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View from the Top

View from the Top

List Price: $19.99
Your Price: $17.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Cute, but don't expect it to change your life...
Review: Gwyneth Paltrow plays Donna, who was born in a very very small town, who like many others born in a small town, just wants out. She doesn't want to end up like her mom, who has married four times, and all of them seem to be alcoholics. After her high school boyfriend dumps her on a birthday card, she decides that she needs to make some changes. She goes to work for a small airline as a flight attendant, where they believe in "big hair and short skirts."

She fits right in, and meets Christine (Christina Applegate) and Sherry (Kelly Preston). They spend their time in Lake Havasu tanning on Sherry's roof.(not much else to do) When Donna meets Ted, (Mark Ruffalo) they instantly have an attraction. But, since she is moving to Cleveland to bigger and better airlines to be a trainee, they don't take their relationship much further than a first date.

Once there, Donna is at the top of her class, and taking all of the rules and procedures seriously---her classmate Christine, not so much. But, somehow, Christine manages to do better than Donna on the test, so she is the one that gets to work out of New York International, while Donna is stuck in Cleveland. Something doesn't seem right, but it doesn't matter so much when she meets up with Ted again who is going to law school in Cleveland, where his family lives.

Will she make it to New York International? If she does, will she still want what she has wanted all of this time, or is what she wanted right in front of her face?

It was cute, as I stated above. I liked the romance aspect and the "live for your dreams" message, but there was something wrong with it. I know that you can change, but the whole big hair working at Big Lots with her cheesy boyfriend becomes this classy woman who is all of a sudden, very intelligent...I just didn't buy it. I don't like when characters change right in the middle of the movie. It wasn't coherant with the rest of the story. Also, the movie changed as well. It started out to be "woman will go to all lengths to live her dreams" but then it had "spoof" like parts in it, like Mike Myers and his lazy eye. I'm all for comedy, but when you take it to that level, it becomes an entirely different movie. It was nice to see well-known and and likeable actors as the main characters and the concept was original. But, I would have liked it more if it stayed consistent with what it was originally trying to do.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Guilty Pleasure........
Review: I'll keep it simple. Emma and Shakespeare in Love are two of my favorite movies ever. I also read romance novels by the ton. On the other hand I am a guy. Gwyneth Paltrow is one of the best and most beautiful actresses of our time. Yet if you check her filmography her early career contains no movies which uhhhmmm ahhhh emphasize Ms. Paltrow's feminity, -- in a modern sense. WELL HERE IT IS, a very guilty plesure, but lots and lots of fun and romantic with a little r too. Ms. Platrow is not only cute, adorable, and hugely talented, but yup she looks GRRREEAT in a short skirt, bikini, or slinky pants. Guilty guilty pleasure. Oh, hurray for actresses like Jennifer Connelly, Minnie Driver, and Julia Stiles too.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fun, basic eye candy
Review: ...although Gwyneth Paltrow's apartment in the upper eighties on Fifth avenue is hard to credit, unless the fictional airline bought a block of flats some time ago for senior employees, and funds the block as an investment.

As a business decision, unless the airline is doing very well on the equity, this doesn't make sense since Newark and JFK are rather hard to get to from Manhattan. But let us assume that Royalty needs the flexibility of calling its best flight attendants to fly domestic out of Newark or international out of JFK at will. Manhattan is midway.

But, the reality is La Hacienda near LAX, the official hotel of Spirit Airlines, a fun budget carrier, staffed by fun people, who only on occasion calls the LAPD to deal with its passengers when its one and only plane at LAX has a busted tire or something, and the passengers, delayed 12 hours, storm the counter. The passengers are also a fun lot, mostly gang bangers and working people who would otherwise take the bus. In general, a good time is had by all...but it is certainly nothing like ladies in hats deplaning in Paris.

[A fun way to go to Paris from the Far East: Emirates. My flight last year was also taken by an Osama clone who prayed overlong in the departure lounge and was greeted by muscular followers who played video games enroute. I sat next to an Austrian army type who was probably keeping an eye on the homes and nothing happened, probably because the Osama clone was just another schmoe cleric. Once you get over raw terror, flying is a gas, and, because of the raw terror, cheap psychiatry.]

But, movies about commercial aviation manage to show real working people who actually dream dreams limited ab initio by material circumstances.

This movie includes some nice eye candy including some real basic stuff...Stews in Bikinis at Lake Havasu. And throughout, Gwyneth Paltrow retains that dignity which does credit both to her own profession and those of people who keep planes up with the sharp end pointed the right way and watch over us passengers.

Rob Lowe as CoPilot Steve gets another one of those strange little cameos he gets from time to time, where his dangerous, almost saccharin, sexuality is allowed to ooze out a bit and then put back in the can. He goes nowhere, unfortunately, and his career (starting as it did with a serious version of David Mamet's stage play Sexual Perversity in Chicago) is also going nowhere...perhaps because About Last Night managed to preserve a modicum of moral seriousness and this upset the morally unserious who can't deal with terminal pain as a necessary part of sexuality.

Mike Moore is allowed instead to romp over most of the latter part of the film in a fun way and as your basic airhead stuff, this film is five stars.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Yikes, this was frightening!!
Review: It's amazing how some movies get made these days, especially this one. I felt compelled to write a review after my girlfriend made me watch this horrid, horrid movie. Seriously, is this really the same Gwyneth Paltrow who starred in quality movies like "Shakespeare in Love"and "Sliding Doors"? Was she hurting for money... if so there are better ways. I'm all about silly/stupid movies but this movie isn't remotely funny. Mike Meyers gave me about two chuckles with the lazy eye gag.. which was repeated waaaay too many times.

Ladies, if you're looking for a good comedy to watch with your boyfriend, please try "High Fidelity" and "About a Boy". Those are both suprisingly witty and funny and actually have something to say with some interesting characters. I assure you, you will both like those. This movie, however, goes on my top ten worst movies of all time, right above "Batman and Robin". I'm still having nightmares about it... the horror, the horror!!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Kind of sweet, and somewhat amusing...
Review: I liked this movie. But was disappointed by some aspects of it. Was it meant to be an amusing nudge at airline attendants and how the average person perceives them? Or a romantic comedy that pits a woman's career and life ambitions against her heart? It tried to be both. Mike Myers' character, to me, brought the film down to spoof level. While Candice Bergen's character added heart and hope and a little bit of quirkiness. They really should've made up their minds before setting out to film this one. Despite some ridiculous events (like Christina Applegate's character fighting with Gwyneth Paltrow's character, right there in the first class cabin, when she had no business being there and especially these days, she couldn't have made back there considering the circumstances....totally ridiculous) there were some good aspects to this movie. The cameos for instance. Rob Lowe, Kelly Preston, short but notable. The romantic part of the story was sweet. And there's a nice little twist at the end. Not a believable one mind you, but still, it made for a good ending. And I like happy endings. So all in all, this was pretty good (decent story, amusing events, nice ending). I'd see it again.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Surprising Romantic Comedy
Review: I don't usually write movie reviews here but I thought this movie deserved a review.

This is a perfect example of mixed marketing. I thought this movie was kind of a goofy Mike Myers vehicle that happened to have Gwyneth Paltrow in it but I came to find that it was a very cute and sweet romantic comedy that the whole family could watch.

It has a great soundtrack and was quite enjoyable. I definitely think more people need to give this one a look.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Hollywoods Version of Flight Attendants
Review: Gwyneth Paltrow, stars as Donna, a small town girl who has always dreamed of flying . She gets her chance, with a cheesy,
(one route only ) , *airline* , before she moves on to Royalty,
a big time carrier . Candace Bergen , plays Royalty's most famous flight attendant , and Donna's role model . Along the way, Donna's dreams for love AND flying international go wrong , and later, Donna has to decide what she wants more, love or to fly . As 'real mcCoy' flight attendant, I found this movie VERY full of stereotypes, and outdated ideas of flight attendants . Real flight attendants ( we are no longer called stewardesses ), are trained to fly every route, and fly both domestic and international , . Back to the movie, I loved the retro inspired uniforms of Royalty . And the DVD, includes a documentary on the history of flight attendants .

Two excellant books ( both available on Amazon ), that would great companions : Come fly With Us , and Airline . Both are full of colorful photos , thru the years . In fact , Airline , has a flight attendant on the cover wearing what must have been the inspiration for the orange Royalty uniform !

View From The Top , is a pleasing , if not 100% accurate movie on flight attendants , it is still better than most comedies out there .

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: uneven though occasionally fun
Review: Bruno Barreto's "View From the Top" boasts a cute premise that doesn't quite live up to its potential. The film starts out in a satirical vein, promising to deliver a nifty spoof of life in the friendly skies. Instead, it settles into a typical romantic comedy formula, not bad as these things go, but nothing to write home about either. So while "View from the Top" never soars very high, neither does it end up crashing and burning. In this day and age, one must be grateful for a safe landing, even if the ride is a bumpy one.

Gwyneth Paltrow delivers a winning performance as Donna, a small town girl who becomes a stewardess as a way of escaping her dysfunctional family and white trash upbringing. The first part of the film is fun, as Donna earns her wings flying for a cut-rate airline whose attendants dress and act more like prostitutes than stewardesses. With their form-fitting, cleavage-exposing blouses, purple hot pants and big hair, these pleasantly perky hostesses look like they're ready to serve their passengers more than just the customary coffee, tea or milk. So far, so good - but once the girls move onto a more "legitimate" airline, much of the satiric bite drains out of the film and we move onto the more familiar terrain of catty rivalries, long distance romance, and unrequited love.

In addition to Paltrow, the movie features Christina Applegate, Rob Lowe, Candice Bergen and Mark Ruffalo in various roles. Mike Myers is surprisingly annoying in the part of a cross-eyed stewardess trainer. The screenplay by Eric Wald has a maddening tendency to drop characters along the way, giving the film a slapdash, unformed and oddly amateurish quality. As partial compensation, the film boasts superb production and costume design and a generally ebullient spirit.

"View From the Top" doesn't end up flying us anywhere special and it's definitely coach all the way, but it does serve up a few laughs in mid flight.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Very Fluffy Eye-Candy: And That's All
Review: So, what does she wants to do, after all? I mean, Gwyneth Paltrow, who was going to be a great thing, that's how I thought when she was in "Shakespeare in Love or "Sliding Door." Then, "Shallow Hal" came. And then, this one, complete mess.

Ms. Paltrow is utterly miscast as Donna living in a small town in Nevada. She wanted to leave the place anyway, and see the world, and to do so she becomes a flight attentant. So far, you see so lots of cliche -- a girl living in trailer, a mom who had married four times, and her drunk husband. Is this supposed to be a satire? Or just insensible, prejudjuced ideas of someone behind the movie?

And Donna becomes a flight attendant, and be a friend with Christina Applegate and Kelly Preston as co-workers... quite a bad sign, isn't it? For these ladies, talented as they are (especially the latter), tend to be typecast. And again they are. To make matters worse, Kelly Preston soon disappears (whom I miss) while Candice Bergen shows up (who exactly looks unchanged from her role in "Miss Congeniality"), and Paltrow & Applegate go on to audition for the first-class airline, where the best trainer is over-the-top Mike Myers, whose awfully misguided acting demolishes every little thing in the film.

What does this film want to do? It sometimes suggests our prejudiced ideas about flight attendants, trying to be a satire. But the satire is weak, when you see Applegate and Paltrow engaged in a fierce cat flght (really), the former banging the head of the latter into bread. Comedy? But the gags are weak too when Myers' performance is just irritating and unfunny, the same kind of gags you see in, say, "Little Nicky." And there is a romance, which is too weak to remember (love interest, Mark Raffalo).

"View From the Top" gives us lots of fluff, that's the only thing you can get. And as that, the film is not bad, a real eye-candy. You will see Paltrow in bikini, and the costumes she wears are very fashionable. And that's all that I can recommend.


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