Street-smart Maya Vargas wanted to be the manager of a supermarket in which she had dedicated 15 years of her life to, only to be passed over by a younger, stuck-up MBA graduate. An embellished online resume misled a family-owned beauty industry firm into believing that she is a consultant with remarkable achievements, and hires her. However, it would take her time to realize that anything based on a lie cannot lead to any good, not only in her career, but also in her personal life.
The first part of the movie had a strong feministic tone, with Maya fighting for what she wanted, both professionally and personally. Later, the movie became a reworking of an older JLo film "Maid in Manhattan" when her "Jenny from the Block" character was thrust into the circles of the rich and famous. When she accepted her new higher echelon job based on fraud, you sort of knew how the whole story would run already, as this type of story had been retold quite often.
However in the second act, the film hits us with an unexpected curve ball when suddenly a most incredible twist that connected Maya's troubled past as a teenager, with her present situation now working in the big firm working with Zoe (Vanessa Hudgens), the competitive daughter of the big boss, Mr. Anderson Clarke ( a jolly Treat Williams). The odds of this chance coincidence happening was too impossible to be true, but this is a New York City fairy tale after all.
In between these scenes were largely comic montages of Maya and Zoe going up against each other in trying to develop a more "organic" product line which could further boost the business of their firm. Maya's teammates Ariana (Charlyne Yi) and Chase (Alan Aisenberg) had their own little side story. On the personal side, Maya had her drama with an ex Trey (Milo Ventimiglia), but her BFF Joan (a scene-stealing Leah Remini) was always a loyal shoulder to cry on.
The last time I saw Jennifer Lopez on the big screen was four years ago in a forgettable sexy thriller called "The Boy Next Door" (MY REVIEW). In her new film, she was not acting sexy, but she was still effortlessly so, even if she was supposed to be playing a "plain" forty year-old supermarket employee. She looked extraordinary, a goddess way above everyone around her. "Simple" clothes become high fashion when she wore them. Her star quality alone was the factor that really kept this film together. 5/10.
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