Recently Seen: Maid in Manhattan
I have a soft spot for romantic comedies set in New York. There is something about the glamour of the city that seems very appropriate to clever (if implausible) scenarios, crackling dialogue, jazzy soundtracks and photogenic people getting together.
Maid in Manhattan is set in New York, as evident in its very title. It stars Jennifer Lopez and Ralph Fiennes, so the photogenic people are taken care off. The soundtrack has Nora Jones. It's all set up for a fun movie experience.
The scenario is suitably implausible. She's a maid in a posh NY hotel, he's a senatorial candidate staying in one of the suites. She just happens to be trying on a gorgeous coat (DG or Dior, can't remember) that a guest in another suite had asked her to return to one of the hotel shops. He walks into the suite and thinks she's a guest there. They meet cute, take a walk in the park and have interesting conversations where her views on inner city development, among other things, mesmerises him. We spend most of the movie resolving this mistaken identity plotline, with a few amusing, if predictable scenes of her in maid's uniform, avoiding him. It all works out in the end, of course and along the way, we got to see some moonlit dancing, so the romance quota was filled.
The dialogue was not exactly crackling, but it was amusing and for a movie like this, satisfying enough. I think it helps if you just let yourself get swept into the plotline and the trials and tribulations of the characters. She is a struggling single mother, gathering the courage to climb the ranks to a management position. He is an aspiring politician, fighting off the weight of expectation that comes from being the son of a politician. In giving them something to do rather than just meeting and falling in love, the movie succeeds in making us care.
JLo is a much better actress than she is a singer. Her work here is charming and has the right lightness of touch for a comedy. Ralph Fiennes assumes an upper-crust American accent here, so we are deprived of hearing his wonderful Shakespearean English accent. He is suitably dashing and believably decent, despite playing a Republican senatorial candidate. Who I really liked was the young actor who played JLo's son, very touching and affecting.
Movie rating: 6.5 out of 10. Watchable and enjoyable, but not memorably so.
Maid in Manhattan is set in New York, as evident in its very title. It stars Jennifer Lopez and Ralph Fiennes, so the photogenic people are taken care off. The soundtrack has Nora Jones. It's all set up for a fun movie experience.
The scenario is suitably implausible. She's a maid in a posh NY hotel, he's a senatorial candidate staying in one of the suites. She just happens to be trying on a gorgeous coat (DG or Dior, can't remember) that a guest in another suite had asked her to return to one of the hotel shops. He walks into the suite and thinks she's a guest there. They meet cute, take a walk in the park and have interesting conversations where her views on inner city development, among other things, mesmerises him. We spend most of the movie resolving this mistaken identity plotline, with a few amusing, if predictable scenes of her in maid's uniform, avoiding him. It all works out in the end, of course and along the way, we got to see some moonlit dancing, so the romance quota was filled.
The dialogue was not exactly crackling, but it was amusing and for a movie like this, satisfying enough. I think it helps if you just let yourself get swept into the plotline and the trials and tribulations of the characters. She is a struggling single mother, gathering the courage to climb the ranks to a management position. He is an aspiring politician, fighting off the weight of expectation that comes from being the son of a politician. In giving them something to do rather than just meeting and falling in love, the movie succeeds in making us care.
JLo is a much better actress than she is a singer. Her work here is charming and has the right lightness of touch for a comedy. Ralph Fiennes assumes an upper-crust American accent here, so we are deprived of hearing his wonderful Shakespearean English accent. He is suitably dashing and believably decent, despite playing a Republican senatorial candidate. Who I really liked was the young actor who played JLo's son, very touching and affecting.
Movie rating: 6.5 out of 10. Watchable and enjoyable, but not memorably so.
Labels: Movie Reviews
posted by gentleice the deptfordian at 6:32 PM
