Line #47 Film/MaidInManhattan


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/maid_in_manhattan_cover_587_7233.jpg]]
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3	''Maid in Manhattan'' is a 2002 RomanticComedy directed by Creator/WayneWang, and starring Creator/JenniferLopez and Creator/RalphFiennes. The story was written by Creator/JohnHughes, using the pseudonym Edmond Dantes.
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5	Marisa Ventura (Lopez) is a single mother raising her son Ty (Creator/TylerPosey) and working as a maid at the upscale Beresford Hotel in New York City. While Marisa and fellow maid Stephanie (Creator/MarissaMatrone) are cleaning the room of wealthy socialite Caroline Lane (Creator/NatashaRichardson), Stephanie convinces Marisa to try on an expensive outfit. Meanwhile, handsome, up-and-coming senatorial candidate Christopher Marshall (Fiennes) meets and befriends Ty, and they go to ask Marisa if Ty can go walking Marshall's dog in the park. Seeing Marisa in the expensive outfit, Marshall assumes that she is Caroline, and becomes attracted to her. She, likewise, becomes attracted to him. The two become entangled, but inevitably, sooner or later the real Caroline and the hotel management will find out what's going on...
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7	TropeNamer of MageInManhattan, although the film does not exhibit said trope in any form.
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9	The film is likely best known for outperforming ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'' in their shared opening week, which was such an embarrassment to the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' franchise that it killed the chances for any more films until Creator/JJAbrams' [[Film/StarTrek2009 reboot series]].
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12	!!This film provides examples of:
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14	* ALighterShadeOfGray: Caroline is (initially) kind and polite toward Marissa, especially in comparison to her RichBitch friend, Rachel. However, it's made pretty clear that even ''she'' sees Marisa as nothing more than a lower class citizen performing EthnicMenialLabor. This is made exaggeratingly apparent when she is unable to recognize Marissa in her evening outfit and necklace. After all...
15	-->'''Caroline''': I mean, where would a ''maid'' get that necklace?
16	* AlliterativeTitle: '''M'''aid in '''M'''anhattan.
17	* AmbitionIsEvil: Marisa's mother seems to thinks so, discouraging her from applying her for a management position and blasting her for pursuing a relationship with Chris.
18	* ArtisticLicense: A business version. Marisa finds another housekeeping job quite quickly, which is highly unlikely given why she was fired from her last one, not to mention the ensuing public scandal.
19	* BeautyInversion: Attempted, by putting Creator/JenniferLopez in a maid's uniform and pulling her hair back into a ponytail or bun. Although she's still gorgeous, the improvement when she puts on a ball gown [[HeadTurningBeauty is noticeable]].
20	* BeneathNotice: Rich Christopher doesn't recognize Marisa the woman he's falling in love with is the same one that cleans his bathroom, something she calls him out for when the gig is up.
21	* BigApplesauce: The film is set in New York. It's right there in the title.
22	* BilingualBackfire: Christopher and Marisa are gossiped about by two elderly Frenchwomen while sharing the elevator with them. He then pulls this trope by addressing them in French, much to their dismay--they call him a "pig", even though he has ''politely'' invited them to join them for a walk.
23	* BitchAlert:
24	** Rachel Hoffberg, Caroline's BFF, who makes a number of borderline racist comments at Marisa.
25	** Marisa's mother. She means well, but she's a bit too judgemental.
26	* BrainlessBeauty: Caroline is very attractive, but something of a flake who's utterly oblivious to the fact that Christopher is completely uninterested in her.
27	* CantGetAwayWithNuthin: Marisa is shown to be an exemplary employee who is being considered for a management position. The one time she breaks the rules--trying on a guest's clothes--it kicks off a chain of events that results in her being fired and hounded by the press regarding her relationship with Chris.
28	* CharityBall: Chris invites Marisa to a museum benefit, after which they consummate their relationship.
29	* ChekhovsGun: The beautiful Harry Winston wreath necklace that Marisa wears at the ball is what gets her caught. Caroline admires it on the ballgown wearing socialite that she meets at the ball--and recognizes it on the sweatshirt-wearing woman she sees sneaking out of Chris's room the next morning, since Marisa doesn't dare take it off for fear of losing it.
30	* CinderellaPlot: Marisa, a hotel maid (Cinderella) falling in love with Christopher, a Senatorial candidate staying at her hotel (the Prince), hampered by Caroline and Rachel, two ditzy socialites who also have their eye on him (the Wicked Stepsisters), discouraged by her mother (the Wicked Stepmother), aided by her coworkers (the Fairy Godmother), with everything culminating at a glamorous fundraiser (the Ball).
31	%%* ChickFlick
32	* ClarkKenting: No one who knows Marisa under one identity recognizes her in the other even though all that changes are her clothes--Chris doesn't recognize the Dolce & Gabbana-clad socialite as the woman who was cleaning his bathroom the day before (granted, he only saw her briefly), her own boss doesn't recognize her (again, granted, she's wearing sunglasses and keeps her face turned away so as to avoid this) and neither does anyone else, despite her picture being on the front page of the newspaper by the next day--her BFF Stephanie needs to be told by Marissa herself that it's her. Caroline's the only one who comes even remotely close, and even she can't figure it out, despite having met Marissa several times before their encounter at the ball.
33	* ComicallyMissingThePoint: When Caroline offers to buy Chris lunch:
34	-->'''Chris''': Caroline, the first lunch was a mistake. A second would be complete torture.\
35	'''Caroline''': Drinks, then?
36	* CompressedHair: Marissa is able to keep her waist-length hair tied up in a tight bun whenever she's working.
37	* ControlFreak: Jerry, to the point that he flips out whenever Chris is out of his sight--Chris has to snap at him about wanting to use the ''bathroom'' for a few minutes.
38	* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: The jewellery lady tells Ty that if Marissa loses the expensive gold choker he will be "put up for adoption while my Mom rots in prison".
39	%%* DeadpanSnarker: Jerry.
40	* DisappearedDad: Ty's father is not in the picture. As if a phone call in which he cancels plans to take Ty away for the weekend isn't enough of a hint, [[DaddyDidntShow his failure to show up at Ty's school for a performance solidifies the fact that he's a deadbeat]].
41	* EthnicMenialLabor: The maids are mostly black and Latino.
42	* EvilBrit: Caroline is portrayed with a British accent. Ironically, Marisa's love interest, Christopher Marshall, is played by British actor Ralph Fiennes.
43	* TheGhost: Marcus, Ty's father. Also Eric, Caroline's ex-boyfriend.
44	* TheHelpHelpingThemselves: The entire plot is kicked off by Marissa trying on a dress from a client's room.
45	* IdentityImpersonator: After Chris assumes Marisa is Caroline, she keeps pretending to be her to keep seeing Chris.
46	* {{Irony}}: While gushing about Marissa to Jerry, Chris cites among her many attributes that "she isn't a phony", completely unaware that she's been lying (albeit inadvertently) about her identity.
47	* ItHasBeenAnHonor: Lionel to Marissa after she's fired and he quits in disgust.
48	* KidsPlayMatchmaker: At the end of the movie, Ty goes to Chris' press conference to encourage him to talk to Marisa and give her another chance. Also he's the one who brings Marisa and Chris together the first time.
49	* LoveAtFirstSight: Essentially Chris and Marisa's reaction when they meet.
50	* MakeoverFairy: Marissa is made over for the party by an army of hotel employees we otherwise don't see because Marissa is a maid and therefore works in a different department.
51	* MakeoverMontage: Marisa's preparation for the ball, complete with a CostumeTestMontage.
52	* ManicPixieDreamGirl: In a sense, Steph works as a platonic version of this for Marissa.
53	* MightyWhitey: Marissa's mother seems to think of Chris as this.
54	* MyBelovedSmother: Marissa's mother, who wants to hold her child back and condescendingly discourages her from applying for a management position, as well as from pursuing a relationship with Chris.
55	* NakedPeopleAreFunny: There's a gag with one of the guests being a HomeNudist who's called [[PunnyName Mr. Mounty]]. When Marisa and Stephanie [[AccidentalPervert accidentally walk in on him]], they're more amused than offended and later joke to themselves that he's "[[TeenyWeenie no big deal]]".
56	* NiceToTheWaiter: A measuring stick for most of the characters - Rachel is a bitch to Marissa, even going so far as to assume that she doesn't speak English. Caroline is much nicer, but still clearly views her as little more than a servant. Even Chris gets blasted for this when Marissa points out that he was completely oblivious to her the first time they met, when she was cleaning his bathroom, but noticed her instantly when she was dressed up in a Dolce & Gabbana coat.
57	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Christopher is essentially a Republican version of John Kennedy, Jr.--mentions of him being the 3rd or 4th member of his family to seek political office, him seeking the very office his father held, the paparazzi constantly hounding him, etc. And a tabloid snapshot of him and his girlfriend's relationship-ending argument, as well as the press snapping photos of his and Marisa's spat seems very reminiscent of a fight Kennedy and then-fiancee Carolyn Bessette had in New York's Washington Square Park.
58	* OohMeAccentsSlipping: At one point during Chris Marshall's conference [[spoiler: in response to the scandal with Marisa]], Ralph Fiennes' British accent can be heard slipping out.
59	* OldMaid:
60	** Caroline and Stephanie are clearly worried that they're approaching this point.
61	** Rachel appears to be in complete denial that she is already past her prime, though her single status might stem from her bitchiness.
62	* OneHourWorkWeek: The movie tries to avert this. Marisa and the other maids are frequently seen at work, and when she leaves for her trip to the Met, she has Lionel make sure her shift is covered. Her disappearing to take a walk with Chris is still unaccounted for, but it's assumed Marisa used up her presumed one-hour work break.
63	* {{Paparazzi}}: A major problem for Chris, constantly following him around. And for Marissa too, once the relationship is discovered, a throng of them are waiting outside her house when she leaves for the day.
64	* ThePlace: The film is titled after Manhattan, the New York borough where the story takes place.
65	* PrincessForADay: Marisa is a retelling of ''Literature/{{Cinderella}}'', so she gets her fancy ball with a handsome prince - [[RecycledInSpace an hunky politician, in the US]].
66	* RagsToRiches: [[spoiler:Marisa marries Christopher and becomes the hotel's manager.]]
67	* SassyBlackWoman: One of Marissa and Steph's co-workers.
68	* SexyDiscretionShot: Chris and Marisa embrace and sink from view. The camera then pans down from a rosy dawn over the New York City skyline to find the two in bed, clearly post-coital.
69	* ShakingHerHairLoose: Marissa when she and Chris are about to sleep together.
70	* SheCleansUpNicely: Marisa is treated as a HeadTurningBeauty once she's out of her maid clothes.
71	%%* SpannerInTheWorks: Caroline and Rachel.
72	* SpicyLatina: Marisa is an aversion, although she is quite outspoken when sassing back the bitchy sales assistant and calling out Jerry for his lack of touch with the people of Bronx.
73	* TeenyWeenie: After a hotel guest "accidentally" exposes himself to Marissa and Stephanie, they subtly mock him by saying it's "no big deal" while Marisa holds her index finger and thumb very close together.
74	* TruthInTelevision:
75	** Wearing a guest's clothes ''is'' a legitimate sackable offense, with no warning; it doesn't matter if the clothes were about to be returned to the store or not. It's highly unlikely Marissa would have been able to find another housekeeping job, and as quickly as she did, given both her actions and the ensuing public scandal.
76	** The scene where a guest exposes himself to Marisa and Stephanie becomes a lot less funny with the revelation that maids often have to deal with this kind of behavior.
77	* UptownGuy: Wealthy senator candidate, Kennedy-{{Expy}} Christopher, falls in love with a Bronx-native hotel maid, Marisa.
78	* WasItAllALie: Upon confronting Marissa after learning who she really is, Chris asks, "Was any of it real?", referring to their fling. (her dishonesty has left him wondering if he's been the victim of an elaborate prank).
79	* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: A handful of magazine covers reveal that Marisa has become a hotel manager, Christopher has won the Senate seat, the pilfering Frenchwomen have been arrested, and that one year later, Chris and Marisa are "going strong".
80	* WholePlotReference: To ''Literature/{{Cinderella}}'', with all the appropriate expies--Marisa (Cinderella), Chris (The Prince), Caroline and Rachel (the Wicked Stepsisters), the museum benefit (the Ball), Marisa's coworkers (the Fairy Godmother)
81	* WinningOverTheKids: Chris Marshall impresses Marissa by advising Ty on how to overcome his fear of public speaking.

Context Film / MaidInManhattan