A View From the Top Review
by Laura Clifford (laura AT reelingreviews DOT com)March 24th, 2003
VIEW FROM THE TOP
-----------------
Donna Jensen (Gwyneth Paltrow) believes her dreams of leaving her trailer park existence in Silver Springs, Nevada are answered with a job and assistant manager boyfriend at a local discount warehouse store, but when she's dumped, she transfers her hopes to retired uber-stewardess Sally Weston (Candice Bergen), Oprah talk show guest and author of "My Life in the Sky." Donna must hurdle many obstacles, including love, in her goal of 'Paris, First Class International,' but in attaining it questions her destiny given a "View From the Top."
Miramax's long-stalled kitsch comedy would have probably gone straight to video had it not starred Miramax darling Paltrow with box office heavyweight Mike Myers supporting. Devoid of laughs, this pasted together vanity vehicle turns its star into a Barbie doll makeover mannequin.
Donna's humble beginnings at Sierra Airlines reinforce her ex-showgirl mom's trashy trappings and find her two friends in the maternal mentor Sherry (Kelly Preston, "Citizen Ruth") and her own protege Christine (Christina Applegate, "The Sweetest Thing"). Although Christine wields all her feminine wiles, Donna wins the affection of Ted (Mark Ruffalo, "You Can Count On Me"), but the romance is short-lived when Donna and Christine get accepted into the stewardess school of prestigious Royalty Airlines in another state. Donna excels while Christine struggles, so it is a genuine shock when Christine is posted to International and Donna gets the workaday Express route hubbed in Cleveland.
Cleveland seems sweeter when Ted shows up, inspired by Donna to return to law school. Donna's enfolded by Ted's odd but loving family over Christmas, but turns her back on it all when she's given a chance to once again seize the brass ring.
Writer Eric Wald gets one genuine laugh making Donna's first day as a stewardess her first flight (she runs down the aisle screaming "We're gonna crash!"). and hits some notes of gentle whimsy with Ted's family and a glamorous view of airline stewardship from a bygone era, but every other aspect is forced and unfunny. Director Bruno Barreto ("Four Days in September") showed a light touch in his Brazilian "Bossa Nova" which he cannot translate for U.S. based comedy. Paltrow is unconvincing as a rube and her regal bearing unsuited to slapstick catfights. Applegate, who proved the only appealing entity of the Diaz atrocity "The Sweetest Thing," is saddled with an unappealing and unconvincing character. Preston delivers a rueful acceptance to her character and is allowed to duck out early. Ruffalo, an odd casting choice against Paltrow, aids the film immensely with a strong dose of likability.
Vet Bergen is a plus as the blatantly ambitious Weston, avoiding the brittleness she brought to a similar role in "Miss Congeniality," but Myers flails about as John Whitney, Royalty's instructor resentful at being denied his own career in the sky due to a crossed eye. The eye is a one-joke device milked for many. It's as distracting as Myer's distinctive brand of vocal cadence.
Production design, costume and makeup cannot get a fix on any one period, ranging freely over decades from the 1960s onwards. That the soundtrack is firmly planted in the 1980's, however, with prominently featured tunes from Cyndi Lauper and Journey, makes the film's two years sitting on the shelf seem longer.
"View from the Top" stays stranded on the runway, denied takeoff. It's got all the appeal of a bag of stale peanuts.
C-
For more Reeling reviews visit www.reelingreviews.com
[email protected]
[email protected]
More on 'A View From the Top'...
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
