Review of Mona Lisa Smile (2003) by Sierra C — 18 Feb 2009

I don't know what to make of this. Did we really need a female take on the "Dead Poets Society"? I seriously doubt so. But this one slipped even more into the cliché-a norm-defying art-history teacher? C'mon! Why does it always have to be an art-history teacher? I never saw a biology teacher trying to "make a difference" in a film.

Do we really think all the other teachers are boring? I think not. It's just that everyone expects the people involved with art to be "different" in any way. What a stereotype! The message of this story is very simple and nothing unheard of.

..to look beneath the surface, to exercise your right to be yourself and to make your own choices. It's like a screen adaptation of a magazine column. Julia Roberts did her best but she tried to pull something out of that teacher that just wasn't there, since she turns out to be just as shallow as the girls she's teaching.

Kirsten Dunst was very suitable as the "villain" of the student group since I don't really like her in general, and Maggie Gylenhaal was convincing as the coquette. Marcia Gay Harden was quite delicious in those 1950 frocks.

But I presume women will be less critical about this film.