Maid in Manhattan (2002)
I've got a bone to pick with movie
critics. By now, you've heard that "Maid in Manhattan"
is pretty much the same as "Pretty Woman." Critics
and writers have been passing this untruth off as
a "review" of the film for weeks now. They're idiots.
While there is much that is somewhat similar to that
Julia Roberts vehicle, there isn't anything so similar
to deserve such a castoff comparison.
"Maid in Manhattan," like "Pretty
Woman" and "The Princess Diaries," and a thousand
other films is best described as a "Cinderella story."
Here Jennifer Lopez, in her most relaxed and breezy
performance ever, plays a maid in an elite Manhattan
hotel who, through mistaken identity, begins a relationship
with a politician.
First thing - She's a maid - not
a whore. She's a "real" working woman, not a whore.
She has a legitimate job. She's not a whore. To compare
the role Lopez plays here to a whore is simply mean.
It demeans every working woman in America. Shame on
film reviewers. Even moreso, she has a young son.
She's a career woman trying to better herself AND
a mother. How in the fuck does that compare to Julia
Roberts as a whore? Dumbass critics.
Secondly, she gets into a relationship
with a "rich" man here by mistaken identity. He doesn't
hire her to fuck him for a week or even be his escort.
You know, because she isn't a whore!
This is a great movie. it is one
of the most romantic movies I've seen all year. It's
so perfect and breezy and heartfelt that I cried during
the damn thing for almost the last 30 minutes. It's
just so damn sweet.
And it's decently written too. They
could have taken a much easier route on some of this
stuff but scripter Kevin Wade really works to make
all the elements of the story add up. Just look at
the character of the son here. He's into 70's stuff
because he read about Richard Nixon. And the theme
of Nixon, that of lying, is paramount to the story
going on here. The use of the son character in the
film is inspired. Yes, this is an old story, but it's
modernized perfectly. When has Cinderella ever been
the mother of a 10 year old boy before?
And, granted, the script isn't perfect.
Sure, there's plenty of contrived and manipulative
things in it. But it works. This isn't some sort of
deconstruction or reinvention of a genre, it is just
a genre film. The hero is supposed to win our hearts.
The romance is supposed to make us swoon. There is
supposed to be opposition to the love ever happening.
The acting here is just awesome.
Lopez is perfect. God, we love her. We believe her
every second of this film. She flows so nicely into
the story and works seemingly effortlessly to create
insurmountable chemistry with Ralph Fiennes as her
love interest and Tyler Posey as her son. Fiennes
was never more charming. Who gives a fuck if his accent
is a bit iffy? He's simply the perfect love interest.
He never makes a misstep here. Posey is perhaps the
best young actor to emerge in a comedy since Macaulay
Culkin. This kid rocks. Like Lopez, he is breezy and
relaxed and helps to give the film a truly believable
tone. His speech at the political rally at the end
of the film is one of the most wonderful soliloquys
a child has ever delivered in a film and Posey does
it perfectly.
Also nice in the film is Marissa
Matrone as Lopez's coworker and friend and Bob Hoskins
as the sort of "fairy Godmother" of the piece. (Okay,
I'll give you that this character is reminiscent of
Hector Elizando in "Pretty Woman").
The only character that doesn't
work is Lopez's character's mother and that's because
she is forced to deliver that "you can't do it/you'll
never be more than a maid" speech at the film's climax.
It's dumb and doesn't work.
"Maid in Manhattan" is the best
romantic comedy of the year. Period. Now stop buying
into the comparisons to other films and just go see
it. And take a hankie.
Note:
Also with Stanley Tucci and Natasha
Richardson.
Directed by Wayne Wang. The story
is credited to Edmond Dantes, which is a pseudonym
for John Hughes.
Music by Simon and Garfunkel and
Bread are used as points in the plot.
At times the film was known as "The
Chambermaid," "Made in New York" and "Uptown Girl."
Viewed in Austin in December 2002
with my roommate Amanda.
