Upgraded

It reminded me of a time when writers wrote jokes and actors delivered them. It provided the satisfaction of a cheeseburger. Never taking itself too seriously, it has more com than rom, sure, but the natural chemistry between Ana and Will keep the romantic plot spicy enough to hold our attention. The work place drama is Cinderella mixed with Devil Wears Prada, with a particularly funny supporting cast keeping the fun alive amid the chaos. Camila carries the film, and shows once again how much more she has to offer beyond Riverdale, and how much this genre could be her path to becoming a bonafide J-Lo / Jen Aniston type superstar. Overall, a fun relaxing watch, with some good laughs and some warm fuzzy feelings by the end.

Camila Mendes is Ana, originally from Florida and, with an art degree, is a lowly assistant in a big name New York auction house. She is pretty broke, she sleeps on the futon in a very small apartment her sister shares with her boyfriend. On this fateful day her boss calls, she is told to go with them to London. Right now! There is a big art collection that needs to be auctioned off.

Ana is given an unexpected gift at the airport check-in, the agent sees how badly her catty co-workers were treating her so gives her an upgrade to first class. Thus the name of the movie.

In first class she sits next to a nice young British man and in the conversation she says something that leads him to believe she is the head of the auction house and she doesn't correct him. After all they don't know each other, she will probably never see him again and it felt good to feel important. But as the story develops it works out way differently.

Marisa Tomei is Claire, Ana's hard-driving boss, who speaks and sounds just like Celine Dione.

I like Tomei, she is good in everything, and I became a Mendes fan for her role as Veronica in the TV series 'Riverdale.' The two other assistants to Claire are overly annoying bullies in the workplace, a bit over the top I found, but otherwise it is a very well put together movie.

My wife and I enjoyed it, streaming on Amazon Prime, after our usual Saturday evening steak and wine dinner. With chocolate cake, of course!

Upgraded tells the story of an overworked, unappreciated intern aspiring to work in the high end art world. She is upgraded to first class on a flight and it sets off a chain of events that get her further and further in over her head.

First I threw this movie on as background fodder and I enjoyed it significantly more than I expected to. It has a "Devil wears Prada" feel where Marisa Tomei's character (and her assistants) are just impossibly rude and unlikable. It can get downright depressing as you see this hardworking girl just straight abused by the people she wants to be impressing. There are some decent comedic elements here and while they sometimes land, sometimes fall flat on their face, it helps break up the tension. The cast of characters introduced in act two are enjoyable and fun to spend time with, in contract to who we meet at the start of the film.

There are some issues with this movie. It can feel terribly cheesy at points. The story takes too many many unbelievable, "that would never happen, what the heck is going on?' moments that a better script could have avoided. Also - the main character can be downright selfish and hard to root for at many points in the story and I think it they wanted us so badly to root for her. Without getting into any spoilers - the ending feels unearned and should have been reworked to fit the story they were actually telling.

Overall for its straight to streaming feel, this is one of the better films of its type. It isn't a 'must watch' but a solid piece of cinema you can throw on at the end of a bad day.

3 out of 5 stars.

Liked the tone of this show. Self deprecating humor. Camilla Mendes stars as an auction house assistant who gets upgraded to first class. That leads to her pretending to be her boss. Like Working Girl. These set in Europe rom coms can be a little superficial but this one brings you into the art world. And the scenery doesn't overwhelm the story. The glamorous world of auction houses and art folks in London is a nice change. Things work out quite neatly.

Marisa Tomei is quite good here as the Devil Wears Prada type boss. Quite a transformation with the accent and persona. Camilla Mendes is watchable and intelligent looking and it is nice to see her out of Riverdale. She can do different and more mature roles now. Lena Olin is quite fun to watch. Archie the love interest isn't well cast. Does not have the privileged vibe.

She did treat him badly and he told her off but what made him forgive her wasn't shown.

An entertaining enough watch.

6.6/10 (Semi-Recommend)

This film was a bit better than I expected. The acting isn't half bad. It's a little off from one or two, but the overall chemistry, whether good blood or bad, works well. The story is decent told, but it feels too overused at this point. Cute girl bumps into cute guy on travels and they fall for each other. The pacing is good. Everything clips along at a good pace. Barely any downtime throughout. My biggest peeve is how much the sound fluctuates. It will go from very loud to very quiet and everything in-between. Overall, it does work out to be a decently enjoyable film and is possibly worth at least one watch through if you're into the semi-cheesy romcom genre.

That's all for now. Thank you for taking the time to read my review. Until next time.... Enjoy the show!