VIEW FROM THE TOP
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the song by The Wrecking, see View from the Top (song).
| View from the Top | |
|---|---|
| Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Bruno Barreto |
| Written by | Eric Wald |
| Produced by | Brad Grey Matthew Baer Bobby Cohen |
| Starring | Gwyneth PaltrowChristina ApplegateMark RuffaloCandice BergenJoshua MalinaKelly PrestonRob LoweMike Myers |
| Cinematography | Affonso Beato |
| Edited by | Christopher Greenbury Ray Hubley Charles Ireland |
| Music by | Theodore Shapiro |
| Production company | Brad Grey Pictures |
| Distributed by | Miramax Films |
| Release date | March 21, 2003 |
| Running time | 87 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $30 million |
| Box office | $19.5 million |
View from the Top is a 2003 American romantic comedy film directed by Bruno Barreto and starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Christina Applegate, Candice Bergen, Joshua Malina, Mark Ruffalo, Rob Lowe, Mike Myers, and Kelly Preston. The film follows a young woman (Paltrow) from a small town who sets out to fulfill her dream of becoming a flight attendant.
Plot
Donna Jensen, living in a Nevada trailer with her alcoholic mother and abusive stepfather, desperately wants to get away. After graduating high school, Donna struggles to earn a living working as a clerk in a Big Lots store with her high school boyfriend.
After her boyfriend leaves her, Donna sees a TV interview with Sally Weston, a former flight attendant who wrote a memoir titled, My Life in the Sky. Donna becomes a flight attendant for Sierra Airlines, a small, seedy regional airline. She works with senior attendant Sherry and Christine Montgomery. During this time, she meets law student drop-out Ted Stewart. Donna wants to apply to Royalty Airlines and convinces Sherry and Christine to do the same. While Christine and Donna are hired, Sherry is not, and she remains with Sierra.
Donna studies hard, and, after meeting Sally, is determined to be assigned to the top position, “Paris, First Class, International”. After training, Donna is shocked and disappointed to be assigned to a domestic route in Cleveland while Christine, who struggled during the training and learning the material, inexplicably is assigned the high-priority New York City route.
Although unhappy in Cleveland, Donna runs into Ted, who has returned to law school. They begin a relationship and spends Christmas with Ted and his family. A few months later, Donna runs into Christine. As they spend time together, Donna is shocked that Christine has stolen Royalty Air items in her handbag, because even the smallest theft could result in termination. Donna suspects some error occurred in her route assignment. With Sally’s help, Donna discovers that Christine switched their test I.D. numbers during their final exam. Weston has airline security spy on Christine. Caught stealing, she is fired. Donna re-takes the exam, achieving a perfect score. She is assigned to a Paris, First Class, International route, though it means ending her relationship with Ted.
Donna soon realizes that she is lonely and unhappy, and she misses Ted. With Sally’s encouragement, she returns to Cleveland and she and Ted reconcile. The film ends with Donna wishing her passengers well as they land in Cleveland, though it reveals that she is now a pilot.
Cast
- Gwyneth Paltrow as Donna Jenson
- Chelsey Cole as Donna Jenson (age 6)
- Christina Applegate as Christine Montgomery
- Mark Ruffalo as Ted Stewart
- Candice Bergen as Sally Weston
- Joshua Malina as Randy Jones
- Kelly Preston as Sherry
- Rob Lowe as Co-Pilot Steve
- Mike Myers as John Whitney
- Marc Blucas as Tommy Boulay
- Stacey Dash as Angela Samona
- Jon Polito as Roy Roby
- Concetta Tomei as Mrs. Stewart
- Robyn Peterson as Donna’s Mom
- Nadia Dajani as Paige
- John Francis Daley as Rodney
Production
In September 2000, it was announced Gwyneth Paltrow was in negotiations to star in View from the Top.[2] First time screenwriter Eric Wald wrote it as a spec script which was developed by Brad Grey before being sold to Miramax.[2] Rewrites were performed on the script by Roger Kumble.[2]
Soundtrack
| View from the Top: Motion Picture Soundtrack | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by Various | |
| Released | March 18, 2003 |
| Label | Curb Records |
| Producer | Mike Curb, Michael Lloyd |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Performer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | “Suddenly“ | Andreas Carlsson, Desmond Child | LeAnn Rimes | 4:00 |
| 2. | “No Sign of It” (Humberto Gatica radio edit) | Scott Cutler, Anne Preven | Natalie Grant | 4:03 |
| 3. | “Was That My Life“ | Marv Green, Bill Luther | Jo Dee Messina | 3:49 |
| 4. | “I’m Not Anybody’s Girl” | Jason Levine, Jay McCollum | Kaci | 3:13 |
| 5. | “I’ve Been Waiting” | Matt Slocum | Sixpence None the Richer | 4:18 |
| 6. | “Boys Don’t Cry” | Tiffany Arbuckle Lee, Matt Bronleewe | Plumb | 3:48 |
| 7. | “Utopia” | Johan Glössner, Sofia Loell | Sofia Loell | 3:42 |
| 8. | “Circle of Love” | Del Harley, Allan Koppelberger, Laurie Webb | Tamara Walker | 3:41 |
| 9. | “The Bus Ride” | Gary Burr, Matt Rollings, Anna Wilson | Anna Wilson | 3:54 |
| 10. | “Sincerely“ | Alan Freed, Harvey Fuqua | G.G. | 3:15 |
| 11. | “Time After Time“ | Rob Hyman, Cyndi Lauper | Katie Cook | 4:04 |
| 12. | “Everywhere I Look, There’s You” | Michael Behymer, Mike Curb, Michael Lloyd | Tamara Walker | 3:57 |
Bonus tracks
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Performer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13. | “Tickle Me” | Danielle Spencer | Danielle Spencer | 3:48 |
| 14. | “Downtime“ | Phillip Coleman, Carolyn Dawn Johnson | Jo Dee Messina | 3:43 |
| 15. | “Suddenly” (Riva radio edit) | Andreas Carlsson, Desmond Child | LeAnn Rimes | 4:08 |
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 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, and Agent Cody Banks.[3] 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.[4]
On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes 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.”[5] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 27 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating “generally unfavorable” reviews.[6] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of “B−” on an A+ to F scale.[7]
Paltrow herself later disparaged the film, calling it “the worst movie ever”.[8]
British comedian Richard Ayoade wrote the book Ayoade on Top, an in-depth comic analysis of the film, in 2019.[9][10] A portion of the promotional blurb for the book reads: “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 himself half-watching on his private jet’s gold-plated flat screen while his other puffy eye scans the cabin for fresh, young prey.”[11][12]
References
- “VIEW FROM THE TOP (PG)”. British Board of Film Classification. May 22, 2003. Archived from the original on November 8, 2014. Retrieved November 8, 2014.
- “Stew’s tale on runway”. Variety. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
- “Domestic 2003 Weekend 12”. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
- View from the Top at Box Office Mojo
- View from the Top at Rotten Tomatoes
- “View from the Top“. Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved June 16, 2025.
- “Find CinemaScore” (Type “View from the Top” in the search box). CinemaScore. Retrieved December 8, 2025.
- Valby, Karen (November 21, 2003). “Gwyneth Paltrow on her worst movie EVER!”. Entertainment Weekly. New York City: Meredith Corporation. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved June 8, 2018.
- “Ayoade On Top”. guardianbookshop.com. Archived from the original on September 21, 2019. Retrieved September 21, 2019.
- Under the Skin with Russell Brand, Episode #97: “Art, Greatness & “Turning” (with Richard Ayoade).” 13 September 2019.
- Amazon.com. ISBN 1713541343.
- “Ayoade on Top”. Public Store View. Archived from the original on October 30, 2020. Retrieved September 23, 2020.
External links
- Official website
- View from the Top at IMDb
- View from the Top at Box Office Mojo
- View from the Top at Rotten Tomatoes
- View from the Top at Metacritic
- Movie stills
| vteFilms directed by Bruno Barreto | |
|---|---|
| Tati (1973)Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands (1976)Gabriela (1983)Happily Ever After (1985)The Story of Fausta (1988)A Show of Force (1990)The Heart of Justice (1993)Carried Away (1996)Four Days in September (1997)One Tough Cop (1998)Bossa Nova (2000)View from the Top (2003)Romeo and Juliet Get Married (2005)Last Stop 174 (2008)Reaching for the Moon (2013) |
- 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
- 2003 English-language films
- Films produced by Brad Grey
- 2003 American films
- English-language romantic comedy films