अपग्रेडेड

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!

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.

Not much to review here. It's a cookie cutter movie.

Look, was this the best show ever? No. Has this scenario been done to death? Yes. Was it delusional to think that someone can get away with this? Also, yes. Was this movie predictable? Again, yes. But it did have some subtle charm and familiarity even though we all knew how it was going to end.

I also don't mind a movie that is predictable as long as it's done well and overall I find that this movie was done well.

A shout out to Camila Mendes (Ana). I really didn't like Riverdale but she played her character well. She did an amazing job playing the poor protagonist in this movie. I'm looking forward to seeing what she does next.

Archie Renaux (William) did a great job. I don't think I've seen him in anything before. He did a great job of playing the grounded rich kid that wasn't intoxicated by his wealth. I really appreciated that.

Marissa Tomei did an amazing job. My favourites were Lena Olin (Catherine) and Anthony Head (Julian Marx). They did a great job. Saoirse-Monica Jackson (Amy) was great too. I loved her in Derry Girls.

You gotta just take this movie for what it is and go on with life. It's not that serious.

There should be a law against movies like this one. I understand that there are people out there who have absolutely nothing going on in their lives and to them this movie might even make sense but for crying out loud, for the rest of us, this is just a waste of time. Everything in this movie was so painfully predictable. No originality, no chemistry, nothing. Everyone tried to make something out of nothing but this movie was made to be a boring nothing from the beginning so there was nothing to save here.

More predictable than the rest of this senten....

Does Netflix really have nothing better they could spend their money on??

I approached this film expecting the light hand that is typically characteristic of a romance comedy. Unfortunately, the ride was incomplete in several respects. The narrative relies heavily on hackneyed truisms, and its attempt to incorporate modern socio-political thought-namely, progressive and feminist opinion-comes across as occasionally self-consciously didactic and is one step removed from the naturalistic flow of the picture.

Even as the film succeeds in creating atmosphere where it matters with utmost attention in setting and camera work, these are countered by a storyline with an uneven pace and poor development of character. The visual work is clearly impeccable, but the convolutions of the narrative make it hard for audiences to stay invested emotionally the whole way through.

Another point of contention is the ethical lean of the film. It seems to be suggesting that success in life-in much the same way as fairy stories-is a matter of fortune, bestowed upon a single hero figure. This is to underestimate the process of achieving one's goals to the point where destiny becomes more important than concerted effort. The implied message appears to be that the "easy come, easy go" way of life, with periodic suffering and felicitous resolution, is a true picture of how life should be. This picture risks oversimplifying the complexity of real difficulty and potentially unwittingly doing that for the belief that deviation from this narrowly defined ideal will produce displeasure.

Lastly, while the movie excels in the atmospheric and technical aspects, its over-reliance on conventional tropes and a didactic thematic execution leaves much to be desired. A romantic comedy at its best should be capable of striking that delicate balance-delivering both genuine humor and true-to-life character arcs, all while interesting the viewer with an incisive critique of personal challenges and growth. Subsequent productions in the genre would benefit from further streamlining of their narrative technique to pay tribute both to current concerns and the enduring nature of genuine romance.