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Near the end of 'Maid in Manhattan', Bob Hoskins' stiff hotel butler makes a surreally unmotivated speech in which he states that what is important is not who you are or what you do, but rather 'how you rise'. How ironic, then, that so many of the people involved in this film should have allowed themselves to sink so low. The talents of director Wayne Wang ('Life is Cheap... but Toilet Paper is Expensive', 'Smoke'), eighties wunderkind John Hughes ('Pretty in Pink', 'The Breakfast Club', 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off'), and a stellar cast (including Jennifer Lopez, Ralph Fiennes, Natasha Richardson and Stanley Tucci) have all been thoroughly wasted on this substandard retelling of 'Cinderella', in which maid Marisa (Lopez) is mistaken by senatorial candidate Christopher Marshall (Fiennes) for a rich socialite when he sees her dressed in a guest's expensive outfit, with all the predictable romcom-lite consequences. From its opening establishment shots of the New York skyline (as if we couldn't guess where it is set from the title) to the range of minor characters whose 'wackiness' makes up for their complete lack of depth, this film is just one irritating cliche after another. Jennifer Lopez has proven her ability to act in Steven Soderbergh's 'Out of Sight', but here Kevin Wade's script is more interested in the actress' overhyped buttocks than in her character - striking an odd note in a film which elsewhere argues against judging people by their appearances. So much of Lopez's dialogue is devoted to how 'from the block' she is that it sounds like the lyrics from one of her songs. Surely people who are truly 'street' and 'real' don't feel the need to go on about it all the time like this. And while Ralph Fiennes is a fine actor, even he finds it a tall order to make his playboy Republican look sincere as he shows concern for the underpaid and underprivileged. It is not Marisa's rags to riches transformation so much as Marshall's superficial brand of 'compassionate conservatism' which constitutes the film's real fairytale element. 'Maid in Manhattan' may pay lip service to the working classes, but it is far more concerned with prolonged product placement for a certain high-end fashion label, and with propagandising the Republican party. VERY annoying. Anton Bitel, 5.3.3 |
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