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How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer

Play trailer Poster for How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer R 2008 2h 8m Romance Comedy Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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79% Tomatometer 29 Reviews 44% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
In a small Arizona town, the Garcia girls experience the joys and rigors of romantic love over the course of a summer. Grandmother Dona (Lucy Gallardo), head of the family, begins a relationship with her driving instructor, while her daughter, Lolita (Elizabeth Peña), tries to decide between getting involved with a co-worker or a married man. Meanwhile, teenager Blanca (America Ferrera) isn't interested in the unsophisticated local boys and falls for an exciting out-of-towner.
How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer

What to Know

Critics Consensus

At turns comical and sincere, Garcia Girls is an intelligent and intimate portrait of three women finding love at different ages.

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Critics Reviews

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Dennis Harvey Variety While there are rewards to sticking with this tempest-in-teapot saga of sexual awakening across three family generations of Mexican-American women, its pacing is leisurely to the brink of stasis. Oct 18, 2008 Full Review Bob Baker Los Angeles Times Another victory for a first-time, full-length feature filmmaker with a curious, inventive eye and an unsparing point of view. Rated: 4/5 Oct 18, 2008 Full Review Ruthe Stein San Francisco Chronicle Riedel reveals herself to be a novice filmmaker, especially in the pacing of most scenes. Rated: 1/4 Jul 24, 2008 Full Review Susan Tavernetti Palo Alto Weekly Stylistically, the film takes risks before veering into an odd sort of studied artiness. Rated: 2/4 Oct 18, 2008 Full Review Stan Hall Oregonian Pena has a great role and delivers her best performance since Lone Star in 1996. Aug 1, 2008 Full Review Josh Bell Las Vegas Weekly A lovingly crafted portrait of a kind of life not often seen on the big screen. Rated: 3/5 Jun 26, 2008 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member Low-key, sometimes to the point of tedium. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Audience Member Long,boring, and poorly directed. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/17/23 Full Review Audience Member great family drama pena and ferrara have a good chemistry Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member This is an extremly good movie...but its a littlemon the long end. I just saw so ,any things in this movie that could have used edits,other those parys the movoe is really good. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/15/23 Full Review Audience Member LOVED this near perfect film. It was shot in such a beautiful way. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/18/23 Full Review Audience Member When you do a movie about a dull and monotonous life, thats exactly what you get. A dull and monotonous movie. However, I did feel the atmosphere. I was bored the whole way through. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review Read all reviews
How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer

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Cast & Crew

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Georgina Garcia Riedel

Director

Elizabeth Peña

Lolita

America Ferrera

Blanca

Lucy Gallardo

Dona Genoveva

Jorge Cervera Jr.

Don Pedro

Rick Najera

Jose Luis

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How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer

A scene from the film "How the Garcia Girls Spent their Summer." A scene from the film "How the Garcia Girls Spent their Summer." A scene from the film "How the Garcia Girls Spent their Summer." A scene from the film "How the Garcia Girls Spent their Summer." A scene from the film "How the Garcia Girls Spent their Summer." A scene from the film "How the Garcia Girls Spent their Summer." A scene from the film "How the Garcia Girls Spent their Summer." A scene from the film "How the Garcia Girls Spent their Summer." A scene from the film "How the Garcia Girls Spent their Summer." A scene from the film "How the Garcia Girls Spent their Summer." View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis In a small Arizona town, the Garcia girls experience the joys and rigors of romantic love over the course of a summer. Grandmother Dona (Lucy Gallardo), head of the family, begins a relationship with her driving instructor, while her daughter, Lolita (Elizabeth Peña), tries to decide between getting involved with a co-worker or a married man. Meanwhile, teenager Blanca (America Ferrera) isn't interested in the unsophisticated local boys and falls for an exciting out-of-towner.
Director
Georgina Garcia Riedel
Producer
Georgina Garcia Riedel, Olga Arana, Jose C. Mangual
Screenwriter
Georgina Garcia Riedel
Rating
R (Sexual Content|Some Language)
Genre
Romance, Comedy, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
May 16, 2008, Limited
Release Date (DVD)
Aug 12, 2008
Box Office (Gross USA)
$91.4K
Runtime
2h 8m