Back to trending
Maid in Manhattan

Maid in Manhattan

Comedy · Drama · Romance · 2002

Marisa Ventura is a struggling single mom who works at a posh Manhattan hotel and dreams of a better life for her and her young son. One fateful day, hotel guest and senatorial candidate Christopher Marshall meets Marisa and mistakes her for a wealthy socialite. After an enchanting evening together, the two fall madly in love. But when Marisa's true identity is revealed, issues of class and social status threaten to separate them. Can two people from very different worlds overcome their differences and live happily ever after?

Movie details

Maid in Manhattan

“...love checks in.”

2002 Comedy · Drama · Romance 1h 45m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

5.4 / 10

101.9K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

37 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

45 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

6.1 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

Marisa Ventura is a struggling single mom who works at a posh Manhattan hotel and dreams of a better life for her and her young son. One fateful day, hotel guest and senatorial candidate Christopher Marshall meets Marisa and mistakes her for a wealthy socialite. After an enchanting evening together, the two fall madly in love. But when Marisa's true identity is revealed, issues of class and social status threaten to separate them. Can two people from very different worlds overcome their differences and live happily ever after?

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Maid in Manhattan?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

How to Lose Friends & Alienate People

How to Lose Friends & Alienate People

Comedy · 2008

Sidney Young is a down-on-his-luck journalist. Thanks to a stint involving a pig and a glitzy awards ceremony, Sidney turns his fortunes around, attracting the attention of Clayton Harding, editor of New York-based glossy magazine 'Sharps', and landing the holy grail of journalism jobs. The Brit jets off to the Big Apple and moves from one blunder to the next.

Never Been Kissed

Never Been Kissed

Romance · 1999

Josie Geller, a baby-faced junior copywriter at the Chicago Sun-Times, must pose as a student at her former high school to research contemporary teenage culture. With the help of her brother, Rob, Josie infiltrates the inner circle of the most popular clique on campus. But she hits a major snag in her investigation -- not to mention her own failed love life -- when she falls for her dreamy English teacher, Sam Coulson.

Prime

Prime

Comedy · 2005

A career driven professional from Manhattan is wooed by a young painter, who also happens to be the son of her psychoanalyst.

Good Sam

Good Sam

Romance · 2019

A news reporter looks into who has been anonymously leaving large cash gifts on random doorsteps in New York.

Something Borrowed

Something Borrowed

Comedy · 2011

Though Rachel is a successful attorney and a loyal, generous friend, she is still single. After one drink too many at her 30th-birthday celebration, Rachel unexpectedly falls into bed with her longtime crush, Dex -- who happens to be engaged to her best friend, Darcy. Ramifications of the liaison threaten to destroy the women's lifelong friendship, while Ethan, Rachel's confidant, harbors a potentially explosive secret of his own.

New York Stories

New York Stories

Comedy · 1989

Three tales of love, ambition, and neurosis unfold in the city that never sleeps. In "Life Lessons" (Martin Scorsese), a tormented painter channels heartbreak into his art. In "Life Without Zoë" (Francis Ford Coppola), a precocious 12-year-old navigates privilege and loneliness in a Manhattan hotel. And in "Oedipus Wrecks" (Woody Allen), a man’s domineering mother literally becomes a looming presence over New York.

Morning Glory

Morning Glory

Drama · 2010

A young and devoted morning television producer is hired as an executive producer on a long-running morning show at a once-prominent but currently failing station in New York City. Eager to keep the show on air, she recruits a former news journalist and anchor who disapproves of co-hosting a show that does not deal with real news stories.

Fools Rush In

Fools Rush In

Comedy · 1997

After a one night stand with Alex, Isabel realizes that she is pregnant and they decide to get married. However, along with the marriage comes compromise of one's own cultural traditions.

Same Time, Next Year

Same Time, Next Year

Comedy · 1978

A man and woman meet by chance at a romantic inn over dinner and, although both are happily married to others, they find themselves in the same bed the next morning questioning how this could have happened. They agree to meet on the same weekend each year—in the same hotel room—and the years pass each has some personal crisis that the other helps them through, often without both of them understanding what is going on.

Is This Thing On?

Is This Thing On?

Comedy · 2025

As their marriage quietly unravels, Alex faces middle age and an impending divorce, seeking new purpose in the New York comedy scene while Tess confronts the sacrifices she made for their family—forcing them to navigate co-parenting, identity, and whether love can take a new form.

Where it lives

Watch in your region.

Cinema release signals and current streaming, rental, and purchase options for your region.

Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Wayne Wang

Written by

John Hughes · Kevin Wade

Jennifer Lopez

Jennifer Lopez

Marisa Ventura

Ralph Fiennes

Ralph Fiennes

Christopher Marshall

Natasha Richardson

Natasha Richardson

Caroline Lane

Stanley Tucci

Stanley Tucci

Jerry Siegel

Tyler Posey

Tyler Posey

Ty Ventura

Marissa Matrone

Marissa Matrone

Stephanie Kehoe

Frances Conroy

Frances Conroy

Paula Burns

Court is in session

Put Maid in Manhattan on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Sentimental Softie

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Cool Ironist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.