Woman on Top

I saw "Woman on top" yesterday and I found it very nice. It's a very funny story set first in Bahia (Brazil) and then in San Francisco, when Isabella (Penelope Cruz) became a TV star in a TV program about food. Penelope Cruz is very good in the role but it would be better if the role of Isabella was given to a brazilian actress (like for example Giovanna Antonelli, who would be perfect for the role), because a Spanish actress, even if she is good, who plays a sensual brazilian cook do not sound such well. Murilo Benicio (Toninho), one of the best brazilian young actors, is very good, very funny and so handsome and sexy! The story is very colorful and the music is beautiful, with many brazilian bossa nova hits like "Aquarela do Brasil" and "Vocè". The idea of Isabella having a best friend who is a drag queen is very good and also the idea of the TV program about the passion in brazilian cooking is excellent (and it remembers the role of the sensual cook Dona Flora played by Sonia Braga in "Dona Flor and her two husbands" by Bruno Barreto). If you want to feel the passion, the color, the music of Brazil, you have to watch this movie, even if, I repeat again, a brazilian actress would be better for the main role. I give it a 7.

In Brazil, Isabella (Penélope Cruz) suffered from motion sickness all her life. The sea goddess Yemanja compensated her with a passion for cooking. She falls for Toninho Oliveira and they get married. She dutifully worked in his restaurant despite the many admirers trying to lure her away. She finds staying in control by being on top would keep the motion sickness away. She catches Toninho with another woman and run off to San Francisco. She stays with her friend Monica Jones (Harold Perrineau) and TV producer Cliff Lloyd (Mark Feuerstein) falls head over heels for her. Her cooking literally knocks him off his feet. Her cooking show starts taking off and then Toninho shows up.

Cruz is incredibly lovely. She is luminescent. Neither guy measures up. Toninho is a womanizing Latino stereotype. Feuerstein is not a good leading man. Cliff has a bit of weasel and he's not worthy of her. The ending is horrible. Cruz simply glows and her character deserves better.

This is a fun film and has several things going for it. Firstly it is sexy without being vulgar, proving that comedy without vulgarity is feasible. Secondly it is easy on the eye (Penelope) and the ears (Latin Rhythms). Thirdly, it is a fairy tale, both in content and format and hence totally unbelievable. And like all fairy tales, this one too has a moral...which is for the viewers to discover. The best thing about the movie it its old world charms, which is so endearing. Though eminently forgettable once you are out of the cinema hall, while inside, it is worth every minute of yours.

Recommended to take along someone you love.

The recipe for this film is no good! This movie is just plain boring. Even the sex scenes are boring. It's a candidate for one of the worst movies of the year. I've only seen Penelope Cruz in a couple of movies ... and they were both disappointing. She's very attractive and I hope she can find better roles than this. As for this movie, it's not worth watching.

Though this movie was no earth shaking tour de force of filmmaking, it indeed was charming. It was lite hearted and moved quickly. It was refreshing to escape into a fantasy world that not so bogged down with typical formula crisis. It had a few touching moments and was funny without being silly, I liked it and would recommend it as a lite comedy.