The movie Gwenyth Paltrow admits is “terrible”
These days, Gwyneth Paltrow‘s name predominantly appears in the media due to her controversial health and wellness company, goop, which has frequently been criticised for promoting dangerous advice and products. Yet, Paltrow’s career began decades prior to founding the contentious company, landing her first acting role in 1989.
Still a teenager at the time, Paltrow’s debut in the television film High was directed by her father, Bruce Paltrow. With a famous mother, Blythe Danner, Paltrow seemed set for stardom from a young age, and it didn’t take her long to land roles in successful movies such as Steven Speilberg’s Hook and David Fincher’s Seven.
By the mid-1990s, Paltrow had established herself as a Hollywood star, appearing in Emma, Shakespeare in Love, Great Expectations and The Talented Mr Ripley. She continued to land high-profile jobs into the 21st century, including a role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
However, despite Paltrow’s list of illustrious acting credits, not all of her movies have done well, and there are several she regrets, going as far as to call them “terrible”. While she categorises films such as Sylvia, in which she played the late poet Sylvia Plath, as genuine artistic endeavours, she admits to taking on specific roles purely for money.
One of these is View From The Top, directed by Bruno Barreto. Released in 2003, the movie follows Paltrow’s character, Donna Jensen, as she sets out to become a flight attendant despite her small-town upbringing. Living in a trailer park with her alcoholic parents, Donna does whatever she can to become an accomplished flight attendant and escape her dead-end life, all with a good dose of romance thrown in, too.
The movie also stars Christina Applegate, Mark Ruffalo, Joshua Malina, Candice Bergen, Kelly Preston and Mike Myers, although its star-studded cast wasn’t enough for it to become successful. View From The Top received a worldwide gross of $19.5million against its $30m budget, becoming a critical and commercial flop.
Talking to The Guardian in 2006, Paltrow called it a “shite” and “terrible movie” adding that “Harvey Weinstein talked me into doing”. While Palrow prefers not to remember View From The Top, British comedian Richard Ayoade wrote a whole book about it in 2019 called Ayoade on Top. He advertised it as “the definitive book about perhaps the best cabin-crew dramedy ever filmed: View from the Top, starring Gwyneth Paltrow”.
View from the Top certainly isn’t one of Palrow’s strongest movie credits, only rivalled by something much worse – Shallow Hal, which almost ruined her career.
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