View From the Top
Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow as Donna, a bottle-blond flight-attendant trainee who favors push-up bras and hooker makeup, is not just casting against type, it's casting against sense. What might fly as a skit on SNL never leaves the runway on the screen as Brazilian director Bruno Barreto and first-time screenwriter Eric Wald set the cast on a desperate search for laughs. From the TV promos, you'd think Mike Myers was Paltrow's co-star as an instructor. No such luck. He's in and out. Ditto Mark Ruffalo as Donna's lawyer boyfriend and Rob Lowe as a mile-high-club pilot. It's up to Paltrow, Christina Applegate as Donna's fellow trainee, Kelly Preston as a mentor and Candace Bergen as the mother stew of them all to carry the load. It's a no-go. View From the Top boasts a first-class cast, but they're all traveling coach.