Profession: hôtesse de l'air

i liked the premise - small-town girl makes it big as an airline stewardess. the costuming and set design suggested this could be a hip, trend-setting movie. i love seeing women and men who seem different and invite curiosity, i like watching Gwyneth Paltrow acting out the sincerity in her character. but it sure seemed this script wasn't rewritten enough times - even redirected. most of the other characters were introduced as a little quirky or sexy, but after that they became uninteresting, the tension or romance between them didn't seem real. why introduce characters that never recur or mean anything in the end? why go to Paris or New York, and see it from the inside of a room? it's as if the budget was being cut as each page of the script was discovered to be unworkable material! by the end of the film, i felt sorry for most of stars who appeared in this. i think it could have been one of the funniest, interesting movies of the year - i would love to remake it as a real insight into the world of the airline stewardess.

It starts on a promising note as one might have expected a 'Legally Blonde' type comedy even though Gwyneth Paltrow does not exactly pull off the dumb blonde act as well as Reese Witherspoon. There's a lot of hilarious comedy as the characters of the hotties: Kelly Preston, Christina Applegate and Paltrow meet and befriend one another. However, things slow down and get boring once the film shifts to the Ruffalo-Paltrow romance track. Among the cast only Christina Applegate stands out as the bitchy jealous friend-turned rival (even though she's played similar roles in 'Married with Children' and 'Friends') while Paltrow does an alright job. Ruffalo plays the typical love-interest and he has done better in 'Just Like Heaven'. Somewhere in the latter half of the film there's a hilarious cat-fight between Applegate and Paltrow which was fun to watch and in the end we get a glimpse of some bloopers (many of which are uninteresting). 'View From The Top' is forgettable. Having seen the trailer, I expected something hilarious but alas!

On a very slow night, I watched this flick and was generally surprised at the physical comedy Gwen was willing to put herself through. I really enjoyed this film. For it's ridiculous nature. It's fable quality, and real nice (yet mostly overused) concept of home is where love is. And it reminded me that the journey with someone is better than the journey alone. Everyone needs a co-pilot and it's a sweet message (albeit sometimes outdated). I feel. a movie like this is genuine, and returns back to a time where we may not have been so cynical. If that's their angle, I would say...it's not a bad thing to be sweet.

Pleasant if unremarkable fluff has Gwyneth Paltrow pulling a Mira Sorvino, playing a hick-town cashier in Nevada who is inspired by a celebrity airline hostess and takes to the skies. Middling comedy-romance about flight attendants has Paltrow in unusually silly spirits; her role isn't realistic, of course, but it's a lot of fun watching her go through the ropes, gaining self-confidence and making friends. Her sweet relationship with Mark Ruffalo never gets in the way of the comedy and provides a nice capper at the end. Film begins skittishly, though it, too, gains confidence and composure despite 'scene-stealing' hams in the supporting cast and an abundance of what appears to be costume designs from the 1970s (yet the film takes place in the present day). Not a big success, but a minor enjoyment. ** from ****

Middle of the road comedy about the dreams and experiences of a small-town girl (Gwyneth Paltrow) who longs to be an international flight attendant.

Another forgettable comedy with (supposedly) high-powered talent that seems to be unused. Gwyneth does have a good comedic presence, and she looks good in the skimpy outfits, what with her lean, leggy body and all.

But it's all just light fluffy trek. The movie struggles to even fill its 87 minutes with substance. Basically just girl from small town, longing for high life and glamour, trials and tribulations achieving her goals, and final realization that love and home are really what cranks. My, my, original indeed.

Yes, Gwyneth is OK, not totally sleepwalking through this role. She obviously needs to be stretched artistically, though. The supporting cast don't provide much. Mike Myers' cross eyed instructor provides a few laughs, but seems mostly like an overplayed Saturday Night Live character.

Candice Bergen seems settled into these time-killer comedies, and that is her prerogative. As the grand damme of flight attendants, she does get a couple of humorous lines, and her lispy, stilted, staccato, deliberate vocal delivery is always funny to me.

5/10 because I did laugh a few times. When it's not funny though, it's not much.