director: Angel Gracia
Cast: Camilla Belle, Nicholas D'Agosto, Alexa Vega,  Adriana Barraza
Rating: *1/2

Two hundred years after the publication of Jane Austen's Sense And Sensibility comes a contemporary adaptation which has been given the ‘for dummies’ treatment by changing the context from English high society to a Hispanic one.

Mary and Nora Dominguez are polar opposites, yet they live under the same roof sharing a plush standard of living with their father, a lover of life and mariachi music. After his sudden death, the two lose their Beverly Hills mansion while learning of an illegitimate brother Gabe. They then move into the residence of their long-dead mother’s sister Aurelia (Barraza, of equally questionable legitimacy immigration wise).

Nora (Belle), the good sister (focused, a lawyer) cannot requite the love of her boss Edward (Agosto) while Mary (Vega, smoking grass, denying her heritage) is making waves with her smooth-talking literature teacher to the chagrin of handyman neighbour Bruno (Wilmer Valderrama) whom she first misreads as a hoodlum but whose hard work she later grudgingly comes to respect.

Gradually, the two sisters are transformed by the warmth displayed by the East Los Angeles Latino community and find solace in their roots; but can they overcome the obstacles in their loves lives?

The film’s awkward moments in writing and acting trample upon whatever endearing qualities it attempts to extract from Austen’s masterwork. Barraza’s performance alone is largely untouched by the general patchiness.

Ultimately, Prada to Nada is a piñata within which rattles the brittle skeleton of a classic and much stale air. Since the predictability in a chick flick (which the classic has been reduced to) is overlooked by its fans with much unnecessary grace, they may choose to draw satisfaction from and hail the 'Mexican-ness' that pervades the film as a point of divergence that differentiates it from others of its ilk.

Then again there is nothing exclusively Mexican that influences the direction of the soul of the plot. Abundant cheesiness may make for a good taco dip, but it just isn’t the same with adaptations of classics.