View from the Top

Rating:
Summary: Great if you only like chicks in short shirts and bikinis
Review: This movie makes no sense at all--a weak plot-it is plain stupid-great if you like looking at some real foxy actresses in minis or bikinis-I could look at this with the sound off and it would not matter--the humor is weak and Patrow is foxy as ever but acting is terrible-there are alot of foxy girls in this movie but thats about it--extras are stupid--I say--rent it and forget it.

Rating:
Summary: A GREAT View from the Top
Review: I loved this movie!! It's about a small town girl who dreams big & rises to the top and the decisions she has to make better her relationships and her career. Think Reese W. from Legally Blonde. Gwyneth is believable and charming in it. The trailer does it no justice because it includes 1-second comedic liners which don't very have too much to do about the movie. It's charming

The only bad comment about the movie is that it doesn't include some of the better scenes within the movie, like the "We are Royalty" to the them of "We are a Family" choreography or more flight training scenes but you can catch them in the DVD features or end credits.

Rating:
Summary: Mediocre romantic/comedy
Review: Being a movie buff and still in high school means that on most occasions I watch movies with both parents. And since my mom simply loves romantic comedies (think Meg Ryan, 'The Queen of Romantic Comedies'), I decided to give "View from the Top" a try.

Gwyneth Paltrow plays Donna Jensen, a small time girl who desperately wants to see the world and leave her home town behind. By chance she sees the famous stewardess/recent authoress Sally Weston (Candice Bergen). Inspired by Sally Weston, Donna lands a job as a stewardess on one of the lower class airlines. But soon, her dreams start becoming a reality when she gets accepted to the Royal Airlines school to be trained as a waitress. But through many hardships, trials, and a love interest in the form of Ted Stewart (Mark Ruffalo), Donna learns what it really means to find happiness and fulfill your true dreams. Also stars the famous Mike Myers as a teacher at the Royal Airlines School with a slight 'eye' problem, Christine Applegate as Christine the fellow stewardess who is not all that she seems, and a small part by Kelly Preston as another aspiring stewardess. Short cameo also of Rob Lowe as a co-pilot.

Just as the title for my review states, I found "View from the Top" in my list of 'extremely mediocre'. Wasn't too bad, just nothing special either. The thing with this movie is that it actually DOES have potential. So here's a list of the good points:

1) Gwyneth Paltrow's character is actually likable though a bit naive. Recent romantic/comedy stars are at times just unlikable, making the whole movie unlikable. How can you like a movie with terrible characters.
2) Mike Myers is simply HILARIOUS! His whole 'eye' thing is sooo funny! But amazingly enough, he has character isn't too one-dimensional, giving occasion for you to feel for him and like him not just as a comic relief.
3) The story is in a way quiet enjoyable, an easy to follow storyline.
4) Some great one-liners and jokes! I especially loved it when Sally Weston says something about 'smiling even after you're out of Bloody Mary mix'.

Ok, on with the numerous 'on the bad side' points:

1) All right, even for people who LOVED this movie have to admit that the love plot was just a 'mite' too boring. There seemed to be no real chemistry between the two Paltrow and Ruffalo that it was bit hard to believe they end up with each other at the end.
2) Predictability seems to be a major *must* in all romantic/comedies. Unfortunately, "View from the Top" seems to have taken the cake for being too predictable. There was some effort to include a small twist in the plot, but viewers could predict that at least 30 minutes before it actually happens.
3) Half of the jokes are sexually implied ones, which for me totally ruins all great movies of this genre. And as many movies are now inclined to have to include gay jokes or at least have one gay person in the movie, it proves to make me especially uncomfortable. I'm sure at least a few people agree with me on that area, gay jokes can be in my opinion TOTALLY taken out of any film.

To sum it up, "View from the Top" is nothing special. And sadly because it seemed to be MADE to be 'just another chick flick', it's a movie which can be easily passed over. If you're looking for GREAT romantic/comedies (aka chick flicks), watch these good, fairly clean, and FUN movies:
"You've Got Mail" (Meg Ryan & Tom Hanks)
"Sleepless in Seattle" (another Meg Ryan & Tom Hanks movie)
"Kate and Leopold" (Meg Ryan & Hugh Jackman)
"The Importance of Being Earnest" (Shakespeare story with Colin Firth & Reese Witherspoon)

Rating:
Summary: Gwyneth Paltrow Shines in This Light-hearted Comedy
Review: Donna (Gwyneth Paltrow) is a small town girl who has dreamed all her life of escaping Silver Springs, Nevada to someplace more exciting and less hopeless. When she is almost convinced that she will be stuck in her little town forever, Donna sees Sally Weston (Candice Bergen), the royalty of flight attendants, on a television talk show. Inspired to fly her way into a new life -even though she has never been on an airplane- Donna applies immediately for a flight attendant's position with a local commuter airline. Eventually aspiring to greater opportunities, she and two fellow stewardesses (Christina Applegate & Kelley Preston) pursue jobs with the more prestigious and widely traveled Royalty Airlines, the airline of Sally Weston, herself. Donna enjoys the aid and encouragement of many of the folks at Royalty Airlines, feels the betrayal of others, and must balance her personal and professional lives while she pursues her dream of working "Paris First Class International" and beyond.

"View from the Top" is a light-hearted comedy about a nice all-American young woman trying to make a satisfying life for herself. Donna isn't particularly smart or dumb. She's ambitious, but hard-working and scrupulously honest. She's pretty. She's friendly. When I think about it, she's so full of sugar and spice and everything nice that she sounds nauseating. If Gwyneth Paltrow's charisma was ever in doubt, it is no longer. Paltrow imbues Donna with such sincerity and spirit that she is magnetic and sympathetic where the character could easily have been saccharine in the hands of a less appealing actress. Mike Myers also gives a nice comic performance as John, the visually impaired instructor at Royalty Airlines flight attendant school. "View from the Top" is a fun fluffy comedy that features some nice, silly comic performances and amusing eye-catching costume design. If you are looking for light but well-conceived entertainment, you need look no further. And Gwyneth Paltrow's performance truly lights up the screen. Julia Roberts has nothing on Donna's winning smile.

Rating:
Summary: Fun movie
Review: The critics, once again, have no clue to what they are reviewing.

This is a great movie. A good 1 1/2 hours of relaxation-no mystery to challenge your mind, no bullets flying and special effects to make you dizzy. The storyline is cute. The entire cast did a splendid job. There are even out-takes at the end. I love out-takes. And the music was excellent throughout the entire movie. So either, buy it, rent it, borrow it, whatever, just watch it.

Rating:
Summary: Breezy, Lightweight 60's Throwback!
Review: VIEW FROM THE TOP, the story of a flight attendant wannabe (Gwyneth Paltrow) has such a '60s' feel that I thought I was watching a period piece...until I saw Paltrow and Christina Applegate in VERY skimpy bikinis, and knew the 60's were never THAT daring!

Cheerfully lightweight and upbeat, VIEW could have been written for Reese Witherspoon, Hollywood's resident 'small-town girl makes good' actress. Paltrow, an actress of far greater range, seems overqualified for the role of a Silver Springs, Nevada girl, who, after her high school sweetheart dumps her, is inspired by a TV commercial to escape by becoming a stewardess (oops, I mean Flight Attendant...it's that 60's thing, again!) Winding up with a bush water airline flying drunks back and forth to Las Vegas, she bonds with ex-Hooters 'vet', Kelly Preston (agelessly beautiful, and as voluptuous as ever), and Applegate, a cute kleptomaniac. Despite meeting a law student on sabbatical (Mark Ruffalo) that she's attracted to, Paltrow convinces her friends to join her in interviewing for flight attendant jobs with the international airline her role model (Candice Bergen, playing a sympathetic character, for a change) flew for. The interviews are run by a cross-eyed and hilarious Mike Myers, who steals the film, every time he appears! Preston fails, but Paltrow and Applegate are accepted, and training begins...but when the final exam is given, despite Paltrow's intense studying, Applegate gets the choice assignment, and she ends up in Cleveland...where she again meets Ruffalo, who's decided to return to Law School...

Will Gwyneth allow herself to fall for the hunky Ruffalo? Will she, as Myers commands, wait a year and retest, again? Will she ever see Paris, her Flight Attendant dream destination? And just how did educationally-challenged Christina out-test her? All these questions WILL be answered when you buy this breezy but likable comedy, featuring cameos by Chad Everett, Stacey Dash, Jessica Capshaw, and Rob Lowe.

I liked the film, and think you'll get a kick out of it, too!

Rating:
Summary: Dumb. Just plain dumb.
Review: I actually watched this movie on a airplane. It only had 1 funny scene in it, and the plot was pointless. The only reason I watched it was because on a 10 hr 45min flight what else am I supposed to do? The reason I gave this movie an extra star was because the story was kind of intriguing and that's about it. This movie made Gwyneth Paltrow loook terrible and Mike Myers was stupid let alone funny. Bottom Line: Don't waste your time or money on this movie.

Rating:
Summary: Don't try to over anylize this movie.
Review: After reading some harsh reviews about "View from the Top" I was compelled to put my two-cents in. This was not only a hillarious movie but it's one of the few movies now-a-days that has brought some of the 80's back into our theatres. Sure you won't learn any provound life lessons, or you won't be moved to sobbing tears, you'll simply have a good time with the girls while watching some great actors and actresses have fun with a cheesy movie. With Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" playing in the background, how can you not laugh and smile as you watch this feel good comedy. Of course it doesn't make sense, of course it's dramatic and cheesy, but that's the whole idea. This is a movie that doesn't take itself seriously and reminds you as a viewer the same. For those of you who miss those feel good movies in the 80's where you left the theatre with a smile then have a girls night out and watch this flick.

Rating:
Summary: Why Even Bother?
Review: I can't believe that Miramax would finance this movie, and what's even more amazing is that talented people such as Gwyneth Paltrow & Mike Myers would have partaked in this movie venture. It's a typical story about rag to riches, about determination to succeed, about cat-fight when a girl backstabs another girl, about a girl falling in love with a guy and in the end, she would forsake even her career just to be with him, even if that means she needs to stay in Cleveland, Ohio! Actually, the best bits & the gags have already been shown in the preview & the fill-in bits in the movie is really a rather waste of time. The chemistry between Gywneth's character & the leading man is not there, & the crossed eyed Mike Myer's jokes runs thin after a while, & in the end, I can't help but wondering what genre this movie is supposed to be. Is it actually a comedy, a love story, or what? In the end, it's neither. I would rather watch the out-take in the end, where there is a musical about "We Are Family", and enjoying the actors & actresses having fun in between shooting. Christina Applegate, Kelly Preston, Rob Lowe are sorely wasted in this movie too. By the way, I have never noticed that Kelly Preston is that busty?! Well, don't even bother...

Rating:
Summary: Chick-flick refreshingly free of male villains
Review: This is a movie with numerous surprises, most of them pleasant ones. One could watch many a scene and think the movie had, "lightweight" written all over it. The plot is not exactly intense, but on its own level it has enough surprise twists and avoidance of cliches to give the movie, in a subtle way, more substance than one might expect early on. Much of the way through I found myself rather surprised that they would cast an Oscar-winning actress as the lead in what has essentially an aura of a B-movie. But Gwyneth Paltrow certainly has what it takes to elevate what might seem light material to a memorable and worthwhile movie experience. She plays herein perhaps the most straightforwardly likeable character that she's played in any movie other than SHALLOW HAL (a more mixed bag of a movie overall, I believe). Her character goes for her dream, and gets where she gets fairly and squarely, never scapegoating anyone else unjustly for any setback. I could have stood to see Christina Applegate cast in a better role, but she does what it takes to make the movie work through the role that she has. So, her performance here leaves nothing to be desired, even though I liked her better in THE SWEEEST THING. Equally surprising is a quirkily satisfying performance by Mike Meyers. If you expect him to provide the movie with much of its element of comedy, well, he does do that. But still he shows a talent with a versatility extending well beyond the several characters he played in the AUSTIN POWERS series. So, if this movie starts of showing little promise of being a high-flier, bear with it. There will be enough surprises and memorable characters to make it well worth seeing. And while it has considerable "chick-flick" elements, it should nonetheless be a likeable feel-good movie for all viewers.