अपग्रेडेड

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!