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MOVIES / ON DVD / MONA LISA SMILE
Mona Lisa Smile

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Mona Lisa Smile (2003)

34%
43%
56%
N/A
N/A
N/A
34 %
Reviews Counted: 145 Fresh: 50  Rotten:95 Average Rating: 4.9/10
 
Consensus: Though Mona Lisa Smile espouses the value of breaking barriers, the movie itself is predictable and safe.
 

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Runtime: 2 hrs 5 mins

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 impressive cast of top young actresses including Maggie Gyllenhaal, Kirsten Dunst, and Julia... 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]

Genre: Dramas

Starring: Julia Roberts, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles, Marcia Gay Harden

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

DVD Info

Release:

Mar 9, 2004

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • Keep Case
  • Widescreen

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
  • Dolby Digital 2.0 - French

Additional Release Material:

  • Trailer
  • Art Forum
  • College Then and Now
  • What Women Wanted: 1953
  • Music Video - 1. Elton John "The Heart of Every Girl"

Text/Photo Galleries:

  • Filmographies

Buy It On DVD

Reviews

 
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N/R

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Full Review | comment Comment
06/24/06
Derek Adams
Time Out
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3/5

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Full Review | comment Comment
04/01/06
Empire Magazine
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2/5

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Full Review | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat
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2.5/5

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Full Review | comment Comment
04/02/05
Garth Franklin
Dark Horizons
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2/5

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
03/07/05
Independent
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B-

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

Full Review | comment Comment
10/30/04
Steve Crum
Kansas City Kansan
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5/10

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Full Review | comment Comment
10/07/04
Tony Medley
tonymedley.com
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2/4

...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 | comment Comment
09/20/04
Mark Collette
Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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60/100

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

Full Review | comment Comment
07/20/04
Joe Utichi
FilmFocus
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N/A

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

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

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

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Full Review | comment Comment
03/16/04
Christopher Tookey
Daily Mail [UK]
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1/5

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Full Review | comment Comment
03/16/04
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon
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N/A

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

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

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Full Review | comment Comment
02/24/04
Michael Szymanski
Zap2it.com
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D+

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Full Review | comment Comment
01/27/04
Brian Orndorf
FilmJerk.com
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1/5

Devoid of enjoyment, intelligence or interest.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/27/04
Nev Pierce
BBC
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2/5

É um pouco difícil levá-lo a sério, já que sua postura de 'filme-denúncia' soa, no mínimo, anacrônica.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/24/04
Pablo Villaca
Cinema em Cena
Ratings Image
6/10

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Full Review | comment Comment
01/16/04
Anton Bitel
Movie Gazette
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3/5

Considered less as a piece of entertainment and more as an argument constructed to further a feminist agenda, the film is hugely impressive.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/15/04
Catharine Tunnacliffe
eye WEEKLY
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Related Forums

this is one of the worst movies i have ever seen A WASTE OF TIME!!!!
by: objective 12/25/05


Darko, Donnie
MONA LISA SMILE masks a feminist bent, married couples should stay away from this one
by: Darko, Donnie 7/29/05


Ellie Arroway
God help me, I am watching this now for the 1st time
by: Ellie Arroway 7/14/04


Ellie Arroway
God help me, I am watching this now for the 1st time
by: Ellie Arroway 7/14/04


Hey, just what I asked Santa for this Christmas! Witless feminist propaganda!
by: jonyaya 6/25/04
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Around the Network

• Mona Lisa Smile at Rotten Tomatoes
• Mona Lisa Smile at IGN
• Mona Lisa Smile at AskMen
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