Demographic suicide of the Western civilisation is often blamed on the popular culture that has convinced generations of women to dedicate their lives to the pursuit of career at the expense of romance and family. These included romantic comedies like View from the Top, 2003 film directed by Bruno Barreto.
The career or, to be precise, a very specific career of a flight attendant, is what the protagonist Donna Jensen (played by Gwyneth Paltrow) has always strived to achieve. She had grown up at the very bottom of American society, in Nevada trailer park being raised by alcoholic mother, and the literal heights a person can get to while working in airline industry seemed like the best alternative. Donna was inspired to pursue this career by listening to television interview with Sally Weston (played by Candice Bergen), former flight attendant and best-selling author of memoirs describing her professional experiences. Taking her advice to heart, Donna takes job in small regional airline and, using the attained experience, applies to the job in prestigious national airline, with service on the flights between New York City and Paris becoming the top spot for any aspiring flight attendant. Despite working hard and filling all necessary criteria Donna doesn’t get the spot which, for some mysterious reason, goes towards her less qualified colleague Christine (played by Christina Applegate). Further complication is created when she starts relationship with charming man named Ted (played by Mark Ruffalo), which is difficult to maintain because of long distances and separation created by her job.
View from the Top was one of the collateral victims of 9/11. Originally produced in 2001 and slated for release later in the year, it was quickly shelved by Miramax Films, because the studio considered the subject matter too painful for American audience. Released roughly one year and half later, with War on Terror paranoia in full swing, the film already looked dated. But even without it, A View from the Top represented terrible disappointment. Although advertised as romantic comedy, it played its plot and characters straight, which made it look more like a drama. Script by Eric Wald takes its basic concept too seriously, without any concern whether there will be any humour. That seriousness undermines the film that would have worked better with at least some sort of subversion or having character less focused on its narrow professional goal or having dilemmas more complicated than those typical Hollywood choices between career and romance, which is in this film resolved in rather predictable compromise. The result is awfully unconvincing and unfunny film in which Gwyneth Paltrow somehow manages to waste her otherwise effective charm and talent. Same can be said of the rest of the cast, with Candice Bergen and guru-like figure also sabotages any attempts to take things seriously, while Christina Applegate and Kelly Preston are forgettable as protagonists’ colleagues. Brasilian director Bruno Barreto, who had ups and downs during his career, could have made things interesting by adding a slight eroticism, which had served him very well in his previous film Carried Away. Unfortunately, studio’s desire for PG-13 rating have closed that route. The film was, somewhat unsurprisingly, savaged by critics and, even less surprisingly, turned as major flop at the box office. Although having only hour and half of running time, View from the Top might prove too long and exhausting for most of the audience.
RATING: 2/10 (-)
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