''View from the Top'' is a 2003 American

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film directed by

Bruno Barreto Bruno Villela Barreto Borges (born 16 March 1955) is a Brazilian film director. Biography Born in Rio de Janeiro, Barreto has been making feature-length films ever since he was 17 years old and remains one of Brazil's most accomplished and pop ...

and starring

Gwyneth Paltrow Gwyneth Kate Paltrow (; born ) is an American actress and businesswoman. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award. Paltrow gained notice for her early work in films ...

Christina Applegate Christina Applegate (born November 25, 1971) is an American actress. As a child actress, she gained recognition for starring as Kelly Bundy in the Fox sitcom '' Married... with Children'' (1987–1997). Applegate established a successful film an ...

Candice Bergen Candice Patricia Bergen (born May 9, 1946) is an American actress. She won five Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards for her portrayal of the title character on the CBS sitcom ''Murphy Brown'' (1988–1998, 2018). She is also know ...

Joshua Malina Joshua Charles Malina (born January 17, 1966) is an American film and stage actor known for playing Will Bailey on the NBC drama ''The West Wing'', Jeremy Goodwin on '' Sports Night'', US Attorney General David Rosen on ''Scandal'', and Caltech ...

Mark Ruffalo Mark Alan Ruffalo (; born November 22, 1967) is an American actor and producer best known for playing Bruce Banner / Hulk since 2012 in the superhero franchise of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and in the television series '' She-Hulk: Attorne ...

Rob Lowe Robert Hepler Lowe (born March 17, 1964) is an American actor, filmmaker, and podcast host. He made his acting debut at the age of 15 with ABC's short-lived sitcom ''A New Kind of Family'' (1979–1980). Following numerous television roles in ...

Mike Myers Michael John Myers OC (born May 25, 1963) is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. His accolades include seven MTV Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2002, he was awarded a star on the Hollyw ...

, and

Kelly Preston Kelly Kamalelehua Smith (October 13, 1962 – July 12, 2020), known professionally as Kelly Preston, was an American actress. She appeared in more than 60 television and film productions, including ''Mischief'' (1985), ''Twins'' (1988), '' ...

. The film follows a young woman (Paltrow) from a small town who sets out to fulfill her dream of becoming a

flight attendant A flight attendant, also known as steward/stewardess or air host/air hostess, is a member of the aircrew aboard commercial flights, many business jets and some government aircraft. Collectively called cabin crew, flight attendants are prima ...

Plot

Donna Jensen is from a small town in

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

. She wants to escape her miserable, unhappy life of living in a trailer with her alcoholic mother, a former Las Vegas showgirl, and her abusive, alcoholic stepfather. After graduating high school, Donna struggles to make ends meet working as a clerk in a

Big Lots Big Lots Stores, Inc. (stylized as Big Lots!) is an American retail company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio with over 1,400 stores in 47 states. History The Big Lots chain traces its history back to 1967 when Consolidated Stores Corporation w ...

store. After her boyfriend leaves her, Donna sees a TV interview with Sally Weston, a former flight attendant, who has written a memoir called ''My Life in the Sky''. Donna then becomes a

for a small, seedy

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

commuter airline called Sierra. She works with Sherry, a senior attendant, and Christine. During this time she first meets Ted. After several months, Donna applies to Royalty Airlines. Sherry and Christine also apply. While Christine and Donna get in, Sherry does not, and remains with Sierra Airlines. Donna puts her heart and soul into training, and, after meeting Sally Weston, is determined to be assigned to the top route, "Paris, First Class, International". After training, Donna is shocked and disappointed to be assigned to a commuter route in Cleveland while Christine, who struggled during the training, inexplicably has been assigned the high-priority

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

route. Although Donna is unhappy being in Cleveland, she meets and begins a relationship with Ted. A few months later, Donna runs into Christine in Cleveland. Donna is shocked when Christine happens to empty her handbag and it has stolen Royalty Air items. Even the smallest theft is strictly prohibited by Royalty Airlines and could result in termination. Donna is suspicious that there was some error in her route assignment. With Weston's help, Donna discovers that Christine had switched their test I.D. numbers as they handed in their final exams to the instructor. Weston then has airline security spy on Christine's flight to see if she engages in any theft. Christine is caught and fired. Donna re-takes the exam, achieving a perfect score. She is then assigned to a Paris, First Class, International route, though it means breaking off her relationship with Ted. Donna soon realizes that she is lonely and unhappy and misses Ted. With Weston's encouragement, she returns to Cleveland and the two reconcile. The film ends with Donna wishing her passengers well as they land in Cleveland, though she is now a pilot.

Cast

Soundtrack

; Bonus tracks

Release and reception

''View from the Top'' opened on March 21, 2003 (it was originally scheduled for Christmas 2001, but in light of the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

and due to the fact that the story revolves around a flight attendant on numerous planes, the release was pushed back) and grossed $7,009,513 in its opening weekend, ranking number four behind '' Bringing Down the House'', ''

Dreamcatcher In some Native American and First Nations cultures, a dreamcatcher ( oj, asabikeshiinh, the inanimate form of the word for 'spider') is a handmade willow hoop, on which is woven a net or web. It may also be decorated with sacred items such as ...

'', and ''

Agent Cody Banks ''Agent Cody Banks'' is a 2003 American spy action comedy film directed by Harald Zwart. The film follows the adventures of the 15-year-old title character, played by Frankie Muniz, who has to finish his chores, avoid getting grounded, and save ...

''. The film would eventually gross $15,614,000 domestically and $3,912,014 internationally, totaling $19,526,014 worldwide, below the production budget of $30 million. On review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

the film has a rating of 14% based on reviews from 123 critics, with the site's consensus "Uneven in tone and badly edited, ''View From the Top'' wastes the talents of its cast and condescends to its characters." Paltrow herself later disparaged the film, calling it "the worst movie ever". British comedian

Richard Ayoade Richard Ellef Ayoade ( ; born 23 May 1977) is a British actor, comedian, broadcaster and filmmaker. He is best known for his role as socially awkward IT technician Maurice Moss in Channel 4 sitcom ''The IT Crowd'' (2006–2013), for which he ...

wrote the book ''Ayoade on Top'', an in-depth comic analysis of the film, in 2019. ''"Ayoade argues for the canonisation of this brutal masterpiece, a film that celebrates capitalism in all its victimless glory; one we might imagine

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

himself half-watching on his private jet’s gold-plated flat screen while his other puffy eye scans the cabin for fresh, young prey."''

References

External links

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Movie stills
{{DEFAULTSORT:View From The Top 2003 films 2003 romantic comedy films American romantic comedy films Films directed by Bruno Barreto American aviation films Miramax films Films postponed due to the September 11 attacks Films set on airplanes Films shot in Ohio Films shot in New York (state) Films shot in Nevada Films shot in France Films set in Nevada Films about flight attendants Films scored by Theodore Shapiro 2000s English-language films Films produced by Brad Grey 2000s American films