Comedy 'Woman on Top' shows Cruz in control

Steamy, saucy, spicy -- and that's just the actress

In this story: A faithless husband Hot food, hotter chef Love simmers RELATED SITES

By Paul Tatara
CNN.com Reviewer

(CNN) -- Fina Torres' "Woman on Top" is a perfectly agreeable romantic comedy that's full of elegant Brazilian music. But it's probably best viewed as a multimillion-dollar promotional reel for the nearly overwhelming charms of actress Penelope Cruz.

Cruz plays Isabella Oliveira, a young chef in Brazil who leaves her two-timing restaurant-owner husband for the uncertainty of life in San Francisco. Torres' gifted cinematographer, Thierry Arbagast, lights Cruz as if he's selling a new Jaguar ... which, to a certain degree, he is. The form-hugging red outfits that costume designer Elisabeth Tavernier designed for Cruz's impressive chassis seal the deal.

Surprisingly, given the current state of movie comedy, "Woman on Top" is fanciful without being idiotic.

A colorful, fast-moving prologue establishes that Isabella has always suffered from an inner-ear disorder. She gets deathly ill when she rides as a passenger in a moving vehicle, and she can't handle elevators. If she's in control of the movement herself, she's OK. That means she has to talk cabbies into letting her drive when she flags them down, and it's essential that she be on top when she has sex with her husband, Toninho (Murilo Benicio).

Toninho feels that this type of intercourse demeans him, so he runs into the arms of another woman. Suffice to say, this is an unlikely reaction to the situation. Isabella then flees to the United States in an attempt to forget Toninho. She does, but only for a little while.

The inner-ear business is something of a red herring, although it affords the filmmakers a chance to show Cruz straddling Benicio in bed. Launching a vine-ripened sex symbol on unsuspecting audience members is director Torres' unstated goal, regardless of everything else that's going on. Isabella, who's a certifiable genius in the kitchen, winds up stumbling into a job as the host of a cooking show in San Francisco.

VIDEO Movie trailer for 'Woman On Top' Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)     MORE REVIEWS Van Wilder High Crimes Big Trouble Panic Room Blade II Ice Age Showtime Time Machine We Were Soldiers Queen of the Damned Dragonfly Iris John Q Big Fat Liar Collateral Damage Monster's Ball Slackers Birthday Girl Monte Cristo Mothman Orange County Charlotte Gray I Am Sam Gosford Park Black Hawk Down Ali Kate & Leopold Shipping News Jimmy Neutron Joe Somebody Beautiful Mind The Majestic The Lord of the Rings Lantana The Royal Tenenbaums Vanilla Sky No Man's Land Affair of the Necklace Enemy Lines In the Bedroom Spy Game Sidewalks Harry Potter Shallow Hal Man Who Wasn't There Heist Amelie Focus Domestic Disturbance Tape Monsters, Inc. Life As A House My First Mister K-Pax From Hell Riding in Cars Last Castle Mulholland Drive Bandits Serendipity Joy Ride Training Day Don't Say a Word Zoolander Hearts in Atlantis Glitter Liam The Glass House Hardball The Musketeer Rock Star O Bubble Boy Jade Scorpion Corelli's Mandolin Apocalypse Redux Now American Pie 2 The Others Osmosis Jones Ghost World Rush Hour 2 Jackpot Planet of the Apes America's Sweethearts Jurassic Park III Legally Blonde The Score SongCatcher Cats and Dogs Scary Movie 2 crazy/beautiful A.I. The Fast and the Furious Dr. Dolittle 2 Atlantis Tomb Raider Swordfish Evolution Worst That Could Happen? Pearl Harbor Angel Eyes Shrek Calle 54 A Knight's Tale Mummy Returns About Adam One Night at McCool's Town and Country The Claim Freddy Got Fingered Bridget Jones's Diary Joe Dirt Along Came a Spider Blow Tailor of Panama Someone Like You Heartbreakers Say It Isn't So Enemy at the Gates The Dish Blow Dry 15 Minutes The Caveman's Valentine The Mexican 3000 Miles to Graceland Monkeybone Sweet November Hannibal Shadow of the Vampire The Gift Snatch Chunhyang Finding Forrester O Brother, Where Art Thou Thirteen Days Before Night Falls Vatel The House of Mirth Traffic Malena An Everlasting Piece All the Pretty Horses Miss Congeniality The Family Man Cast Away Chocolat What Women Want Emperor's New Groove Crouching Tiger,  Hidden Dragon Proof of Life Vertical Limit Dungeons & Dragons Unbreakable Quills 102 Dalmatians Just Looking What's Cooking The 6th Day The Grinch Bounce Boesman and Lena A Room for Romeo Brass You Can Count on Me Men of Honor Red Planet Little Nicky Wonder Boys Legend of Bagger Vance Charlie's Angels George Washington Lucky Numbers Blair Witch 2 The Yards Pay It Forward Bedazzled Lost Souls The Contender Billy Elliot Dr. T and the Women Requiem for a Dream Meet the Parents CyberWorld 3D The Broken Hearts Club Girlfight Best in Show Beautiful Remember the Titans Into the Arms of Strangers Under Suspicion Woman on Top Dancer in the Dark Crime and Punishment in Suburbia Duets The Ballad of Ramblin' Jack Bait Almost Famous 'Went to Coney Island on a Mission from God ...Be Back by Five' The Watcher Nurse Betty Whipped Love and Sex Bring It On The Crew Art of War The Cell Original Kings Of Comedy Autumn in New York Tao of Steve Cecil B. Demented The Replacements Wonderland New Waterford Girl Hollow Man Space Cowboys Coyote Ugly Criminal Lovers Saving Grace Nutty Professor II What Lies Beneath Loser The Wisdom of Crocodiles Chuck & Buck X-Men But I'm a Cheerleader Blood Simple Scary Movie Disney's The Kid Trixie Rocky and Bullwinkle Sunshine The Perfect Storm The Patriot Me, Myself & Irene Chicken Run Boys and Girls Shaft Titan A.E. American Pimp Gone in 60 Seconds Passion of Mind Big Momma's House Mission: Impossible 2 Small Time Crooks East Is East Dinosaur Center Stage Battlefield Earth The Big Kahuna Virgin Suicides Gladiator Me Myself I Time Code Where the Heart Is Frequency 28 Days U-571 Joe Gould's Secret American Psycho Keeping the Faith Here on Earth Rules of Engagement Return to Me Romeo Must Die The Road to El Dorado The Ninth Gate Mifune Waking the Dead Beyond the Mat Erin Brockovich You be the critic! Recommend a movie on our message board

Cliff Lloyd (Mark Feuerstein), a badly smitten TV producer, lets Isabella do whatever kind of program she sees fit. Her life-affirming energy is all the more apparent when she speaks of the spiritual aspects of food preparation. Her specialty is cooking with hot peppers.

Once again, though, the most important thing about the peppers is that Cruz cuts one open and rubs it over her moist lips. This is all recorded in a sensuously lit close-up. The pepper-to-lip activity sends Isabella into a momentary reverie. Your mileage, depending on your sexual orientation, may vary.

With the help of her cross-dressing friend and co-host, Monica (Harold Perrineau Jr.), Isabella soon becomes the toast of San Francisco. Bars full of working-class men watch her show for the big brown eyes and heaving cleavage. Everyone else tunes in for her culinary artistry.

Eventually, Toninho closes his restaurant in Brazil and comes to San Francisco to win back the love of his life. He brings a bossa nova band with him, and sings breathy love songs beneath Isabella's window -- a romantic comedy staple that, at long last, needs to be retired.

One day, Toninho bursts into the studio and serenades Isabella live-on-camera while she cooks. The station manager is so taken with this that he hires Toninho as a supporting player.

This irks Cliff, because he doesn't need any more competition for Isabella's affection. After all, when she walks down the street, slobbering teams of men gather and follow her every move. Half the movie seems like a beautifully shot toothpaste commercial, or a perfume ad.

A lot of the jokes fall flatter than a jostled souffle, but Torres has a nice touch. It's the little things that count. For instance, animated "smells" rise from Isabella's creations to seduce nearby sets of nostrils. There's also a reliance on magic for curing one's problems, and the love-sick dialogue sometimes sounds like a more exotic take on "Moonstruck"'s (1987) delightful "that's amore" hysterics.

You'll probably forget about "Woman on Top" 10 minutes after it's over, but the memory of Cruz lingers. Don't worry. You'll get another serving when Cruz appears with Matt Damon in "All the Pretty Horses" later this year.

"Woman on Top" contains a flash or two of nudity, and there's the usual sexual situations. Overall, it's a sweet, unpretentious little movie. Rated R. 93 minutes.

Woman on Top

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.