Rating: 
Summary: Beating a dead horse- Male bashing, anti marriage film.
Review: This film uses the 50's as a set up for some cheesey hollywood rightous indignation. This film is as if Erin Brockovich travels through time to stop the evil institution of marriage. All men are slimy cheaters and all female students are kissing and touching eachother in a sexual way. Great acting from a great cast is wasted on this cliche' film. Why attack the fifties? Why set a film in the fifties if you hate them as the filmmakers do. Every 50's icon is viewed with a smirky contempt. You have to wonder what the point of making a film that condems the innocence of the 50's is, when we already live in the jaded opposite of the 50's.
Rating: 
Summary: you've come a long way, baby
Review: Fresh out of graduate school in California, Katherine Watson (Julia Roberts) lands her dream job: Art History professor at Wellesley College, an exclusive all-girl private school in Massachusetts.Watson is a "forward thinking liberal" from sunny California - finding herself in a land where women are educating themselves for the sole purpose of marrying well and then making no use of their intellect. Surprisingly written by two men (Lawrence Konner & Mark Rosenthal), the movie has an all-star cast: Roberts, Julia Stiles, Maggie Gyllenhaal (you will be hearing a lot about her in the future), and Marcia Gay Harden... battling their way through the 1950s mentality of girdles, washing machines and pipe-smoking, well-bred husbands. Intending to ace their way through college so they can get on with producing heirs, Watson's students have already memorized the text and syllabus, so Watson re-writes their lesson plan and annoys everyone on campus with her feather-ruffling, "subversive" ideas. I was expecting this film to be a preachy feminist diatribe, but it wasn't. It was about lust vs. love, loyalty vs. society, and heart-felt emotion vs. hiding behind a sweet smile and a stony heart. The film does not present marriage as a farce or promescuity as the preferred option - rather it embraces the idea that a woman can have a family AND still learn and grow and be more than a proper hostess and trophy wife. Watson is not portrayed as the all-wise, all-knowing, always-right person - rather she is someone who awakens her students to the possibility that they can do more than be consumers and baby factories - they can know and understand art and radical ideas - without having to like either... but at least to have a more rounded view of life than the narrow objectives portrayed on television and print media at the time. In the mid-1950s (when this movie is set), Watson's subversive notions do not make her popular with the staff, but they make her very popular with most of her students. While there is no nudity and only a couple of "bad" words used, there are mature themes and lots of implied non-traditional sexual relationships, so parents should be aware. While I am always impressed with Julia Roberts' acting ability, and even though she was the lead - I really think it will be Maggie Gyllenhall and newcomer Ginnifer Goodwin (Connie Baker) that will be most noted for their performances in this film - believable, flawless and truly stellar. Topher Grace ("That 70's Show," "Traffic") makes another impressive (albeit small) appearance into a substantial film, ironically the love interest of Julia Stiles as was the case in "Traffic" and Tori Amos has a brief singing role. In the end, this is a sweet, feel-good movie peppered with some bitter-sweet moments. Make sure you stay for the credits featuring old film reels of 1950s women in action.
Rating: 
Summary: not bad; not great
Review: A female version of Dead Poet Society. The best thing about this movie is it has Julia Roberts and Julia Stiles- two extremely talented actresses. The movie itself is awfully predictable. The only part that really impacted me is when Julia Stiles's character CHOOSES to give up career for family and then points out to Julia Roberts's character that she did exactly what she advocates- makes a choice, even though it is not the choice Julia Roberts advocates. I did also think the other females personalities were well played in the movie; it just needed to be less predictable!
Rating:
Summary: Historically Moving for Those of Us Who Remember.....
Review: I was AMAZED with "Mona Lisa Smiles" and was totally unprepared for my reaction to the film. I do not ever remember feeling more like, "We've Come a Long Way Baby," (a play on the Virginia Slims ads in the 70's/80's) than after watching this movie. I can remember so clearly how women were not put in positions of advancement - no matter how intelligent they were and how men were paid so much more for doing the same jobs even though they hadn't been with the company as long. I graduated from high school in the mid-70's and although things had changed somewhat from the 50's, I grew up wanting to MARRY an attorney rather than BE an attorney. Later I was accepted to law school in my 40's. But in the 50's - Yale only had 5 slots for women in their law program. My mother was a product of this time and she passed her beliefs along to her daughters. Julia Roberts is great as always in this movie. She becomes romantically involved in a romance - but ultimately character issues come into focus. This movie will probably not have as much meaning for those under 40 - but it is a wonderful film if just for the historical significance in capturing an era. This movie literally made me cry and realize how far women have come.
Rating:
Summary: The feel-good movie of the year for women.
Review: The "Mona Lisa Smile", directed by Mike Newell, is a story about women in society during the 1950s, when they were expected to become educated and then get married and become a mother. PLOT SUMMARY: Katherine Watson (Julia Roberts) portrays a single woman in the 1950s who, freshly graduated from graduate school, gets a job working as an Art History professor at the exclusive Wellesley College for women in Massachusetts. Katherine is shocked when she learns her students have already fulfilled the requirements in their syllabuses by the very first class, and decides to stray against the rules by showing the girls modern art and teaching them that they have a choice in life besides becoming a housewife and mother. Katherine shares a special bond with her students, though a few students really stand out. Betty Warren (Kirsten Dunst) is a "proper young lady" who quickly gets married because her family wants her to and soon learns about marriage the hard way--she becomes rebellious towards Katherine's teachings in the meantime; Joan Brandwyn (Julia Stiles) is a bright and intelligent girl who gets into Yale Law School but must make a choice when she falls in love with a man; and then there's Giselle Levy (Maggie Gyllenhaal) who is kind of like Katherine herself, except Giselle is a "player" and likes to fool around with guys...especially men who are a lot older than her. Through these students, Katherine learns about herself and life as she goes against school board rules. MY OVERALL THOUGHTS: The film was a bit feminist in my opinion, but since I'm a bit of a feminist myself, this only made me enjoy the "Mona Lisa Smile" even more. The acting, of course, was spectacular. I was quite surprised by the acting of the younger cast, though I always knew how talented these young women were and expected nothing less from them. Julia Roberts is as good as ever...she never fails to impress me. The storyline was wonderful and so was the dialogue and overall message of the story. The directing, costumes, settings, etc. were all brilliant. If you are a feminist and like feel-good movies, then you will certainly enjoy the "Mona Lisa Smile". I highly recommend the "Mona Lisa Smile". 100/100
A+
Rating: 
Summary: Mona Lisa is definitely smiling
Review: Mona Lisa Smile is an inspiring film based on a time period when women are beginning to explore alternative roles in society other than the traditional roles of being a stay at home mother who concentrates on her husband's career and success--rather than her own. Julia Roberts and her fellow actresses explore the roles of women as Julia plays an art professor who sets out to academically enlighten a group of already well-educated, rich girls attending a finishing school. Through this enlightening process she helps several of the students find their way, broaden their horizons, and in the process finds herself. The movie deserves four stars because Julia's character not only lets the audience relate on a feminine level but on a humanitarian level as well. The viewer can truly imagine the Mona Lisa smiling, if she were to watch Julia Robert's performance in this movie.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining
Review: I enjoyed this movie in spite of some of the unrealistic items such as everyone is in period clothing except Julia Roberts. If you can overlook things like this and also the improbable storyline then the movie is engrossing and entertaining.
Rating:
Summary: this movie is overrated
Review: This movie has too much hype but doesn't deliver the goods. It is so overrated. Probably because it has Julia Roberts in it. Call me at 156-38-3461.
Rating:
Summary: THOSE FIFTIES WOMEN...
Review: My daughter, who had seen this film and loved it, suggested that we watch it together. I agreed and was very glad I did so, as I really enjoyed this bittersweet film. It is a well-acted, well-directed effort about a free-thinking art history professor, Katherine Watson (Julia Roberts), who in the nineteen fifties, lacking Ivy League credentials, manages, through a twist of fate, to get a berth as a professor at traditional and conservative Wellesley College. It is here that she hopes to find herself instructing the leaders of tomorrow. What she finds, instead, is a group of highly intelligent, young women, who are more interested in marrying the leaders of tomorrow than in being leaders themselves. Ms. Watson succeeds in opening the minds of her students to the possibilities and choices life can offer and learns a little about such possibilities and choices herself. She also finds friendship and romance while at Wellesley College. The film also focuses on four of her students, all of whom are given stellar portrayals by the young actresses playing them. Elizabeth "Betty" Warren (Kirsten Dunst) is the quintessential fifties girl, obsessed with getting her Mrs. before getting her BA. She later discovers that one should be careful for what one wishes. She is also a nasty piece of work who doesn't care what misery for others her poison pen invectives and barbed comments cause. She eventually gets her comeuppance in a way that she never envisioned. Her best friend, Joan Brandwyn (Julia Styles), is a beautiful, highly intelligent, young woman who harbors a secret wish to become a lawyer. Yet, at the same time, she desperately wants to become a wife and mother. Hers is a decision between choices. She ultimately makes a choice that causes Ms. Watson some consternation but with which she is happy. Giselle Levy (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is a young Jewish miss in a WASP environment who finds herself having short term affairs with her hunky professor and with an older, married man. Connie Baker (Ginnifer Goodwin) is a pleasingly plump, pretty cellist who finds true love, only to find it derailed by the ever evil Betty. Marcia Gay Harden is brilliant in the supporting role of Nancy Abbey, Wellesley College's professor of etiquette and deportment, who, one discovers, has not always followed her own staid advice. Noted British actress, Juliet Stevenson, is outstanding in the small role of Amanda Armstrong, the college nurse and closet lesbian, who is still mourning the loss of her companion of many years. Marian Seldes is perfectly cast as President Jocelyn Carr, whose role at the college seems to be that of keeping the well-heeled alumni and trustees of Wellesley College happy with the status quo. Donna Mitchell turns in a stunning performance as Betty's self-absorbed mother, a woman who is a slave to the expected and puts appearances before her daughter's happiness. Julia Roberts is luminous as the role of Katherine Watson, infusing it with an intelligence and natural warmth that radiates off the screen. Though she has a little bit too contemporary an edge, she still manages to carry the day in the role of the forward thinking professor with the Mona Lisa smile. All in all, this is a wonderful, highly enjoyable film in which the social mores and style of the nineteen fifties are well depicted.
Rating:
Summary: Not bad, but missing a few pieces
Review: I think that this movie wants to be a film about the empowerment of women, and there is nothing wrong with this. The Julia Roberts character is likable and does a good job of depicting the now universally acknowledged notion in the civilized world that to be a complete woman does not have to attach herself to a man to attain self-worth. (The ending of Under the Tuscan Sun cops out on this point.) The Julia Stiles character does a good job of depicting the viewpoint that the woman who COULD "have it all" isn't automatically wrong if she chooses to marry. There were a few narrative threads that were lost, though. The Julia Roberts character is offered a "take it or leave it" proposal by the school board about 15 or 20 minutes prior to the end of the film, and then there is no further discussion about it or even a scene where you get the idea that Ms. Watson is "thinking about it". There is, instead a final scene where you see what her decision is, but there is no notion of how the conflict was resolved, if only in her mind. The situation was believable from a "real life" standpoint - I'm not privy to the private thoughts of people I meet in the world either - but the great enjoyment of literature and film is the ability to "get inside the heads" of the writers or characters, and in this case I was stuck outside Miss Watson's head wondering how she arrived at her choice and how she felt about it.
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