I love the idea of M.I.T. as villain, don’t you? So often movies ask us to root for the intellectual dweebs in life. Go nerds! Beat those jocks! Here’s a movie that says, “well, some nerds have it a lot better than others. Let’s root against them, instead.” Ok, you have my attention.
Carl Hayden Community High School in Phoenix boasts very little. Spare Parts never even mentions Phoenix, suggesting instead the school was much further south [read: on the Mexican border] and entirely comprised of illegal immigrants. Let’s start there – if you have a problem with illegals, this is not your film. It was a good idea to start with Oscar (Carlos PenaVega), the kid who dreams of fighting in Iraq. That won’t stop the government from deporting him, but we’re more comfortable with his patriotic motives. In the recruiting office, he spies a commercial for student machine design contest. The unmanned machine in question will have to explore and perform operations on a “downed submarine.” As the contest is sponsored in part by the U.S. Army, Oscar sees this is his ticket to Iraq and maybe a Green Card. (Although he seems a great deal more interested in the former, which is kind of disturbing.)
Now, as should be obvious, this future body bag cannot design, build and develop Mr. Sub on his own, hence enter the nerd (David Del Rio),the mechanic (José Julián), the muscle (J.R. Villarreal), and the burned out guide (George Lopez — much better here in a non-comic role). I’m not wild about the idea that great teachers always come in the form of reluctant private-sector dropouts (Mr. Holland’s Opus, Dangerous Minds, The Empire Strikes Back, etc.); some great teachers are actually great teachers, not failed businessmen, and perpetuating the “those who can’t…” stereotype isn’t doing anybody a favor.
If you hadn’t guessed, I don’t like the compartmentalized feel of the roles. Spare Parts is based upon a true story of high school students competing against minds from not-so-safety-schools. I doubt very seriously that two members of the team had zero interest being there, and two others have 
zero brains for the operation. Spare Parts feels very paint-by-numbers, especially when added conflicts of INS raids, an abusive father and a love interest (Marisa Tomei) are thrown in.
However, I did find myself rooting for these kids. Maybe because my childhood imagination with Legos and Lincoln Logs constructed entire cities and space vehicles.Maybe because I loved the idea of each member being responsible for understanding the details and operation of their robot. Everybody loves a good oral examination grilling, right? Or maybe just because on the one hand you have white, privileged M.I.T. students with budgets of $20k while their Hispanic high school counterparts budgeted their underwater rickshaw at $800 and couldn’t come up with the cash at that. There’s more science here than in The Theory of Everything, btw, and, luckily, because the budget was $800 and the Home Depot was involved, I could understand it all. Maybe I’ll build one myself. Can anybody spare a $20?
Four teens compete in a science tourney
As Latino boys, clearly no epitome
Fascinating play
Fast times at Carl Hay
Involve the I.N.S. and M.I.T.
Rated PG-13, 113 Minutes
D: Sean McNamara
W: Joshua Davis, Elissa Matsueda
Genre: Analog underdog
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Tinkerers
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Border patrol
