View from the Top (2003)

Directed by: Bruno Barreto | 87 minutes | comedy, romance | Actors: Gwyneth Paltrow, Christina Applegate, Mark Ruffalo, Candice Bergen, Kelly Preston, Rob Lowe, Mike Myers, Mark Blucas, Stacey Dash

Gwyneth Paltrow plays Donna Jensen, the village girl (although you can hardly call Gwyneth a girl anymore), who wants to drown her grief one night after her boyfriend, the quarterback (cliché cliché), broke up with a birthday card. in a brown pub. The Boyfriend is a short role by Marc Blucas, also known as Riley from seasons four and five of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (1997-2003). She catches her eye on a TV show, where Sally Weston (Candice Bergen) is interviewed about her successful book that she wrote about her even more successful career as a flight attendant. In a few moments Donna’s decision is made, she will be a flight attendant!

Her first job is with Sierra Airlines, a small business, where the flight attendants walk around in tight lycra clothing, so they look like waitresses in a strip tent. Her colleague Sherry is played by Kelly Preston. Her first flight turns into a disaster, she thinks the plane is going to crash and scares the passengers with it. Rob Lowe still has a small role as a pilot, who realizes Donna’s potential and reassures her.

She soon gets used to the air and even hires a new flight attendant, Christine Montgomery. This role is played by Christina Applegate, who can use her “Married with … children” experience (1987-1997) again, because the role she played there is not that different from the role she plays now. Although she is not blonde in this movie and is going to seem a bit more about this (luckily not literally).

Donna meets Ted Stewart, a boy who has given up law school to pursue his dream, they hit it off and they make an appointment for the upcoming weekend. One day in the same week they are confronted by a group of successful flight attendants, who clearly look down on the three ladies and they decide to apply for a job at Royalty Airlines. The interviewer is a fun part of a squinting Mike Myers. It goes without saying that Donna is hired, but surprisingly so is Christina. The role of Kelly Preston is over with this, her character does not have the job, and she is written out of the film faster than many other soap stars.

Donna excels during the short training, and expectations are high, she will get the desired location in New York or…. It will be the express route from Cleveland, the least wanted flight. Donna protests, wants to see her exam, but this is against the rules and she will have the chance again in a year.

Cleveland becomes a little more bearable when it turns out that Ted lives there. They pick up where they ended that night of their first date and Donna tries to get through the year. Later that year she gets the chance to make her dream come true, but that costs her her relationship with Ted. Or will everything still work out?

“View from the Top” is a silly film, with jokes that you have seen coming from miles away. What is Oscar winner Paltrow doing in this film? She is completely unbelievable as a white trash / trailer park girl, her civilized statement is to blame for this. The vulgar clothing she wears in this film cannot disguise the fact that Gwyneth is of good origin. This film will make you appreciate “Shallow Hal” (2001) more. Mike Myers is funny from time to time, even though he has his squinting eye. He gets more screentime in this movie than Gwyneth’s cameo as Dixie Normous in “Goldmember” (2002).

It is a film with a high Ken and Barbie content, ideal for six-year-old girls, but less suitable for that because of the vulgar jokes, which are not funny. The idea of ​​a girl dreaming of a job as a flight attendant is very outdated and the clash between career and relationship is certainly not new in this film, nor surprising.