Review of Maid in Manhattan, directed by Wayne Wang

If you’re new here and found this blog through the mysterious powers of the Internet, welcome! My name is Ashley, and I’m a dedicated reader and movie watcher who thought to turn this website into a little digital archive of sorts.

I was watching and reading so much that I wanted to keep track of it all, so I began blogging as a way to keep these books as memories somewhat forever.

That said, I recently fell into a period of unemployment, and this blog was a solace for me. Not only was it a way to make a little bit of money when there was nothing else coming my way really, but I found, after getting my finances in order, that I enjoyed sitting down to write blog posts when I had nothing else to do in my day.

For a while, I worked as a film critic professionally at an online outlet. While it was fun to go out to the film festivals and interview people that I never would have met in real life otherwise, I got a bit tired of staying on top of the new releases and decided to start my own thing: aka this blog.

Because I’ve been having so much free time as of late, in between applying to jobs, there are more opportunities to go outside of the box of what I usually watch. The theme of 2025 for me is diversify, as I want to watch different genres, perspectives, and nationalities with the kinds of movies and books I’m going for.

And that’s what led me to Maid in Manhattan. This is a movie I usually never would have picked up, but it was sitting right in front of me on Netflix, and I decided to give it a chance because why not?

Let’s get into the review! I don’t want to ramble too much in the introduction.

A single Latina mother, while working as a maid, falls in love with a rich politician.

Our main character in this movie is Marisa, who has a preteen son named Ty and raises him alone without the help of his father. To make ends meet, she works at a fancy Midtown hotel, and her son, when he gets out of school, often hangs around the hotel because there is no where else to go.

One day, Marisa and her coworker are cleaning a socialite’s room. Her coworker convinces Marisa to try on one of her coats, which is designer, and she rationalizes it by the fact that the woman wanted it to be returned. Marisa puts it on, and at the same time her son is befriending a potential senator.

Ty wants to go with the political candidate, named Chris, to go walk his dog, and then they go looking for Marisa. Christ sees Marisa in the coat and assumes she is Caroline, not a maid, and she doesn’t try to correct him. The three of them decide to go to the park together, and there are obvious sparks between Chris and Marisa, although she is afraid of the consequences.

She makes the executive decision to avoid him from now on, but he asks the hotel butler to ask Caroline Lane to lunch, but he’s real confused when the real woman shows up in front of him. Marisa saw the invitation happen in front of her and even gave advice on what to wear.

Chris then asks his assistant to find the real woman he’s looking for, and the butler realizes that Marisa is the one he’s seeking out. He tells her to go to the dinner with him and end it, and the hotel staff dresses her up for the evening. But she can’t find it within herself to end it.

After spending the night with Chris, the real Caroline spots her coming out of the room. Caroline goes straight to management, and Marisa is fired in front of Chris. He realizes her real status then, and the media comes after Marisa for the relationship, which her mother also does not approve of.

Marisa is able to get another maid job somewhere else, and Chris is scheduled to have a conference there. Ty shows up to the conference and asks Chris if people should be forgiven, and Ty brings him back to Marisa, who is in the staff room.

The two are inseparable from that point on, and Chris is elected to the Senate. Marisa and he are still strong after a year, and she is promoted to management.

Overall Thoughts

This movie is a very 2000s coded movie to me, especially in terms of how we address race and intercultural relationships. I found the plot to be quite interesting, although I’m not into romance movies.

It kind of reminded me of a telenovela or a Korean drama with how it has the trope of the poor girl rich boy plot, so it’s not a revolutionary concept.

I find some movies are something you watch when you want to shut off your brain, and while there are some messages about class and privilege happening in this movie, it’s not entirely my cup of tea at the end of a day. I’ve seen some other movies about Latina maids that I’ve preferred about the years, so there are other options out there for those looking for deeper themes.

Go watch it if you are interested in it though! I think if it’s something up your alley, and you haven’t seen it yet, then it might be worth checking out at least once. Taste is so subjective, and no one is truly right or wrong when they declare a movie bad or good. So make your own judgement.

Follow me below on Instagram and Goodreads for more.