Spare Parts (2015)

Four Hispanic high school students form a robotics club. With no experience, 800 bucks, used car parts and a dream, this rag tag team goes up against the country's reigning robotics champion, MIT.

Director:

Sean McNamara

Writers:

Joshua Davis (based on the Wired Magazine article "La Vida Robot" by), Elissa Matsueda (screenplay)

Stars:

George Lopez, Jamie Lee Curtis, Carlos PenaVega

2 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
George Lopez	...	Fredi Cameron
Marisa Tomei	...	Gwen Kolinsky
Jamie Lee Curtis	...	Ms. Karen Lowry
Carlos PenaVega	...	Oscar Vazquez
José Julián	...	Lorenzo Santillan (as Jose Julian)
David Del Rio	...	Cristian Arcega
Oscar Javier Gutierrez II	...	Luis Aranda (as Oscar Gutierrez)
Alessandra Rosaldo	...	Mrs. Vazquez
J.R. Villarreal	...	Hector
Aubrey K. Miller	...	Maddy Kolinsky (as Aubrey Miller)
Kevin Wiggins	...	Barrows
Alexa PenaVega	...	Karla
J.P. Murrieta	...	Male Announcer (as J.R. Murrieta)
Nicole Brady	...	Female Announcer
Edward McGinty	...	Williams (Judge) (as Ed McGinty)

Storyline

Four Hispanic high school students form a robotics club under the leadership of their school's newest teacher, Fredi. With no experience, 800 bucks, used car parts and a dream, this rag tag team goes up against the country's reigning robotics champion, MIT. On their journey, they learn not only how to build a robot- they learn to build a bond that will last a lifetime.

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Plot Keywords:

based on true story | roughhousing | beach | volleyball | oral examination | 

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Taglines:

It takes a team to build a dream

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some language and violence

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 June 2015 (Mexico)

Also Known As:

La Vida Robot

Filming Locations:

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$808,022, 23 January 2015, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$3,610,933, 1 March 2015

Company Credits

Production Co:

Brookwell-McNamara Entertainment, Circle of Confusion, Indieproduction

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

In real life, the students were led by teachers Fredi Lajvardi and Allan Cameron and not just one as depicted in the film.

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Goofs

Right before the boys begin their robotics competition, the scoreboard shows Carl Hayes high school in fourth place but the boys haven't even begun competing yet.

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Quotes

Awards MC: Okay folks, everybody take your seats please.

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Crazy Credits

Dedication: In loving memory of Janet Jacobs 1947 - 2015

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Connections

References Eat Pray Love (2010)

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Soundtracks

You're Not The Only One
Written by Andrés Levin (as Andres Levin), Claudia Brant
Performed by Frankie J. (as Frankie J)
Published by Peermusic III, Ltd. obo Peermusic Espanola S.A. and Peermadrid Levin (SGAE), Universal Musica, Inc. on behalf of itself and Songs of Saraswati (ASCAP)
Produced by Andrés Levin (as Andres Levin)
Co-produced by Illfactor
Courtesy of Universal Music Latino
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

Unfortunately suffers by comparison to a similar, far superior film

Earlier in 2015, we had the underrated, and criminally underseen, McFarland, USA, a Disney-branded sports drama about a group of Latino cross-country runners that became national headline-makers following their accomplishments in a state-wide competition. The film starred Kevin Costner and, despite its Disney namesake, was a truly inspirational and well-done film that emphasized humanity and cultural significance above everything else, in turn, producing a film that was aware of its minority characters as people and not just minorities.

Sean McNamara's far less-seen, and much less-discussed, Spare Parts, which came out a full month before McFarland, USA, proves what happens when humanity and cultural significance is discarded in favor of telling a feel-good story audiences can see without having what they love and cherish being challenged every day. The film tells the story of Carl Heyden High School, an underprivileged, predominately Latino high school, which went on to beat M.I.T. in the 2004 underwater national robotics competition.

The film revolves around Fredi Cameron (George Lopez), an engineer who decides to take a substitute position at Carl Heyden High School and subsequently start an engineering club he feels no student in their right mind would join. Much to the disbelief of himself and the school's principal (Jamie Lee Curtis), Oscar Vazquez (Carlos PenaVega), a U.S. Army hopeful, shows interest in his club and decides to join it and help promote underwater robotics engineering as the club's central focus. The club would be focused around constructing, perfecting, and entering a robot built for underwater endurance tests to compete against some of the top technological schools in the country.

In an act of desperation, Fredi finds kids like the optimistic Cristian (David Del Rio), the troublemaker Lorenzo (José Julián), and the oversized outcast Luis (Oscar Gutierrez) to join his underwater robotics club in efforts to solidify its chances in a national competition. With that, the group must overcome tough financial barriers that other schools can easily bypass in efforts to prove themselves as worthy competitors, in addition to gaining the approval and support of family members, who view their extra-curricular endeavor as nothing more than a distraction from real work.

McFarland, USA was a noteworthy film because it showed Kevin Costner's Jim White character actually getting involved with the lives of his runners in order to understand their homelives. White realizes that while he complained about having his own problems, he didn't have to wake up hours before school every morning to work hunched over in a field, harvesting food in order to assure a complete meal that same day. Lopez's Fredi character doesn't experience the same immersion, and if he does, it's flawed because Fredi has already lived the lives many of his students are currently living. He has nothing really to learn upon reluctantly starting the club. The only time he tries to become involved with the lives of his students is when he goes over to Lorenzo's home to confront his father - after getting drunk off of tequila, nonetheless - about forcing Lorenzo, an illegal immigrant like most of his family, to take the blame for the actions of his little brother, who has citizenship, in order to keep his record clean. As expected, this scene is more confrontational than anything else and simply allows us to see how Fredi can overstep his boundaries every now and then.

But because this family angle is lacking, most of the boys, who are wickedly intelligent and crafty when it comes to designing a robot and working out the bugs and inevitable tribulations with little to no help from Fredi, and their families just seem like vapid caricatures with vague development. Furthermore, Spare Parts lacks those crowdpleasing moments that McFarland, USA had punctuated in very frequently, not for cheap dramatic effect, but to showcase constant progress on the boys' behalf. Those moments transition to back-patting moments when they should be electric, given how much these kids achieve with how little they have.

As stated, it's tough reviewing Spare Parts, which, again, came out first in the United States, when you're constantly comparing it to another, better film that came out a month later. But even if McFarland, USA didn't come out at all in 2015, it doesn't excuse the painful adequacy that is Spare Parts, a fine, but ultimately forgettable, story that shows that a lack of privilege doesn't give you a lack of creative options in a way that doesn't humanize nor seem captivated by its characters enough to explore them as human beings.

Starring: George Lopez, Carlos PenaVega, David Del Rio, José Julián, Oscar Gutierrez, and Jamie Lee Curtis. Directed by: Sean McNamara.