View From the Top (2003) Review

Strange mishmash of a movie plays like a bad episode of Saturday Night Live, with Gwyneth Paltrow doing her best to keep things moving and Mike Myers scoring a few, but not enough, direct hits. Gwyneth Paltrow plays Donna (Courtesy of Miramax Films)

If you’re looking to spend a couple of hours in first class, View from the Top is definitely not the ticket. The long delayed Miramax release, which casts Gwyneth Paltrow against type as a trailer trash gal who dreams of becoming a stewardess, fails to get off the ground as it tries to combine elements of both slapstick and romantic comedy. Acclaimed Brazilian director Bruno Barreto, who was handpicked by producer Brad Grey because of his success at mixing these same elements in his previous film Bossa Nova, misfires in his first major Hollywood effort. From the incongruous cameo halfway through the movie by Naked Gun and Airport series actor George Kennedy to a throwaway closing credits dance party number that the trailer would have you believe is an integral part of the movie, Barreto’s everything-but-the-airplane-galley-sink approach finally reduces Paltrow and fellow stewardess Christina Applegate to a decidedly unflattering wrestling match. Mike Myers, who is used to this kind of chaos from his days stringing together live shows at 50 Rockefeller Plaza (NBC’s headquarters for those not in the know) and Second City, put in a week’s worth of work on the film as a tightly wound flight instructor and the producers have milked it for all it’s worth. Similarly, Candice Bergen, no stranger to take charge comedy from her days on Murphy Brown, confidently strides through this mess as legendary retired stewardess Sally Weston, the woman who inspires Paltrow’s character, Donna Jensen, to abandon Silver Springs, Nevada in favor of Paris, France. Although Paltrow is generously showcased throughout the movie in a bikini, underwear, jean cutoffs, stewardess outfits and more, there is literally no screen chemistry with her leading man Mark Ruffalo, who was so good in the role of the wayward brother in You Can Count On Me. As the aspiring lawyer who populates the romantic comedy half of View from the Top, Ruffalo comes up short both literally and figuratively in his romantic scenes with Paltrow, leaving viewers to focus that much more on the anachronistic feel of the movie’s setting. View from the Top, which was delayed by the events of September 11th and lost a terrorist riff by Meyers’s character John Whitney in the process, now has the misfortune of being released at a time when United is in Chapter 11 and both American Airlines and Continental are teetering on the brink. Because the film is set in the present, its central conceit that the profession of airline steward or stewardess is the epitome of carefree glamour becomes that much more jarring and unbelievable. Ironically, immediately prior to View from the Top, producer Bobby Cohen delivered another airplane-themed movie to Miramax as part of his multi-picture deal under the aegis of Cohen Pictures. Note: The second page of this review was not preserved in web archives.