Maid in Manhattan

This topic contains:

• details about Maid in Manhattan's classification and consumer advice lines
• a review of Maid in Manhattan completed by Young Media Australia (YMA) on 13 April 2003.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) and the associated consumer advice lines.

YMA review

This review of the movie Maid in Manhattan contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• use of violence and material that may scare children
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie's message
• overall comments

A synopsis of the story

It’s an important day at school for young Ty Ventura who has to give a speech he’s been working on all summer. His single Mum Marisa promises to be there to hear it and hopes Dad Marcus will be there too. Marisa then heads to work at an exclusive New York hotel where she works as a maid. On that day, Chris Marshall who is running for the Senate arrives at the hotel with his dog Rufus, as well as an English socialite named Caroline Marshall.

Marisa just makes it to school just in time to hear Ty give his speech but the father isn’t able to make it. Ty fumbles through the speech which causes much laughter from his peers.

The following day Marisa is cleaning Caroline’s room when her friend persuades her to try on a $5000 outfit. Meanwhile Ty befriends Rufus and Chris Marshall and goes up to ask his Mum if he can take the dog for a walk. Chris walks in the room and sees Marisa in the outfit and presumes she’s a guest. He is quite smitten by her and asks her to come for the walk too. Marisa goes along with the masquerade and introduces herself as Caroline. They continue to see each other and fall in love. Chris and Ty also develop a friendship in which Ty sees Chris as a father figure. Eventually the real Caroline realises what is happening and exposes Marisa as the maid. It is then up to Chris to decide whether he loves Marisa for the social position he thought she had or for the person she really is.

Use of violence and material that may scare children

There is very little violence and nothing scary in this film.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references including:

• when a man surprises the maids with no clothes on (only top shown) they laugh and say “it’s no big deal” with the emphasis on ‘big’
• Marisa’s friend discussing her relationship with Chris says that “the only thing complicated about their relationship would be undoing her bra strap”.
• Marisa replies “Am I supposed to make his bed with me in it?”

Nudity and sexual activity

• A man is shown on the TV monitors locked out of his room and in the nude, full back view shown.
• Women undressing in change rooms shown in underwear.
• Chris is about to go to the toilet when he sees Marisa cleaning the bathroom.
• Caroline and her friend exercising strenuously, much sweaty cleavage shown.
• Chris and Marisa sleep together, they are shown undressing and waking up the next morning in bed.

Use of substances

There is some smoking and drinking of alcohol.

Coarse language

There is infrequent use of coarse language which includes the following words:

• God
• Jesus Christ
• friggin’
• chicken shit
• damndest.

The movie's message

The take home message in this film is that a person’s character is more important than his or her background and that people shouldn’t be judged according to their social status.

Values that parents may wish to encourage include:

• camaraderie
• loving single parent family
• loyalty.

Values parents may wish to discourage include:

• deceit
• making fun of someone in a difficult situation
• lying
• stereotyping of social groups, Marisa gets called Maria by Caroline
• reluctance to move from one social group to another. Marisa gets a chance to try for a management position but is discouraged by her Mother

Overall comments

This is a light and entertaining ‘rags to riches’ movie which could be enjoyed by adults. The acting is good and although there is not much depth to the storyline it does address issues such as the disadvantage suffered by those in lower socio-economic groups. There is nothing scary or violent in this film to concern parents of young children; however children under 7 however would probably find it boring.