View from the Top

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Adult audiences may be underwhelmed. Not younger teenage girls, who will be completely fascinated.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

There's a good chance that it will make you laugh, but even if it doesn't, you have to give Barreto credit for respecting his audience. The movie's jokes have a light, springy touch; if one doesn't tickle you, it sails by quickly to make room for the next one.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

The tone seesaws between comic wackiness and romantic sincerity, with Paltrow better suited to the latter.

Chicago Tribune Mark Caro

Why Paltrow, who was accepting a best actress Oscar four years ago, would take this clumsily written role is anyone's guess.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

It's meant to be harmless fluff. It is.

USA Today Mike Clark

Hollywood's oddest movie in a while, which means that however insignificant this primer in flight-attendant training is, causing boredom isn't one of its transgressions.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Ellen A. Kim

There are more laughs to be wrought out of Myers' militant flight-attendant training school, and they're just not there.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

A mediocre diversion -– a movie better watched at home where the remote control can be used (if necessary) to fast forward to the film's best part: the obligatory end credit outtakes.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

A romantic comedy with all the confectionary value of one of those watery diet shakes; it practically evaporates while you're watching it.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

Over in a breeze, padded out by a generous collection of outtakes, and filled with characters who disappear virtually unnoticed, View is an inoffensive comedy that feels like the victim of too much fiddling.

Film Threat Kevin Carr

Clearly a love letter to Paltrow, offering her plenty of moments to show off, but her acting is often flat and the self-adoration of the movie is almost too much to handle.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

The movie is full of puzzling celebrity cameos, as if Brazilian director Bruno Barreto called in all his chits.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Mike Myers, responsible for the picture's one, or possibly two, laughs.

Variety Robert Koehler

Flubs nearly every opportunity to be the comedy it wanted to be.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

There's not much zest here, even with Mike Myers's energetic attempts to steal the movie as a cross-eyed flight instructor.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Frankly, the film's nostalgia for the "coffee, tea or me?" era of flying, when stewardesses were fantasy figures in soaring heels and uniforms tailored for bust enhancement rather than utility, is retro in all the wrong ways.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Never achieves takeoff.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

An awkward comedy made surprisingly bearable, most of the way, by one actress' ability to turn on the charm and sparkle.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

View from the Top never gets off the bottom -- comedies don't come much flatter.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Co-star Christina Applegate, who's much more at home in this down and dirty milieu, wipes the floor (in one scene, literally, in a ludicrous cat fight) with the erstwhile Oscar winner.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

It's a no-go. View From the Top boasts a first-class cast, but they're all traveling coach.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

I think this camp classic is an accident along the lines of "Showgirls": howlingly funny, filled with gratingly earnest performances, riddled with dialogue that will be quoted at parties.

Village Voice Dennis Lim

The film, meanwhile, goes for that choppy, air-pocket sensation, veteran helmer Bruno Barreto directing like he's never made a movie before, and never wants to again.

LA Weekly Chuck Wilson

Just lies there, poorly lit and tone-deaf.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

Ms. Paltrow is not the only star in the film who tries gamely to churn this cinematic glass of diluted skim milk into something resembling butter.

Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis

Worth commenting on only for its shocking ineptitude.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

If the new I-wanna-be-a-stewardess picture View From the Top were an airplane, it would blow up on takeoff. If it were an airline meal, it would infect you with E. coli. If it were a parachute, it would be riddled with holes.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Who on earth is this embarrassment -- easily the worst film of the year to date -- aimed at?

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

All the same, it's a feat to find the lowest common denominator at 40,000 feet; View From the Top would be perfect as the first in-flight offering of the new Hooters airline.

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

The damn thing is boring. Dull as dirt. Despite the many fine actors involved, View From the Top is a third-class production through and through and, frankly, I'd rather be pelted in the head with stale, salty peanuts than sit through it again.