An intelligent, character-driven ensemble piece with a busy and attractive cast examining tradition and change in the groves of academe in the 1950's.
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12/18/03
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Mona Lisa Smile (2003)
35
%
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Reviews Counted:146
Fresh:51
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.
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... [More]
Starring: Julia Roberts, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles
Director: Mike Newell
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Reviews for Mona Lisa Smile
Top CriticRoberts shows a new maturity in the role of a mentor to a flock of younger women.
12/18/03
What makes the movie seem crass is its refusal to present (or even to see) more than one side of any given issue.
12/18/03
It’s always a riot when a movie preaches artistic freedom and nonconformity while the script scrupulously follows Hollywood formula.
12/18/03
This is a movie with few secrets or surprises, however much it tries to warm hearts or sell eccentricity and idealism.
12/18/03
Top CriticDespite some missteps along the way, it turns out to be curiously brave underneath its conventional trappings.
12/18/03
Top CriticClick to read the article
12/18/03
Brings to mind the old adage about the three stages of an actor’s Hollywood career: Get Julia Roberts; get someone like Julia Roberts; get a younger version of Julia Roberts.
12/18/03
Newell tries to make a profound film that challenges the social standards of the 1950s, but all he does is throw some stereotypes up against some other stereotypes.
12/18/03
Laughable in more ways than I can possibly comprehend.
12/18/03
Maybe Julia Roberts' time travel somehow disrupted the space time continuum, thus forever altering Mona Lisa Smile's pace?
12/17/03
Soulless retreads without an ounce of passion or creativity that no amount of colorful surface details can quite cover up.
12/17/03
Lots of incident but precious little insight...a period soap opera that makes the most simplistic possible observations about an era on the cusp of female liberation.
12/17/03
An ironically conformist piece of mock-intellectual fluff... [and] such an appalling waste of talent it actually made me mad. Scratch that - furious.
12/17/03
With Katherine's lectures on the dead-artists society, the movie seems to tout rebellious originality. In fact, it's a lesson in emotional conformity.
12/16/03
Top CriticEverything about this movie seems off-key, starting with its title.
12/16/03
Top CriticBusybody Katherine appears more than simply angry with the mid-century sexism that her charges have so seamlessly internalized -- she seems utterly unplugged from reality in 1953.
12/16/03
The screenwriting duo...use the restrictive mores of the 1950s to fashion a soap opera whose characters are oft too modern for its decade.
12/16/03
It’s an excellent message, yet the film completely betrays its mission by giving us a one-sided central character with a very narrow-minded viewpoint.
12/16/03
A decent watch and somewhat inspiring, especially if you're a girl or woman still trying to 'find yourself.'
12/15/03
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. 
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