View from the Top (2003)

A small-town woman tries to achieve her goal of becoming a flight attendant.

Director:

Bruno Barreto

Writer:

Eric Wald

Stars:

Gwyneth Paltrow, Christina Applegate, Kelly Preston

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Gwyneth Paltrow	...	Donna Jensen
Christina Applegate	...	Christine Montgomery
Mark Ruffalo	...	Ted Stewart
Candice Bergen	...	Sally Weston
Joshua Malina	...	Randy Jones (as Josh Malina)
Kelly Preston	...	Sherry
Rob Lowe	...	Co-Pilot Steve Bench
Mike Myers	...	John Witney
Marc Blucas	...	Tommy Boulay
Stacey Dash	...	Angela Samona
Jon Polito	...	Roy Roby
Concetta Tomei	...	Mrs. Stewart
Robyn Peterson	...	Donna's Mom
Nadia Dajani	...	Paige
John Francis Daley	...	Rodney

Storyline

Donna Jensen was raised literally and figuratively on the wrong side of the trailer park in Silver Springs, Nevada. She always believed it was her destiny to get out of Silver Springs. After reading Sally Weston's book, Sally who is arguably the most famous now ex-flight attendant in the world, Donna believes the path to leaving Silver Springs is to become a flight attendant despite never having been on an airplane. After an initial bumpy start to this career, Donna shows a natural flair for the job, so much so that she applies to work for world class Royal Airlines, where Sally Weston mentors. After meeting Donna, Sally believes Donna is destined for flight attendant greatness, namely working first class in the New York-Paris flights. Donna believes in herself as a flight attendant, but has to overcome some obstacles, including flight attendant trainer John Witney, who has some hidden anger issues, and her friend Christine Montgomery who also wants to be a great flight attendant ...

---

Plot Keywords:

popping a cork | b word | deception | looking at oneself in a mirror | betrayal by a friend | 

---

Taglines:

Don't stop till you reach the top.

---

Genres:

Comedy | Romance

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for language/sexual references

Did You Know?

Trivia

Gwyneth Paltrow and Mark Ruffalo later starred together in Thanks for Sharing (2012) and The Avengers (2012), along with subsequent Marvel Cinematic Universe films where they appeared as Pepper Potts and Bruce Banner, respectively.

---

Goofs

Donna is flipping through her mail, which is addressed to her with an address of Cleveland OH 44054. However, 44054 is not a Cleveland zip code. It corresponds to Sheffield Lake, which is a suburb of nearby Lorain OH.

---

Quotes

John Whitney: You peaked too soon. You're was what we call a "peak too sooner".

---

Crazy Credits

At the end of the movie, there are outakes and deleted scenes.

---

Connections

References Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987)

---

Soundtracks

Up Up and Away
Performed by The The 5th Dimension
Written by Jimmy Webb (as Jim Webb)
Used courtesy of Arista Records, a Unit of BMG Music
Under license from BMG Special Products

User Reviews

Not bad for what it is - a light hearted comedy

It seems that too many people watch this movie with wrong expectations: first of all, it is supposed to be a mindless, silly comedy, and in that sense it does not fail. The very beginning of the film shows it clearly, so adjust your expectations accordingly, you Ms. Paltrow included :) I mean, there is Mike Myers in a role of an absolute idiotic instructor teaching flight attendants how to pronounce "assess" so it does not sound like "asses", and Gwyneth Paltrow in a role that takes full advantage of her good looks and portrays her as an unambitious (dumb?) blonde (in the first third of the film)... so if you are expecting some Kurosawa, or Bergman type depth, you are being delusional.

View from the top does have some shortcomings: first of all, it was being made just as 9/11 happened, and from what I gather, that influenced the story, editing and release quite a bit. Then, there is the strange cameo by Rob Lowe, which leaves an impression that it was meant to be more than just a cameo... but it ended up being a loose end. And there is a strangely inconsistent accent by Gwyneth Paltrow who usually gets it right ("Sliding Doors" comes to mind), so that leads me to believe that there was some serious amount of re-shooting which made for those inconsistencies...

Even with all that, the film comes loaded with good laughs, my favorite being scenes with Mike Myers who just nailed his role (but I understand that "haters gonna hate"), and even Gwyneth's reactions to his lunacy are priceless.

So, if you are expecting a terrific plot that would make Hitchcock jealous, move on, this is not that type of film. But if you are in for some guilty pleasure of silly laughs with some seriously good acting by the main actors (Gwyneth Paltrow, Mike Myers and Christina Applegate were all great), then you have come to the right place.

This film is really not as bad as people are making it to be. There is nothing wrong with using actresses good looks to make a funny film especially when the film has no pretenses at being another "Seventh Seal". If anything, we need more joy and fun in this world, and this film provides plenty of that.

p.s. Watch this film carefully, there are plenty of jokes that would be easy to miss if you are too busy eating popcorn.

p.p.s. BTW, Christina Applegate just proved again what a terrific actress she is! Wow!

Details

Official Sites:

Miramax [United States] Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 March 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

A View from the Top

Filming Locations:

Bullhead City, Arizona, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$7,600,000, 23 March 2003

Gross USA:

$15,614,000

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$19,526,014

Company Credits

Production Co:

Miramax, Brad Grey Pictures, Cohen Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1