Maid in Manhattan Is Cinderella in New York? Yes, she is now a maid named Marisa played by Jennifer Lopez and her prince is a politician, Chris played by Ralph Kiennes. I had misgivings about this film, but was surprised and pleased by the snappy dialog, the supporting cast and the addition of a ten-year-old boy. I dont have to protect or defend the plot. You already know it. As you might expect, this film is a romantic comedy, its well done and it is definitely light entertainment. The character, Marissa has a real mother, not a stepmother and her competition instead of being stepsisters, is Caroline played by Natasha Richardson, an English actress I have not seen before. Lopez began her TV/film career in 1990, although it really launched with Selena (1997), a story of the slain Latino vocalist. As a vocalist herself, she has cut three music albums; the first one went six times platinum. Lopez is the first Latino actress to have a lead role in a major Hollywood film since Rita Hayworth. A bit of trivia: Lopez hired her ex-husband to run a restaurant she opened in Pasadena called Madre. I also saw Lopez in The Cell (2000) and opposite George Clooney in Out of Sight (1998) an Elmore Leonard story. I missed Angel Eyes (2001) but it is clear that Lopez has grown as an actress. Her performance in this film was quite good; much enhanced by the chemistry with Fiennes. Ralph Fiennes has not been in a lot of films during his twelve-year career. I was impressed with his work in The English Patient (1996) and The End of the Affair (1999). He seems to lean toward the romance genre. The other fact that made this film good was the support provided by Stanley Tucci as Jerry the harried political aide, Bob Hoskins as Lionel the hotels head butler, Marissa Matrone as Marisas best friend, Stephanie and of course Tyler Posey as Ty, Marisas son. After watching this, I began thinking about the Cinderella fairy tale, a story we take for granted but seem to enjoy again and again. Why is this true? It is a rags to riches theme, but I think there is more going on. The original written version, Cendrillon, was included in Mother Goose stories in French by Charles Perrault (1697). Since then there have been hundreds of retellings and versions. I believe the key element is a class crossing relationship that provides the possibility for genetic diversity in progeny. Folk tales were passed down through generations as part of our oral literature prior to written works. For children these tales were a means to teach. One of the lessons probably recognized anecdotally was the negative effect of inbreeding among the upper classes. A way out of this bind would be to cross the class boundary and produce children with the lower classes, e.g. Cinderella or Eliza Dolittle. A secondary, but still important, element is the patriarchal structure of the solution, i.e. its always a prince in the tale who finds the poor, needy, beautiful lower class girl - saving her from a life of toil. Then in America, the story fits nicely into the upside down snobbery of the class clash in a democracy rags to riches again the little guy (gal) makes it big the American dream. Whats the bottom line? This is an upbeat Cinderella re-tell with good acting thats fun to watch. And listen while you watch to hear Norah Jones sing Come Away with Me and Dont Know Why. Reviewed March 26, 2003