The talent on display in the first part of the movie ends up squandered, as if the film has given up on us.
Comment
01/01/00
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Holy Smoke! (1999)
44
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:73
Fresh:32
Rotten:41
Average Rating:5.6/10
Consensus: Superb performances hindered by weak script and incoherent story.
Runtime: 1 hr 54 mins
Genre: Comedies
Synopsis: In this wildly inventive film from director Jane Campion (THE PIANO), Kate Winslet stars as Ruth, a headstrong Australian woman determined to get back to India in time to join a group marriage to... [More]
Starring: Kate Winslet, Harvey Keitel, Sophie Lee, Tim Robertson
Director: Jane Campion
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Reviews for Holy Smoke!
A profoundly generous treatise on how men and women misunderstand and torment one another.
08/27/09
Why does Campion and her co-screenwriter and sister Anna need to give us a tidy resolution to this crazy mess? It doesn't fit and it invalidates much of what came before.
01/01/00
It's too bad that such an artist of such obvious ambition and power seems inclined to dismiss the greater part of humanity...
01/27/05
Holy Smoke is a demanding and often perverse picture. But its sense of itself is exhilarating.
01/01/00
Top CriticConfused and lacking a tangible emotional center, Campion's tale of a sleazy cult deprogrammer and his voluptuous Aussie charge is chock-full of half-baked statements, notions, and scenes...
01/01/00
No review available.
06/18/02
Top CriticClick to read the article
03/24/02
Quit torturing yourself (and us) already, Ms. Winslet.
01/01/00
The film isn't really about cults at all, but about the struggle between men and women, and it's a little surprising, although not boring, when it turns from a mystic travelogue into a feminist parable.
01/01/00
Top Critic[A] blithering mess of a story.
10/15/02
Its pretentiousness, incoherent story, and huge logic holes make a disjointed mess.
01/01/00
As the story gets weaker and lazier, neither Winslet nor the stunning visuals can save the film from descending into camp and confusion.
01/01/00
This script -- to be kind -- is uneven at best and completely illogical at its worst.
01/01/00
Top CriticHoly Smoke does journey all over the map in a variety of tones and styles, but Campion is a master director and keeps this under control.
01/01/00
Holy Smoke is a fun picture full of vibrant imagery, wacky characters, and carnal aspirations.
01/01/00
Despite Campion's wavering tone, her reliance on easy clichés and cartoon characterizations, her beautiful shots that go nowhere, the film works.
01/01/00
As a satire, it hits its peak early on and then sinks like a stone.
01/01/00
It's little more than a revisionist version of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew without the clever wordplay.
01/01/00
Holy Smoke! owes a lot to Winslet, both because of the way she looks and because of the emotional energy she brings to her work. Without Winslet, the film would be barely worth watching.
01/01/00
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