Joel Siegel Reviews 'Maid in Manhattan' and 'Star Trek:Nemesis'

Dec. 13 -- Now in theaters: Maid in Manhattan and Star Trek: Nemesis.

Maid in Manhattan — In this Cinderella story, Jennifer Lopez plays a drop-dead gorgeous maid and her prince charming, Ralph Fiennes, is running for the U.S. Senate.

The set-up works. J Lo's working in a hotel, trying on a rich guest's clothes. Then her son meets Fiennes. She's mistaken for a guest and she can't admit who she really is or she'll be fired. But she pulls it off. He falls in love. It's everything but the glass slipper.

J.Lo can be easy, casual, loving and real in scenes with Tyler Posey, who plays her son. But with Fiennes, it's none of the above.

Fiennes is a great actor, just miscast. In his last role, he was a serial killer in Red Dragon. What can you say about an actor who's more believable as a serial killer than he is in a romantic comedy? This maid is a near miss. Still, there's enough of JLo for her fans to like the film. Grade: C+

Star Trek: Nemesis — Star Trek: Nemesis misses by a galaxy, even though it goes where no Star Trek sequel has gone before — into the bedroom.

Cmdr. Riker and Counselor Troi get married in the first scene. She's only half-human, and I'm happy report the film doesn't take us far enough into the bedroom for us to know which half.

There is a clone of the android, Lt. Cmdr. Data, and a clone of Capt. Picard — who abuses his DNA inheritance and seeks to destroy the Federation. Only the real Data and Picard can save the day.

What the filmmakers should've done is clone George Lucas' script from Star Wars. They had an entire universe to choose from, but all the action happens in a space ship. The effects are so cheesy, the cartoons NASA sent out 30 years ago about space travel looked better than this computer-generated animation.

Only the most die-hard Trekkies will like this one. The good news is the tagline for Star Trek: Nemesis —' "A Generation's Final Journey Begins." … And ends? Grade C