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All-Reviews.com Movie/Video Review
Maid In Manhattan
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  out of 4
Review by Susan Granger
2½ stars out of 4
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If you love romantic comedies, this is glossy, gift-wrapped and ready
for the holiday season. The working-class Cinderella story begins in the Bronx,
where good-hearted single mother Marisa Ventura (Jennifer Lopez) lives with her
precocious young son (Tyler Garcia Posey). Marisa works as a maid at the posh
Beresford Hotel, where the staff motto is "Strive to be invisible." But Marisa's
cloak of invisibility quickly vanishes, along with her ambitions of being
promoted to manager, when she dons an expensive white Dolce & Gabbana outfit on
loan to a socialite guest, Caroline Lane (Natasha Richardson), and catches the
eye of a playboy Senatorial candidate Chris Marshall (Ralph Fiennes). It's
mistaken-identity love-at-first-sight as they trot off with his Weimaraner named
Rufus on a stroll in Central Park. What's missing, unfortunately, is clever and
witty dialogue, since Kevin Wade's screenplay, based on a story by Edmond
Dantes, is strictly pedestrian and plot-propelled with several highly improbable
scenes (a "loaner" Harry Winston diamond necklace entrusted to a 10 year-old? I
think not.) and an ending borrowed from "Notting Hill." Since this is obviously
a star-vehicle for Jennifer Lopez, director Wayne Wang concentrates on the
dazzling pop diva, leaving humorless Ralph Fiennes ("The English Patient," "Red
Dragon") to flounder in an unaccustomed comedic role and Natasha Richardson to
snobby silliness. In supporting parts, Bob Hoskins and Stanley Tucci deliver
their usual excellence, and irresistible moppet Tyler Garcia Posey steals every
scene he's in. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Maid in Manhattan" is a
contrived yet engaging 6. Love may transcend social class and ethnicity but the
necessary chemistry between Jennifer Lopez and Ralph Fiennes never clicks.
Copyright © 2002 Susan Granger
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