Maid In Manhattan (2002)

 


á      Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Ralph Fiennes, Natasha Richardson, Stanley Tucci, Bob Hoskins

á      Directed by: Wayne Wang

á      Studio: Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment

á      Video: 2.40:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, 1.33:1 Fullscreen

á      Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital 2.0

á      Subtitles: English, French, and English Closed Captions

á      Extras: 5 theatrical trailers (ÒMaid in ManhattanÓ, ÒThe Wedding PlannerÓ, ÒAnger ManagementÓ, ÒDaddy DaycareÓ, ÒCharlieÕs Angels: Full ThrottleÓ), scene selection

á      Length: 105 minutes

á      Rating: ***

 

Marisa Ventura is a single mother who works as a maid for an upscale hotel in Manhattan.  While trying on the clothes of one of the hotelÕs wealthy guests, Marisa is accidentally mistaken to be a rich socialite by senatorial candidate Christopher Marshall.  To make matters more difficult, Marshall is also a guest of the hotel.  Marisa manages to hide her true identity from Marshall for a short period of time, but after spending a magical evening together and falling in love, her secret is discovered.  Marshall is then left to decide whether his love for Marisa is greater than the huge difference in their social statuses.             

 

The video quality of this DVD is excellent with the widescreen version serving as the basis for this review.  Images are clean and crisp.  Blacks are consistently deep throughout.  Colors are vivid and bright with fully saturated hues.  Picture defect mastering is perfect with no major flaws or digital compression artifacts.  The overall audio quality is very good with the English Dolby Digital 5.1 track serving as the basis for this review.  The soundtrackÕs mix predominantly favors the forward channels.  Dialogue is always intelligible and natural sounding.  The surround channels are moderately active, and are used for both music and ambient sounds.  The low frequency bass is tight and punchy.  Present in about one-quarter of the DVDÕs chapters, tactile effects appear as light impacts and originate exclusively from the music score.

 

Reference equipment used for this review: [Video projector- Studio Experience Cinema 17SF Projection screen- Da-Lite 106Ó Da-Snap; DVD player- Pioneer Elite DV-37; A/V Receiver- Sherwood Newcastle R-963T; Speakers- BIC DV62si mains, DV62CLRs center, Adatto DV52si rears, D1210R subwoofer; Tactile Transducers- Clark Synthesis Gold; Cables and Wires- Bettercables.com]