Rating: 
Summary: A mediocre movie
Review: As a Julia Roberts fan, I was looking forward to this movie, particularly after seeing her discuss it on television. She seemed genuinely moved. After watching the movie, I kept trying to figure out why! This movie does very little to enlighten or inspire anyone, relying upon old cliches and dialogue and the relative skills of the principles - even they disappoint. Make no mistake, Julia's ability as the present-day actor is seen at times, but it unfortunately is drug through so much "muck" in the plot as to be completely disregarded. I wanted truth in this movie, and only received the tired old drivel.
Rating: 
Summary: California Liberal meets Conservative Wellesley
Review: This thought-provoking movie is probably Julia Roberts' best one since "Erin Brokovich". She is not just another pretty face, but she shows a lot of nuances in her performance. She is surrounded by a talented cast of young women who at times oppose and at other times applaud her. She portrays a young woman from California who has come to teach Art History at Wellesley. She gets into trouble when she begins to teach more than her subject matter and she influences the girls to examine what they really want in life rather than to accept what they have been taught all of their lives. What they have been taught is that the only acceptable path for a woman is marriage and maternity, despite where their talents, abilities or desires might lead them. I went to college a few years after this movie (in the 60's) and the portrayal of expectations for women is not far off. To give the movie-makers credit, this is not a one-sided portrayal. Although one of the characters, Betty, is shown to have an unhappy marriage, another one of the girls chooses marriage over going to law school because that is what she truly wants to do. This movie is bound to spark a lot of discussion about what the role of women really ought to be, but when it comes down to it, the movie shows that it's all about having choices.
Rating: 
Summary: Charming but Inspiring Moments Falter
Review: I've just seen this movie last night and I've been moved to ponder over some of the more thought-provoking scenes for the whole of today.Julia Roberts, soon-to-be timeless Hollywood actress, never ceases to charm with her infectious smile and occasional girlish giggles a la Pretty Woman. The ensemble of up and rising young actresses however, do not get much screen time to fully explore and develop their characters. Nevertheless, this is quite a charming story. Superficially, Mona Lisa may have mirrored the much more inspiring and heart-wrenching tragedy of Dead Poets but Roberts' character is portrayed as being more self-serving. Catherine Watson, 1st year Art history teacher, came to Wellesley for the sole purpose of achieving her own purpose to make a difference and liberate the girls who are actually scared of their independence. Although her actions seem to stem from altruism, Dominic West's character rightly hits the nail on the head with the brutal truth - that Watson is really in Wellesley to see other people lead the life she really wants but never had. Choice was featured prominently in Watson's exchanges with Joan (played by Julia Stiles from 10 Things I Hate About You). Furthering one's studies and proving that a new age woman can still manage her family is Watson's ideal and Joan chooses rightly so to pursue her own ideal goal of family life instead. Ironically, Joan was the one who epitomised the ideal modern woman that Watson was fighting for - A woman who has the insight into what she really wants and what she does not and who has no regrets about her decisions about what she wants to do with her life. Joan is truly the non-conformist in this movie, refusing to conform to the traditional rituals of huge weddings, the expectations of a true-blue American wife and more importantly, Watson's expectations of a true-blue American modern woman. The other characters were sadly not given the opportunity to reflect the various gender issues and socio-political dimensions of the era other than the overused cliches of long-suffering wife with cheating husband, on-off-on-off and then on again relationships due to miscommunication (although the Men from Mars and Women from Venus pun was rather witty) and finally the self-destructing "New York Kite". Overall a charming movie saved not by Mona Lisa's Smile but Julia Roberts'. Take care of you
Rating:
Summary: Not bad, but lacks in story
Review: Katherine Watson (Roberts) is a teacher who leaves her bohemian-like Californian existence to teach art history at a conservative women's college in New England. It isn't long before Katherine understands that these girls aren't being educated to move up in life, but rather, in society on the arm of their future husbands. Each girl has read and memorized their text books, but have no idea how to observe art objectively through their own eyes. Katherine encourages them to look at art (and metaphorically, life) through their own eyes and opinions, as "there is no wrong answer". But the strict faculty, who has already fired the school nurse for helping students to obtain birth control, aren't happy with the "I am woman hear me roar" influence she has on her girls. Her eventual relationship with a falandering professor (Dominic West of "28 Days")doesn't do much to make them like her, either. Roberts is in the usual character moviegoers love to see her in, but to her credit, she steps back to let her young co-stars grab the spotlight. Lesser known Ginnifer Goodwin sparkles as sweet Connie, the girl who is made to feel unlovable. But it's Maggie Gyllenhaal's portrayl of Giselle, the boozy, promiscuous goodtime-Charlena that people everywhere agree steals the show. An excellent performance is also turned in by Marcia Gay Harden as Katherine's landlady and housemate, a spinster who was rejected by a man and hasn't gotten over it. Unfortunately, all these good aspects cannot make up for a lacking screenplay. There isn't much that shows us why these girls have such unswerving admiration for Katherine. Indeed, many have compared MLS to "Dead Poets Society"- DPS showed us how Robin Williams' character pierced their minds and never stopped encouraging his students to fight for independent thinking. Roberts' Katherine does likewise, but in a more lukewarm delivery. Although Katherine loves art, she doesn't convey the fierce passion for it that makes us feel she's changed these girls lives forever, and that's what the director wants us to believe. Go in to MLS expecting to be entertained by the performances, not so much the story.
Rating:
Summary: A sharp exam of the 50s, but too scared to offend.
Review: "Mona Lisa Smile" is the type of female vanity piece that has to wink at its subject - in this case, smart Wellesey College girls caught in an era of intellectual oppression - to cater to the theater herd. The movie's telling a smarter story than it seems to, but it's buried underneath playing nice to all the types of women staring back from the seats. Katherine Watson (Julia Roberts, who also produced) is a liberal California art history professor bent on suceeding at Wellesley, then (and still) one of the premier colleges solely for young women. Her reception is cold: The students have memorized the textbook, and her boarder (Marcia Gay Harden) is an elocution instructor ten years ahead of the spinster curve. The college, and the community, is fixated on finding husbands, serving them, then living through them; indeed, this well-off crowd, their mothers having missed their days as Rosie The Riverter, were just beginning to see they could, as Katherine says, "bake their cake and eat it too." Through Katherine's teaching of the modern, "subversive" artists (well, just Picasso and Pollack), two of the principal senior students - ugly duckling Connie (Gennifer Goodwin) and do-gooder Joan (Julia Stiles) - to begin unthaw, while the shrewd-but-repressed Betty (Kirsten Dunst) initially rebels, and loose Giselle (Maggie Gyllenhaal), better suited to the Roaring 20s, inhabits the self-destructive-yet-wiser-than-her-years role, essentially carrying on as she had before. Director Mike Newell's rendering of the era, replete with maypoles and hula hoop races, is nearly perfect, and the supporting performances, save Dominic West's turn as yet another sleazy-but-alluring cad, settle the film. Roberts dials down her appearance and acting - she still looks pretty fantastic -and is alarmingly content to let her "girls" steal the movie. Alas, the quartet is not always up to it, specifically Stiles, whose performance is a letdown on par with her character's questionable decision to skip law school and cater to a pasty businessman (Topher Grace). Dunst's Betty, closest in personality to the prideful, demanding Katherine, is forced into an unconvincing conversion after several sharp, tense scenes with her teacher. Gyllenhaal's Giselle has nowhere to go and Goodwin's Connie goes where too many movies have already been; both should have been cut from this movie, but that would have left the floozies and wallflowers of the crowd without an archetype to follow. So "Mona Lisa Smile" becomes, then, a grand "it takes all kinds" tour of women's wants/dreams/needs without really settling on anything. Roberts is restrained by the script in key moments and forced to embrace Joan and Giselle, even though neither seems particularly strong or insightful, while warring with Betty until a hollow reconciliation. She is also needlessly girly in several scenes, as well; her intellectual wisdom is cloaked by apparent enjoyment in the "dame dishing" of the day. This is what they call the "luminous" woman, brilliant by day, drunkard and dancer by night. Search all day and night for Katherine's darker corners; aside from a few bad choices in men, you're not going to find any. No doubt Roberts would like to be this woman; I'd wager she's closer to her "Notting Hill" character instead. Every one of "the girls" disappear for stretches at a time, and some point they stop having the brains to talk out their positions, and merely allow their actions to speak: This one gets married, this one drags hard on a cigarette, this one bites her mister's lower lip at the jazz concert. And after a smattering of art in hour one, Katherine's subject matter is shoved aside for her greater talents of mentoring and topical rumination. It has been said that a great teacher makes you love the subject; by the end of "Mona Lisa Smile," the only thing the Wellesley girls love is Katherine. That emotion works on some level, too, but you get the feeling that, Betty aside, the students will instead look to their men rather than themselves come the Kennedy/Nixon election.
Rating:
Summary: Did we really need this?
Review: In Mona Lisa Smile, Katherine Watson (Julia Roberts) joins the faculty of an all-girl's college to teach Art History. But because the girls are being taught how to be passive housewives instead of independent thinkers, she also works to impart her feminist ideals to the students and school board. What a timely pictures this is! In a time when Oprah, Jennifer Lopez, and Britney Spears are as financially successful as their male counterparts, the film is definitely dated as a result. The unfaithful opposite sex is the most timeless aspect of the story. Ironically, there is only one guy in the film who is supportive of feminism. This is ironic because MLS is supposedly an advocate for evenhandedness. Clearly the scriptwriters - who are surprisingly men -- could have driven their point home by depicting an equal amount of good and despicable guys. It must have been a stretch for Julia Roberts (one of the most traditional actresses of today) to play the role of a nonconformist, considering the fact that she has more asinine romantic comedies under her belt than risk-taking independent films. Interestingly, Roberts has allowed herself to succumb to the same imprisonment that the female characters of this story experienced unwillingly. Sure, Roberts has lately starred in a few films by acclaimed independent film director Steven Soderburgh (Erin Brockovich, Full Frontal, and Ocean's 11), and an unconventionally bloody romantic comedy called The Mexican, but she isn't a nonconformist at heart. Unsurprisingly, her portrayal of a feminist is as believable and passionate as a KKK member portraying an NAACP affiliate. Nonconformist Maggie Gyllenhaal, who bravely portrayed a masochist in the Secretary, plays the role of the school's whore. Unfortunately, because the film is such a brief ensemble drama, her character isn't given time to bloom into a three-dimensional human being. She isn't even given enough scenes to demonstrate how much of a whore she is. As a result, poor Gyllenhaal, who is one of the cinema's latest talents, is underused. The film's best performance comes courtesy of the younger, underrated Kirsten Dunst, who plays the role of one of the school's most outspoken students (though not outspoken enough to be a feminist, obviously). Dunst accentuates her emotions with great subtlety via her piercing green eyes, effortlessly switching between intimidating and vulnerable without ever transforming into a salivating, Oscar-hungry bloodhound. She is Mona Lisa Smile's main attraction.
Rating:
Summary: This one comes as a surprise - and a nice surprise at that
Review: MONA LISA SMILE may seem from the trailer like a piece of light (and silly) fluff, another chance for the indomitable Julia Roberts to perform in a splendid setting. Well, the last phrase is true: Roberts does have a magnificently beautiful setting (Wellesley College and its environs) but she does more than 'perform'. This is one of her more understated, underplayed, and sensitive pieces of work to date. Playing a wide-eyed California feminist teacher of Art History, she moves into the Wellesley faculty and 'Stepford Wives Preps' student body where marriage and service to the Ultimate Goal Husband overrides all other aspects of 'higher education', and slowly and painfully makes her vision seep into the minds of these very non-liberated women of tomorrow. Her pupils are well acted by Maggie Gyllenhaal, Kirsten Dunst, Gennifer Goodwin (a stunning newcomer to this reviewer), and Julia Stiles. She observes the effects of the old Wellesley attitude in the various reactions by Marcia Gay Harden (in another jewel of a portrayal), Juliet Stevenson, Marian Seldis and Donna Mitchell. The only prominent male in this cast is Dominic West who holds his own and creates a powerful chemistry with Roberts (et al...). Mike Newell knows this 1950s state of brainwashed girls who buy into the formidable philosophy that a woman's place is in the home by the iron, dishes, stove, ad infinitum. This is a terrifying reminder of how many women fostered their own degradation in the march toward future Women's Rights. To Newell's credit he does not opt for a Hollywood happy-wappy ending, but instead elects to just allow the influence of Roberts' character be felt in the fadeout. For once a magnificent set of credits visuals (with Barbra Streisand's inimitable rendering of "Smile" as the music) documents the history that lies behind this delicate story. Bravo to the people who elected to do this service. This film is a warm, sensitive, serious movie that deals with many issues we need desperately to heed less they affect other 'minority' groups. Excellent!
Rating:
Summary: Shallow but with a few fun moments(3.4 on a scale of 1 to 5)
Review: "Mona Lisa Smile" might as well be called "Julia Roberts Smile."
It is through and through a Julia Roberts vehicle. If you liked erin brockvich, you'll like (if not love) this movie. If not...well there are a few things that might make the movie worth its price. "Mona Lisa Smile" takes place at Wellesley College (all women) in the academic year 1953-1954. At the start, Julia Roberts is seen on a train-she plays Katherine Watson, an idealistic young ARt History professor, traveling from California to teach at the school of her dreams. The movie portrays the students of Wellesley at that time as brilliant, beautifully dressed at all times (if you like cashmere and pearls, you'll love this movie), snobby and hell bent on getting married. Roberts' character is shocked (shocked!) that her students do not use their brilliant minds to think on their own and to apply to law school etc. And she sets about to change them. She spends most of her time with four students-brilliant Joan (Julia Stiles) whom she encourages to ditch her fiancee for Yale Law School, snobby Betty (Kirsten Dunst) who marries early in the first semester, slutty Gisele (Maggie Gylenhall) who has slept with a male professor and Julia's love interest, and wallflower Connie (Ginnifer Goodwin). All of the students (with the exception of a wooden Julia Stiles) are excellent and actually try to act (something Julia really doesn't). They have tough jobs as their characters are all one-note. However, Marcia Gay Harden steals the movie as Julia's roommate, a lonely middle-aged professor who teaches speech and elocution, and is a homemaker without a home. It would have been a far better movie if she had been in the lead role. Several things in the movie do work well. The sets and costumes are outstanding (much of the film was shot at Wellesely, which is beautiful). The soundtrack is AMAZING-with covers of 50's songs from a diverse group of 00's artists (e.g., Seal, Chris Isaak, Macy Gray). I would recommend this movie to Julia Roberts' fans and to those individuals who enjoy "woman-themed" (e.g., chick flick) movies. And if you're a fan of the early 50's...you'll love this movie.
Rating:
Summary: Good movie; good for educators to see
Review: Nicely acted and an enjoyable trip back to the 50's. The ending is predictable. A rare opportunity for people to see a movie devoid of violence.
The "modern" teaching techniques used by Julia are actually in style today and it was refreshing to see the contrast between the "tell them what they should know" way of teaching vs. the "help them to think for themselves" that is required in today's society, let alone the 50's. Three cheers for the Socratic Seminar.
Rating:
Summary: Definately a matinee
Review: Well you have to like the vulnerability that Julie Roberts brings to this film. She definately lights up the screen and always mananges to pull off a struggling character. Stiles role
is really well developed in light of the twist they put on her decision, and probably the best script writing in the film was in this scene. They didn't make the message trite which I appreciated.
It was definately a jab at upper society forcing women into set roles which needs to be discussed as well. They dropped Julia's romance though in a way that just seemed a little too male bashing. Unfortunately most films that try to deal with the plight of women don't avoid male bashing and this one was no exception. It did a great job capturing the trouble a teacher faces in winning over an arrogant and jaded audience. Overall a nice warm fuzzy film, but not a life-changer.
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