Review of Holy Smoke (1999) by Alex M — 29 Feb 2004

[size=3]Jane Campion's film [i]Holy Smoke! [/i]is so bland, predictable and lacking in any electricity, it makes the audience wonder how a supposedly-daring director could feel satisfied with this work. The film is supposed to be a battle-of-the-sexes comedy, I imagine, but Campion is also interested in making larger points about cultural assimilation. The result is not a comedy with depth, but an utterly unfunny film that meanders from one pointless scene to another. Kate Winslet plays Ruth Barron, an Australian woman who has separated from her family and moved to India...and in the process, become intoxicated with elements of Indian culture. Fearing that their daughter will become a new-age quack, Ruth's parents hire PJ Waters (Harvey Keitel), a counselor who is an expert at "de-programming" people and hopes he can "cure" Ruth. Predictably, Ruth does not turn out to be an easy case, and the film develops into a battle of wits charged with sexual tension between the two. Unfortunately, Campion has forgotten to make this battle particularly interesting: there is absolutely nothing memorable about the dialogue, and Ruth's theories about the male psychology are cliche and occasionally offensive. Keitel and Winslet are both actors capable of creating unique characters, but they seem to be sleepwalking through the picture, perhaps because they realize how inept the script is. As if to distract us from the fact that nothing much is happening, Campion injects certain bizarre scenes that only succeed in adding to the tedious nature of the movie. [i]Holy Smoke! [/i]is so tepid and timid, it is difficult to believe that it was made by the same director who helmed 1993's film [i]The Piano[/i]. While that film is certainly overrated and occasionally dull, it is at least a work of art that takes chances and doesn't settle into formulas. Campion seems to think that [i]Holy Smoke! [/i]is such a work as well, but the audience knows better.[/size].

[size=3](BASIC)[/size].