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Movies / On DVD / Mona Lisa Smile
Mona Lisa Smile

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Mona Lisa Smile (2003)

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Reviews Counted: 145

Fresh: 51

Rotten:94

Average Rating: 4.9/10

Consensus: Though Mona Lisa Smile espouses the value of breaking barriers, the movie itself is predictable and safe.

Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for sexual content and thematic issues

Runtime: 2 hrs 5 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Dec 19, 2003 Wide

Box Office: $63,695,760

Synopsis: Mike Newell's MONA LISA SMILE is a pretty period film that combines a quaint pedagogical tale with a feminist dissection of traditional female roles in 1950s society. Julia Roberts leads an... Mike Newell's MONA LISA SMILE is a pretty period film that combines a quaint pedagogical tale with a feminist dissection of traditional female roles in 1950s society. Julia Roberts leads an impressive cast of top young actresses including Maggie Gyllenhaal, Kirsten Dunst, and Julia Stiles. Roberts is Katherine Watson, a revolutionary art history teacher at Wellesley College in 1953. Though she has true admiration for her intelligent all-female students, she is perturbed that their interest in finding husbands takes precedence over their studies. Determined to instruct them in feminist values and teach them to be independent--defying the college's emphasis on breeding good wives, mothers, and homemakers--Watson is deemed subversive by the administration. Even Watson's identity--from California, over 30 years old, and unmarried--is problematic. And when she turns her class onto modern art rather than teaching the recommended classical curriculum, Watson is severely chastised by the staunchly conservative students and faculty. Beautiful photography of the picture-perfect Wellesley campus combined with a perpetual parade of lovely period costumes makes MONA LISA SMILE a visual delight. Strong performances by each of the actresses, including Dunst uncharacteristically cast as a prim and proper prude, and Marcia Gay Harden as a boring tv-addicted spinster, only add to the splendor of this enjoyable film. [More]

Starring: Julia Roberts, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles

Starring: Julia Roberts, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles, Marcia Gay Harden, Dominic West, Ginnifer Goodwin, Topher Grace, Juliet Stevenson

Director: Mike Newell

Director: Mike Newell
Screenwriter: Mark Rosenthal, Lawrence Konner
Producer: Elaine Goldsmith, Deborah Schindler, Paul Schiff
Composer: Rachel Portman
Studio: Columbia Pictures

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Release:

Mar 9, 2004

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for Mona Lisa Smile

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles and Maggie Gyllenhaal furnish well-observed performances that frequently outshine Julia Roberts's reflex characterization in this female variant of "Dead Poets Society."

Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment Comment
05/12/09
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | comment Comment
04/29/09
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Cinema Crazed
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
10/18/08
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Derek Adams
Time Out

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
04/01/06
Empire Magazine

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Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat

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Full Review Source: Dark Horizons | comment Comment
04/02/05
Garth Franklin
Dark Horizons

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Independent | comment Comment
03/07/05
Independent

Period dress, set design, manners and acting are fine--as is Mike Newell's direction. If only the script was less predictable.

Full Review Source: Kansas City Kansan | comment Comment
10/30/04
Steve Crum
Kansas City Kansan

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: tonymedley.com | comment Comment
10/07/04
Tony Medley
tonymedley.com

...would have been better served by characters with a little less formula than the paint-by-numbers projects so loved by these women of Wellesley College.

Full Review Source: Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas) | comment Comment
09/20/04
Mark Collette
Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)

Mike Newell directs a formulaic Roberts vehicle that isn’t without its charm.

Full Review Source: FilmFocus | comment Comment
07/20/04
Joe Utichi
FilmFocus

Mike Newell takes the road most travelled in tackling the sexual apartheid and hysteria of the 1950s.

Full Review Source: Low IQ Canadian | comment Comment
05/14/04
Martin Scribbs
Low IQ Canadian
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
04/09/04
Guardian [UK]
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Daily Mail [UK] | comment Comment
03/16/04
Christopher Tookey
Daily Mail [UK]

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
03/16/04
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon

Smiles turn to frowns when you sense a paint-by-numbers feminist formula taking control.

Full Review Source: Boulder Weekly | comment Comment
02/27/04
Thomas Delapa
Boulder Weekly
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Zap2it.com | comment Comment
02/24/04
Michael Szymanski
Zap2it.com

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: FilmJerk.com | comment Comment
01/27/04
Brian Orndorf
FilmJerk.com

Devoid of enjoyment, intelligence or interest.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
01/27/04
Nev Pierce
BBC
 
 
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Latest News for Mona Lisa Smile

February 07, 2007: A keen sense of how women have swam through a whole lot of repression and pain back then, to pave the way for females to breeze along through in the here and now. Opens in new window
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