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View From the Top

Play trailer Poster for View From the Top PG-13 2003 1h 27m Comedy LGBTQ+ Play Trailer Watchlist
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13% Tomatometer 122 Reviews 34% Popcornmeter 25,000+ Ratings
A comedy about a young woman from meager beginnings, who has high hopes for the future. Donna (Gwyneth Paltrow) dreams of becoming a first-class international flight attendant and is willing to do whatever it takes to ensure that her dreams come true. The road to success, though, is rarely a smooth flight, and as she begins her trip she encounters more turbulence than even she bargained for.
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View From the Top

View From the Top

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Critics Consensus

Uneven in tone and badly edited, A View From the Top wastes the talents of its cast and condescends to its characters.

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Critics Reviews

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Nell Minow Common Sense Media What was Gwyneth Paltrow thinking? Rated: 2/5 Dec 29, 2010 Full Review Kirk Honeycutt The Hollywood Reporter A flat, superficial comedy that never establishes a tone. Sep 3, 2003 Full Review Hap Erstein Atlanta Journal-Constitution Paltrow cannot begin to save this unfunny flight attendant comedy that should have gone direct to video. Rated: D Apr 27, 2003 Full Review Craig D. Lindsey Crooked Marquee View for the Top is one of those movies I saw years ago and, every now and then, I sit back and wonder, "Wait a minute - did that really happen?" Aug 30, 2021 Full Review Mark Halverson Sacramento News & Review Rated: 2/5 Aug 7, 2008 Full Review Betsy Bozdech DVDJournal.com Too sweet to be truly funny and too over-the-top to be truly charming. Rated: 2/4 Oct 29, 2006 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Claudio C View from the Top (2003) A Cast Composed by Beautiful and Sexy Actresses (11,986 – 13 Oct 2025 – by Claudio Carvalho) In Silver Spring, Nevada, Donna Jensen (Gwyneth Paltrow) dreams on leaving her dysfunctional family and the town. When her boyfriend dumps her and she reads the book by the retired flight attendant Sally Weston (Candice Bergen), she decides to leave town and work as flight attendant of a low-cost company, Fresno-based Sierra Airlines. She befriends her colleagues Christine Montgomery (Christina Applegate) and Sherry (Kelly Preston) and dates the law student Ted Stewart (Mark Ruffalo). When they decide to join Royalty Airlines, they are submitted to training and tests. After that, Donna breaks up with Ted and has disappointments in her professional and personal life, “View from the Top” (2003) is a movie directed by Bruno Barreto with a cast composed by beautiful and sexy actresses and a nice story about choices in life. The female cast has the names of Gwyneth Paltrow, Kelly Preston, Christina Applegate in the plenitude of their lives, and the middle-aged but still gorgeous Candice Bergen. Mike Meyers gives the comedy to the story with his cross-eyed John Witney, and Mark Ruffalo is the romantic interest of Gwyneth Paltrow. In the end, “View from the Top” (2003) is a light and funny entertainment. My vote is seven. Title (Brazil): “Voando Alto” (“Flying High”) My Blog: https://maniacosporfilme.wordpress.com/ Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 10/14/25 Full Review Corinne F Ok, I never write reviews, but I felt compelled to write one for this movie after seeing how unjustly low it was rated here by both critics & audiences. I don’t really know what the critics & other reviewers were expecting from this or what they wanted it to be. Roger Ebert gave one of the only positive reviews for this movie, and that to me just reinforces how he set himself apart & just had good sense. Every once in a while, you want to watch a movie like this. It’s a lighthearted, simple story that has some funny parts (esp. any of the scenes with Mike Myers), some romance, and it may even be uplifting or inspiring for some people. When I saw how this movie was rated, I expected it to be god awful and I almost didn’t watch it, but something made me decide to give it a chance & I’m not sorry I did. I’d say if you liked Romy & Michele’s High School Reunion or perhaps Never Been Kissed or Lone Star State of Mind, you'd probably enjoy this movie. I cannot for the life of me understand how this got rated so poorly! That was the thought running through my head all throughout. I’m sure there are some really terrible movies that have been rated higher (Adam Sandler anyone?) The thing is, this movie wasn’t bad at all. It flowed well, I didn’t find any of it tedious or unpleasant, and Gwyneth Paltrow made me care about her character. The only fault I find with it is (*WARNING: SPOILER ALERT ahead) how the narrative kind of shifted from focusing on the empowerment of an independent woman pursing her dream to giving it up for a guy & the message it seemed to want to send that you can't be happy without a love to come home to. That didn't really sit well with me. The guy also knew about her dreams/goals from the get-go & what it meant to her, yet acted surprised when she finally got her chance & expected her to just give it up for him without question instead of being at least somewhat understanding & supportive. There wasn't much in the way of compromise there. (This doesn't exactly spoil the ending though btw.) There’s also a contrived, silly scene involving Christina Applegate’s character that kind of derails things for a second, but I enjoyed this movie for the most part. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 09/11/25 Full Review Holly G Maybe it's my nostalgic bias, but I thought it was funny, cute and clever. The premise of young women (and men) entering the workforce is relatable and the romance part is sweet. I miss Kelly Preston and my heart goes out to Christina Applegate. It looked like they had fun making this movie; no pretense it was anything but light hearted comedy that sort of imitates life. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 08/16/25 Full Review Josh T Paris, First Class, International! I know I'm not the only one who has taken this movie way too seriously. Growing up I would watch this movie while dreaming about becoming a flight attendant. When I rewatch it now, I'm amazed by how accurately it depicts the process I underwent myself when joining my airline. If you overlook the silly parts, it's a cute movie and an inspiration for many aspiring flight attendans. I wish the ending was different though. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 08/13/25 Full Review thiago s Filme fraco, o roteiro é fraco, as cenas são fracas, a história é fraca, o elenco é fraco, e ninguém ajuda a melhorar o filme, os personagens são fracos, e o filme deveria ter cenas bem melhores e relevantes, para fazer o filme ser bom Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 07/04/25 Full Review Stacy H A very unserious film that takes itself very seriously, which I believe was intentional irony. It's like they got together and decided to make a really bad rom com, and they were so good at being bad that it manages to be enjoyable. It gets bonus points for its use of Silver Springs, Nevada, as it's opener. I recently read Richard Ayoade's book on it, which was hilarious. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 05/26/25 Full Review Read all reviews
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Movie Info

Synopsis A comedy about a young woman from meager beginnings, who has high hopes for the future. Donna (Gwyneth Paltrow) dreams of becoming a first-class international flight attendant and is willing to do whatever it takes to ensure that her dreams come true. The road to success, though, is rarely a smooth flight, and as she begins her trip she encounters more turbulence than even she bargained for.
Director
Bruno Barreto
Producer
Brad Grey, Matthew Baer, Bobby Cohen
Screenwriter
Eric Wald
Distributor
Miramax Films
Production Co
Miramax, Brillstein-Grey Entertainment
Rating
PG-13 (Sexual References|Language)
Genre
Comedy, LGBTQ+
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Mar 21, 2003, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Oct 11, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$15.6M
Runtime
1h 27m
Sound Mix
Dolby Stereo, Dolby Digital, Dolby A, Surround, Dolby SR
Aspect Ratio
Scope (2.35:1)
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