''From Prada to Nada'' is a 2011 American

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typic ...

film directed by

Angel Gracia Ángel Gracia (USA) is a Venezuelan-American film director. In 2010, Gracia directed his first feature film, ''From Prada to Nada'', which starred Alexa Vega, Camilla Belle, Wilmer Valderrama and Adriana Barraza. The film was nominated for NCLR' ...

, loosely based on Jane Austen's 1811 novel '' Sense and Sensibility''. The screenplay was adapted by Fina Torres,

Luis Alfaro Luis Alfaro (born 1963 in Los Angeles, California) is a Chicano performance artist, writer, theater director, and social activist. He grew up in the Pico Union district near Downtown Los Angeles, and graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School i ...

, and Craig Fernandez to be a Latino version of the English novel, where two spoiled sisters who have been left penniless after their father's sudden death are forced to move in with their estranged aunt in East Los Angeles. The film received a limited release in the United States on January 28, 2011, by Pantelion Films (a joint venture of Televisa and Lionsgate). In the United States, it grossed $4 million theatrically; the box office result met Pantelion's expectation.

Plot

At the reading of their father's will, wealthy sisters Nora and Mary discover that they are bankrupt and are forced to sell their house to their half-brother Gabe Hernandez, who lets them live with him and his wife, Olivia. After Olivia tries to move them into the basement, the girls leave the house and move in with their maternal aunt, Aurelia, in

East Los Angeles East Los Angeles ( es, Este de Los Ángeles), or East L.A., is an unincorporated area in Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 118,786, a drop of 6.1% from 2010, when it was 126,496. For statistical purpo ...

. Nora quits law school and finds a job as a legal clerk to help support herself and Mary. Mary returns to college, where she meets and flirts with rich instructor Rodrigo while being admired from afar by Aurelia's neighbor Bruno. Nora arrives at her new job and learns that her boss is Olivia's brother Edward, who she falls in love with. The bulk of the film consists of a series of romantic escapades between the girls and their boyfriends, set against the backdrop of various parties and the Mexican-American cultural environment of East Los Angeles. In the end, Mary admits her feelings for Bruno and they kiss for the first time. Edward buys the house across from Aurelia and presents Nora the front door key, attached to an engagement ring. Family and friends are seen celebrating at Nora and Edward's street party wedding.

Cast

In addition,

Alexis Ayala Alexis Ayala (born David Alexis Ayala Padró on 9 August 1965) is an American-born Mexican actor of telenovelas and the cinema of Mexico. Biography Career Ayala debuted as an actor at the age of 22 with the film ''En peligro de muerte'' ("In ...

and Pablo Cruz Guerrero play Nora and Mary's father Gabriel Dominguez Sr and their half-brother Gabe Jr, respectively.

Release

''From Prada to Nada'' was released on

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

and DVD May 3, 2011. , only 20% of the 20 reviews compiled on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

are positive, with an average rating of 4.08/10.

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

scored the film a 39, signifying "generally unfavorable reviews".

Accolades

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:From Prada To Nada 2011 films 2011 directorial debut films 2011 romantic comedy films American romantic comedy films Films about sisters Films based on Sense and Sensibility Films scored by Heitor Pereira Films set in Los Angeles Films shot in Mexico Lionsgate films Mexican-American films Odd Lot Entertainment films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films