Maid in Manhattan 2002

Glenn Lovell, San Jose Mercury News: Made-to-order for the singer-actress's target audience, preteen girls and their obliging moms. Read more

John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press: A textbook example of light holiday fare, expect it to stick with you at least as long as one of J.Lo's marriages. Read more

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: Alternately politically correct and confusingly archaic, with a devastating lack of romantic connection between its two stars. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: It's a charming romantic fantasy. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: A Cinderella story so formulaic you'll be looking for a glass slipper. Read more

Mark Caro, Chicago Tribune: Everything in Maid in Manhattan is exceedingly pleasant, designed not to offend. It goes down easy, leaving virtually no aftertaste. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: In general the picture is so committed to inoffensiveness and to hammering home its uplifting, bootstrap message that it lacks the necessary element of malice. Read more

Charles Passy, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Instead of a fairy tale, we have a tale told without imagination. It's Cinderella gone stale. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: A lovably old-school Hollywood confection. Read more

Manohla Dargis, Los Angeles Times: As saccharine as it is disposable. Read more

Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: Maybe this is why the movie isn't any good. Entertaining isn't its main function. It's designed to sell us a bill of goods. Read more

Michael Booth, Denver Post: Maid in Manhattan might not look so appealing on third or fourth viewing down the road ... But as a high concept vehicle for two bright stars of the moment who can rise to fans' lofty expectations, the movie passes inspection. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: [An] instantly discardable romantic comedy. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: These two are generating about as much chemistry as an Iraqi factory poised to receive a UN inspector. Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: The sad truth is that as a couple J. Lo and Mr. Fiennes fail to duplicate the movie-star charisma of Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. Read more

Hazel-Dawn Dumpert, L.A. Weekly: So brisk is Wang's pacing that none of the excellent cast are given air to breathe. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: Trite, banal, cliched, mostly inoffensive. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: It's badly acted, blandly directed, and could have been scripted by someone who just graduated from elementary school. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: A skillful, glossy, formula picture, given life by the appeal of its stars. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Jennifer Lopez has star power, genuine talent and considerable assets, but she's wasted yet again in a grossly predictable romantic comedy. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: The movie would almost qualify as pleasant, were it not for a certain condescension in its treatment of working-class life and its offhand assumption that lives not buoyed by riches or aggrandized by fame are hardly worth living. Read more

Michael Agger, Slate: J. Lo will earn her share of the holiday box office pie, although this movie makes one thing perfectly clear: She's a pretty woman, but she's no working girl. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: Executed by The Joy Luck Club's Wayne Wang with the professional dispatch of someone delivering room service. Read more

Richard Schickel, TIME Magazine: Not so much a movie as a collection of career moves. Read more

Derek Adams, Time Out: Talented individuals labour over the contrivances in this lightweight romance, and if the result's fluff, at least it's painless. Read more

Mike Clark, USA Today: Maid in Manhattan proves that it's easier to change the sheets than to change hackneyed concepts when it comes to dreaming up romantic comedies. Read more

Robert Koehler, Variety: The fantasies of Cinderella and the American dream are joined and buffed up for unsure romantic results. Read more

Laura Sinagra, Village Voice: Problem is, there really isn't any dialogue here that suggests that Marisa is truly sassy, or charming, or candid, or that the would-be senator is either brilliant or senatorial, or that her accent-less son is not simply on loan from Hogwarts. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: Little more than a bedtime story for 12-year-old girls. Read more