review for A Day Without a Mexican on AllMovie

A Day Without a Mexican is like a nagging mother delivering an epic guilt trip: "What would you do without me?" and "You'll miss me when I'm gone." It's certainly worthwhile to recognize and honor the contributions of Latinos -- who are all labeled "Mexicans" in the more ignorant corners of California -- toward the regular functioning of society. But the message might have been handled more effectively in short form. Because the film doesn't have much to say other than "appreciate your hired help," the sheer repetition of the message over 90 minutes becomes didactic. (There are numerous on-screen statistics toward this end, as well.) This isn't to say that director Sergio Arau's message doesn't have a sense of humor. At its core, A Day Without a Mexican is a satire, and it pokes fun at its own unexplained central plot conceit, likening the sudden ethnicity-based disappearance to the Rapture forecasted by the Bible. It features a humorous succession of talking heads postulating what may have happened, and there are a couple good caricatures, including John Getz as a xenophobic senator. But there's just not enough narrative momentum in the story they choose to tell, which concerns a single Latina woman who's been left behind, and how she becomes a figure of reality show obsession (additionally, a TV reporter has shortened her last name from Rodriguez to Rod). Those unpiloted tractors and abandoned leaf blowers may be provocative images, but that doesn't change the fact that A Day Without a Mexican is more of a concept than a movie.