Maid in Manhattan Blu-ray Movie 
Blu-ray + DVDMill Creek Entertainment | 2002 | 105 min | Rated PG-13 | Jan 14, 2020
Movie rating
|
| 5.2 | / 10 |
Blu-ray rating
| Users |  | 5.0 |
| Reviewer |  | 2.5 |
| Overall | | 2.5 |
Overview click to collapse contents
Maid in Manhattan (2002)
A struggling single mom who works at a posh Manhattan hotel and dreams of a better life for her and her young son meets a hotel guest and senatorial candidate who mistakes her for a wealthy socialite.
Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Ralph Fiennes, Natasha Richardson, Stanley Tucci, Tyler PoseyDirector: Wayne Wang
| Comedy | Uncertain |
| Romance | Uncertain |
Specifications click to expand contents
Video
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Audio
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Subtitles
English SDH
Discs
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
DVD copy
BD-Live
Playback
Region free
Review click to expand contents
Rating summary
| Movie |  | 3.0 |
| Video |  | 4.0 |
| Audio | | 4.0 |
| Extras |  | 0.0 |
| Overall | | 2.5 |
Maid in Manhattan Blu-ray Movie Review
Reviewed by Martin Liebman January 16, 2020Mill Creek has released the 2002 Jennifer Lopez/Ralph Fiennes RomCom 'Maid in Manhattan' to Blu-ray. The film was previously released to the high definition format back in 2011 under the Sony label. This release includes the same transfer as found on the Sony disc. Audio has been re-encoded to lossless DTS 5.1, replacing the lossless Dolby 5.1 track found on the Sony disc. However, differences are negligible if there are any at all. The Sony disc included a blooper reel; Mill Creek has not retained it.
New York nobody Marisa Ventura (Jennifer Lopez) is struggling to raise her politically-obsessed son Ty (Tyler Garcia Posey) while scraping by on the lowly wages she earns as a maid at an upscale city hotel. Among the hotel's elite guests is Assemblyman Christopher Marshall (Ralph Fiennes), a candidate for a senate seat who is held onto tightly by his savvy political handler Jerry Siegel (Stanley Tucci). A chance encounter sees Christopher meet Marisa while she's trying on high-dollar clothing belonging to hotel guest Caroline Lane (Natasha Richardson). Christopher mistakes her for a socialite, finds himself instantly attracted to her, and clears his schedule to spend the afternoon with a women he believes to be someone that she isn't. An obsessed Christopher and a deliberately but innocently deceitful Marisa both feel an instant spark but the false pretenses of their meeting and impromptu date lead Marisa to do all she can to later avoid the political candidate, but his insistence on a second get-together threatens to reveal Marisa's true identity while also placing her bright future with the hotel in jeopardy. Can true love prevail, or will class and political ambition get in the way of fate?
For a full film review, please click here.
Maid in Manhattan Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality
The Maid in Manhattan Mill Creek variant includes the exact same transfer as found on the Sony disc. For a full video review, please click here.
Maid in Manhattan Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality
Mill Creek's Blu-ray release of Maid in Manhattan features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Sony's disc features a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 presentation. English DTS is also the only audio option on the Mill Creek disc; Sony included several additional language options for those wishing to listen to other than the native English (Mill Creek has additionally dropped all subtitle options beyond English SDH). Listeners will be hard pressed to find any significant alterations beyond the encode nomenclature. The Mill Creek track does play at a generally higher bitrate and might be a bit louder at reference volume, but the core presentation details and spacing are of little, if any, difference. The track is wide, dominated along the front but folding in plenty of support surround integration. Fidelity is strong, whether considering popular songs or score. The width and depth characteristics transfer to ambience as well; there's always a nice sense of place and stage fill where applicable. Dialogue is clear and center focused. It is always well prioritized for the duration.
Maid in Manhattan Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras
Sony's previously issued Blu-ray release of Maid in Manhattan included a seven-minute blooper reel. Mill Creek has not brought that over, and there's absolutely nothing here. The main menu screen, which features the same image as the Blu-ray cover, includes only options to play the film and toggle subtitles on and off. A DVD copy of the film is included with purchase. A digital code voucher is not. The release does not ship with a slipcover.
Maid in Manhattan Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation
Sufficiently funny, delightfully irresistible, surprisingly moving, and made for the hopeless romantic inside every viewer, Maid in Manhattan isn't a shining beacon of hope for the future of the Romantic Comedy, but it's a fine example of what the genre is all about, the picture innocent, easy, predictable, and mot importantly, fun. Competently made and nicely acted, there's nothing terribly wrong with the movie even if it is barely distinguishable from any number of other Cinderella stories and fairy tales with a modern setting and twist, but Jennifer Lopez and Ralph Fiennes inject a personality and vigor into the movie that only accentuates its generic but heartfelt theme of finding true love in the most inconsequential of places and between two compatible souls, even if they come from different social and economic classes. Mill Creek's Blu-ray differs little from the Sony counterpart. The dropped supplement is disappointing and the change from Dolby to DTS audio is practically a wash. The video transfer is identical. Recommended to anyone looking to pick the movie up a little bit cheaper than the Sony disc, and particularly those who don't mind losing a blooper reel.
