Eva Longoria

In The Last Sunrise (2026), Eva Longoria makes a mother’s concern seem reasonable without making much fuss about it. She plays Isolde Pera straight and small, which is more than this romance usually permits its adults. We rate the restraint, though not the film: it gives her too little to do and then gets back to the scenery. It is a useful reminder to look past the glamour for which she is so often cast.

Her breakthrough as Gabrielle Solis, the former model in Desperate Housewives (2004–2012), made fuller use of that glamour. The scheming gave her opportunities for wit, while the ensemble brought out her physical comedy. That remains the clearest account of what a substantial part can offer her: room to be funny, and other actors to be funny with. We would hesitate to treat the quieter work as automatically more serious; comic timing takes work too.

Directing has since become a substantial part of her work. She began directing television episodes in 2014 before making her first feature, Flamin’ Hot (2023), with an emphasis on Latino stories, casting and crews. We are interested in those choices, rather than in the novelty of an actor changing jobs. They also make the limited demands of The Last Sunrise seem a particularly poor use of her time.

We were frustrated by The Last Sunrise, because two scenes between Longoria and Maia Reficco briefly suggested a film with something at stake. Carlson Young directs, but Anna Klassen’s screenplay largely treats Isolde as an obstacle to the younger characters. Longoria plays her with enough seriousness to make those restrictions irritating: we would have welcomed more time with the mother and daughter. Those exchanges cannot justify an evening with a romance so short of heat. For a fuller evening with her, start with Desperate Housewives.