View From the Top Review
by Tim Wick
It is difficult to have anything but serious reservations about a film that attempts to portray Gwyneth Paltrow as white trash.
In View From the Top we are expected to believe that Paltrow is trailer trash from Arizona who aspires to something better. Given what Paltrow looks like, we get the feeling she is a Hollywood star who hoped for something much worse.
Now this film is not the first film to feature a big name Hollywood actress slumming it. Cameron Diaz was actually convincing in Being John Malkovich. As was Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich. For every success story, however, there are many examples of glamorous actresses playing roles for which they are not at all suited.
If the only problem with View from the Top was the fact that Gwyneth Paltrow looks like a fashion models fantasy of a poor person, I wouldn't dislike the film as much as I do. That particular problem is merely indicative of a movie made without attention to anything beyond getting enough name actors to make the film appear more interesting than it actually is.
The most painfully difficult kind of film to watch is a comedy that is not funny. Each joke sort of hangs there waiting for the audience to laugh while the audience coughs with discomfort. The only way you can make such an experience worse is to introduce a romance that is not romantic. Now why do you suppose I brought this up?
The movie wants us to believe it is about chasing your dreams and aspiring to be something more than you are. Paltrow, who has already won an Oscar and is an A list movie star, may not really have an understanding of her character's center. The movie is even more confused as it's final message seems to be that you should aspire to be better than you are unless you meet a cute guy who isn't willing to give up anything to be with you. In that case, what you really wanted was a cute guy so dump that dream and be with him.
I might have expected and even excused such a notion in a film made in 1950. I reject it in a film made in 2003. When Paltrow is on the verge of reaching her dream and her boyfriend who is Top of his class in law school doesn't even contemplate moving to New York so she can pursue her dream job, one wonders why he is such an amazing catch. While he does say he likes living close to his family and it has already been established that she has no desire to live near hers, it hardly seems fair that the only choices are his way or no way.
Seriously, he is the top of his class. Is there no law firm in New York City willing to hire someone like that? Given she is an international flight attendant and he would be a high class lawyer, couldn't they get back to Cleveland to visit his family on a pretty frequent basis?
Given the romance is unconvincing and even a little bit extraneous, it is hard to understand why this guy is worth giving up your dreams.
While teaching young women everywhere that a man is more important than anything else, the film also teaches other valuable lessons. Don't trust any friends you make along the way because they will only stab you in the back. People with lazy eyes are bitter and need to use their non lazy eye to read anything. The really interesting and loyal people in your life should be left behind at the earliest possible convenience to ensure an even deeper irony when the one friend you have left turns out to be false. What is this, the King Lear of flight attendants?
Unless you have an unnatural attraction to Gwyneth Paltrow or Chistina Applegate, I canÕt find a single reason to recommend this film. All of its offensive excess could be partially forgiven if it was even the slightest bit funny. It is not. If you want something that is offensive and funny, rent National LampoonÕs Vacation and stay home.
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