Maid in Manhattan is a 2002 American romantic comedy drama film directed by Wayne Wang and based on a story by John Hughes, who is credited using a pseudonym.

Marisa Ventura, a single mother raising her 10-year-old son Ty, works as a maid at the Beresford Hotel in Manhattan.

Elsewhere in the hotel, Ty befriends senatorial candidate Christopher "Chris" Marshall, whom he learns has an interest in Richard Nixon, the subject of his school project.

Lionel, who has figured out that Marisa is the woman Chris has been looking for, tells her to go to the dinner and end the affair swiftly if she wants a future in hotel management.

Stephanie and the hotel staff assist her in preparing for the evening by styling her hair and loaning her an expensive dress and a spectacular necklace.

Ty attends it and asks Chris whether people should be forgiven if they make mistakes, referencing former President of the United States Richard Nixon.

[7] Principal photography commenced in New York City in April, just months after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in which the towers of the World Trade Center (visible in some unused pre-production footage) were destroyed, and concluded by June 2002.

The website's critics consensus reads: "Too blandly generic, Maid in Manhattan also suffers from a lack of chemistry between Lopez and Fiennes.

[20] According to Anna Smith of the magazine Empire: "the film constantly falls back on its staple fairy-tale plotline, which is so resolutely traditional it should succeed in charming its target audience".

[21] Nell Minow of Common Sense Media wrote positively, stating: "is as careful a combination of ingredients as it is possible to package [sic].

[22] Paul Byrnes of the Sydney Morning Herald said: "The script is so lazy it snores, and Wayne Wang directs like he walked onto the wrong set – true enough, in its way.

[17] Derek Adams of Time Out wrote: "Talented individuals labour over the contrivances in this lightweight romance, and if the result's fluff, at least it's painless.

Variety commented that "[m]aking the maid a Latina is certainly realistic but never quite avoids the suggestion that upward mobility is best achieved through marriage into Anglo society".

[27] Fade to Black and White: Interracial Images in Popular Culture (2009) author Erica Chito Childs noted aspects of the film to expose the objective sides of a biracial relationship using the "symbolic roles of maid and politician".

[28] Writer Betty Kaklamanidou praised Lopez's casting in the film which "proved that a Latin actress can move away from stereotypical supporting roles and effectively become the center of a romantic narrative".

[37] Telemundo and Sony Pictures Television were co-producing a telenovela based on the movie called Una Maid en Manhattan, starring Litzy and Eugenio Siller.