In theaters

VIEW FROM THE TOP, directed by Bruno Barreto, written by Eric Wald, 87 minutes, rated PG-13.

The new Bruno Barreto film, “View from the Top,” is a light yet bruising comedy about flight attendants, which should stand as an immediate warning to them and also to anyone planning to fly in the coming weeks.

Indeed, just try getting some warm nuts and a highball out of the friendly skies now.

As with any easy target, the film does exactly what you expect it will do – it kneecaps this elevated lot and lampoons them, pulling their hair, smudging their mascara and clipping their wings in an all-out effort to poke a little fun at the folks behind the stereotype.

The film hails from Miramax, which gave us “Chicago,” another movie that recently kicked up its heels, only differently. Indeed, in “View from the Top,” it’s less about the kicking and more about the heels. And the hair. And the makeup. And the men.

And the condescension, which sits atop everything here like one big squawking crow.

The film, which has been parked on Miramax’s shelf for the past two years, stars Gwyneth Paltrow as Donna Jensen, a small-town girl with big-haired dreams who decides the best way out of her humdrum life is to shoot for the stars by becoming a flight attendant.

After getting a job with the less-than-desirable Sierra Airlines, whose motto seems to be “keep it cheap, especially with the hired help,” she eventually moves on to bigger and brighter skies at Royalty Airlines.

There, while in training, she befriends Royalty’s impeccable matriarch, Sally Weston (Candice Bergen), impresses Royalty’s lazy-eyed instructor, John Whitney (Mike Myers), and is betrayed by her best friend, Christine (Christina Applegate), a conniving troublemaker determined to keep Donna down.

Complicating matters for Donna is Ted (Mark Ruffalo), a Cleveland-based law student whose wanton looks and professions of love are almost as attractive as what Donna really wants – a first-class route between New York and Paris.

As you can imagine, this quandary would be too much for anyone to bear, certainly for anyone raised by a former stripper in Silver Springs, Nev. Still, should Donna be true to her career-girl roots and press on to achieve her dream of serving champagne and tight smiles over international waters? Or should she just say sayonara to the skies in favor of shacking up in Ohio with the man of her dreams?

Even a kitten could figure this one out.

As written by newcomer Eric Wald, this occasionally funny flick is as thin as the air at 30,000 feet. Throughout, it feels weirdly dated, coming off less like a vehicle for Gwyneth Paltrow and more like one for Doris Day. The performances are appealing, but more than once I found myself wishing that the government would intervene, bailing out this otherwise bland airline movie with a better story, smarter jokes and a less predictable ending that was allowed to veer slightly off course.

Grade: C

On video and DVD

MAID IN MANHATTAN, directed by Wayne Wang, written by Kevin Wade, 105 minutes, PG-13.

Now that Jennifer Lopez has succeeded in becoming the Eva Peron of pop, insisting in spite of her considerable fame and fortune she’s still just one of the people, still just “Jenny from the Block,” it’s more tempting than ever to question just how genuine she really is.

It’s to her considerable benefit, then, that she appears as a Puerto Rican maid in Wayne Wang’s “Maid in Manhattan,” a ghettoized Cinderella story that goes a long way in putting Jenny squarely back in the Bronx, where her fan base first took root.

In the film, Lopez is Marisa Ventura, a single mother from the projects who works as a maid at a five-star Park Avenue hotel.

Not unlike J.Lo herself when she first started out, Marisa wants a better life and is in the process of pulling that off when Manhattan’s most eligible bachelor, Christopher Marshall (Ralph Fiennes), checks in to the hotel and swiftly catches her modeling a guest’s $5,000 Dolce & Gabbana suit. Mistaking her for someone she isn’t, Marshall falls for her on the spot and a blizzard of misunderstandings begins.

With Bob Hoskins and Natasha Richardson in supporting roles, “Maid in Manhattan” is just as tidy as its title suggests, a careful, well-pressed romantic comedy that bridges the gap between its class and ethnic differences without ever wrinkling the sheets by exploring those differences.

It’s too bland to be memorable and too formulaic to be spontaneous, but it does have a solid cast and Wang, working from a script by Kevin Wade, makes certain it goes down easily. What’s better, at least for Lopez, is that it proves she can act and has the necessary grace and charisma to carry a movie.

Indeed, if it’s possible to be real in a fantasy world, then Jennifer Lopez stands as the real thing.

Grade: B-

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, Tuesdays and Thursdays on WLBZ 2 and WCSH 6, and are archived on RottenTomatoes.com. He can be reached at BDNFilm1@aol.com.

The Video-DVD Corner

Renting a video or a DVD? NEWS film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores. Those in bold print are new to video stores this week.

About a Boy?A-

Auto Focus?C

The Banger Sisters?B

Barbershop?B+

Blood Work?B-

Blue Crush?B+

The Bourne Identity?B+

Brown Sugar?C+

City by the Sea?C

8 Mile?C

8 Women?B

Feardotcom?F

FEMME FATALE?C+

Formula 51?F

The Four Feathers?C

Full Frontal?D

The Good Girl?A-

Half Past Dead?F

Ice Age?B

Igby Goes Down?A

Insomnia?A

I Spy?C-

JACKASS: THE MOVIE?B

Knockaround Guys?D

Lilo & Stitch?B+

Lovely and Amazing?A

MAID IN MANHATTAN?B-

Minority Report?A-

Moonlight Mile?B

My Big Fat Greek Wedding?A-

One Hour Photo?A-

Possession?B

Reign of Fire?C+

The Ring?C

The Road to Perdition?A-

Serving Sara?D

Simone?B

Signs?B-

Spider-Man?A-

Spy Kids 2?B+

Sweet Home Alabama?B-

Swept Away?D-

Swimfan?C

The Tuxedo?C-

Unfaithful?B-

White Oleander?B+

WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT?A