Maya Vargas (Jennifer Lopez) is about to turn age 40. She lives in Queens, New York and is an assistant manager at a value grocery store where she’s worked for the last 15 years and implemented successful ideas, like the “Monday Momz” program. Her boyfriend Trey (Milo Ventimiglia) and best friend Joan (Leah Remini) are sure she’s finally going to get the manager position, so she’s incredibly disappointed when she arrives and finds that an outside manager, Arthur (Dan Bucatinsky) has been hired instead. Because Maya never went to college, she just can’t be considered for the position.
At Maya’s surprise 40th birthday party, she’s disappointed that her life didn’t turn out to be more. She expresses to Joan and her godson, Joan’s son Dilly (Dalton Harrod) that her birthday wish would be to have gone to a fancy school and done so many exciting things with her life.
Later, at work, Arthur is driving Maya and the other employees crazy when Joan tells Maya she has received an interview for a job at the conglomerate Franklin and Clarke – Dilly, a computer genius who is soon going to Stanford, has set up resumes and interviews for her as a birthday present. Annoyed with Arthur, she takes the interview but is shocked when she gets sent up to the top floor to meet with Anderson Clarke (Treat Williams) himself.
He is extremely impressed by her resume – which includes Harvard, Wharton, philanthropy, and the peace corps. Flabbergasted, Maya goes along with it. He’s interested in having her consult for them and brings in his daughter Zoe (Vanessa Hudgens). His VP. Zoey is cold to Maya, and when Anderson asks Maya for her real thoughts on some of their product lines, she gives them some real talk about their beauty products, which were not as successful as they wanted – which ruffles Zoe’s feathers.
Maya finds out she’s been hired for the consulting job, but she at first can’t imagine saying yes. Joan tells her she got the interview on a lie but got hired because of herself. When Arthur begins being difficult once again, she triumphantly quits. Trey is concerned about her going in because of the lie, but Maya decides she needs to do it. Trey has wanted a family for a long time, and Maya seems uneasy and unwilling every time he brings it up, but won’t say why. Trey says they want different things and breaks up with her.
Second Act is a 2018 American romantic comedy film directed by Peter Segal and written by Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas and Justin Zackham. It stars Jennifer Lopez, Vanessa Hudgens, Leah Remini, Annaleigh Ashford, Dan Bucatinsky, Freddie Stroma, Milo Ventimiglia, Treat Williams and Larry Miller, and follows a woman in her 40s who pursues a second chance at a corporate career, after a friend creates her a fake resume and credentials. The film was released in the United States on December 21, 2018. It received mixed reviews from critics and has grossed over $52 million worldwide.
Second Act (2018)
Directed by: Peter Segal
Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Vanessa Hudgens, Leah Remini, Treat Williams, Milo Ventimiglia, Annaleigh Ashford, Charlyne Yi, Alan Aisenberg, Natasha Romanova, Dierdre Friel
Screenplay by: Justin Zackham, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas
Production Design by: Richard Hoover
Cinematography by: Ueli Steiger
Film Editing by: Jason Gourson
Costume Design by: Molly Rogers
Set Decoration by: Stephanie Q. Bowen, Cindy Fain-Vreeland, Adam I. Rochester Sr.
Art Direction by: Jordan Jacobs
Music by: Michael Andrews
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some crude sexual references, and language.
Distributed by: STX Entertainment
Release Date: December 21, 2018
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