NEW YORK-Jennifer Lopez hits her sassy stride from the off in this modern day self-improvement Cinderella romcom. The superstar singer and all-round glamorous diva stretches her acting muscles as Maya, a down-to-earth supermarket worker and keen runner who's fed up when passed over for promotion.
A birthday wish sees her tech-savvy teenage godson creating a fake CV which catapults Maya into a top consultancy job in New York. This is a reasonably enjoyable 21st century low rent mash up of Melanie Griffith's 1988 classic, Working Girl, and TV's The Apprentice, where Treat Williams' corporate boss is a coiffed and cuddly spin on Donald Trump, a one time presenter of the US version of the show.
Maya ends up in competition to invent a profitable new line of organic skin care products, against a much younger colleague, played by former High School Musical star, Vanessa Hudgens. And with Maya faking it in the hope of making it, there's a scheming male colleague who starts digging around to find the truth about her seemingly outstanding credentials.
Though the ambition of our heroine is unlimited, the same can't be said of the script, except in the shameless plotting which brazenly embraces its soap opera twists. My expectations were low as director Peter Segal moved from terrible Adam Sandler comedies to the woeful boxing comedy, Grudge Match, starring Robert De Niro and Sly Stallone.
And Lopez's last live action starring role to get a cinematic release was 2015's The Boy Next Door, which was a laughably poor erotic thriller. However this is a huge improvement for everyone involved and geared to the strengths of the straight-talking, sexy and soulful Lopez, who makes this preposterous piece of feel-good fluff perfectly watchable.
Plus there's also an unexpected and agreeable amount of 'Carry On' style innuendo, which had me sniggering in the manner of a schoolboy. If you can handle the schmaltz of this sentimental and undemanding tribute to truthfulness, family, hard work and positive thinking, then Lopez's well maintained and upholstered charisma will easily put a spring in your step.
