Woman On Top


Starring Penelope Cruz, Murilo Benicio, Harold Perrineau, Jr., Mark Feuerstein, John De Lancie, Mary Ramsey. Directed by Fina Torres.

Isabella (Cruz) is a sweet Brazilian girl who has grown up with motion sickness that has made her shy and kept her in the kitchen, where she has developed an ability to make spicy, passionate food. Her motion sickness has also prevented her from riding in elevators, going in vehicles unless she's driving, and requires her to be on top when making love. One day she walks into a restaurant for a job, and immediately falls in love with the owner Toninho (Benicio). But while she makes exquisite spicy seafood out back in the kitchen, Toninho is taking the glory and flirting with the ladies. One night she catches Toninho in bed with a neighbour woman - he tells her sometimes he just wants to be on top.

She moves to see her friend Monica (Perrineau Jr.) in San Francisco, and is soon discovered by a local TV producer Cliff (Feuerstein) who puts her on her own cooking show. She is immediately a hit, especially with the male audience, and is also noticed by an angry Toninho who has followed her to San Francisco to bring her back home. But she had a voodoo spell cast on her to remove any feelings of love for Toninho, and continually rejects him even when he is cast as the spanish-style crooner on her TV show. Will Isabella resist Toninho's advances and go on to fame and fortune on television, or will loneliness be too much for her?

Like the wonderful Like Water For Chocolate, Woman On Top is a spicy little confection about the sensuous connection between food and love. This is Cruz's first English-language film after such fine films as Belle Epoque and All About My Mother. And things start off promising enough. It begins with Isabella leaving her straying husband and staying away despite the loneliness she naturally feels. Even when we see wilted flowers bloom in her radiant presence, and every time she smells a chili pepper she thinks of the love she lost, we can overlook these things because number one, Isabella is trying to forget the bum, and two, she is absolutely gorgeous. The way she says "passion food" and "plump tomatoes", one can't help but smile a lot (if you're a guy) and fall at least a little in love. Everything from the food to the San Francisco cityline looks great. Even drag Queen Monica looks great. OK, not all that great, but she dresses well.

But despite the generous shots of cleavage, and lovely tight costumes painted on Penelope, this is not a guy flick. It is a film where love must prevail, not logic. The film begins to go downhill with a poorly done sidestory about how sweet and lovely Isabella is forced to Americanize her show as it becomes more and more popular. And Toninho is the kind of guy you want to slap (if you're a guy). Rugged latin good looks with Don-Johnston stubble and a smooth singing voice, he's the kind of man that gets by on cheap charm and a smooth line, and it too often works. Surprisingly, there is little chemistry between the beautiful pair Cruz and Benicio, and even less between Cruz and Feuerstein. Persistent Toninho grovels and repents over and over again, and never gets the message to leave. By the time angry lightning storms and seas begin churning to show the gods' displeasure at Isabella's going against the spell she had earlier made, you know where it's headed. And I wanted to start tossing plump tomatoes at the screen.

While this isn't a guy movie, neither was Like Water For Chocolate, but the difference is it was a GOOD MOVIE with an actual internally consistent story, and the magical, supernatural stuff was lightly applied and worked in aid of the movie. Here, the voodoo, mystical mumbo jumbo is trowelled on over and over again, especially in the second half of the film when things just stop making sense. Woman On Top is a disappointment - I look forward to the release of her Spanish award-winning The Girl Of Your Dreams where hopefully she can both look great and work in a film worthy of her abilities.




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