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 |
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 ... Written by Huggo
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!