Review of Mona Lisa Smile (2003) by Lynaki M — 21 Mar 2011

This is actually one of the worst films I have ever seen! Pathetic!

The main problem is it was trying to be Dead Poets Society for women, and it wasn't. In DPS, Keating is really not the centre of the film: it's actually all about Tood, Neil, Knox and to a lesser extent Charlie. Keating almost always only appears to interact with them. Consequently, the focus is on his impact in their lives, so several key issues are fully explored and the final tribute makes perfect sense.

MLS on the other hand seems to oscillate between being about Watson herself, and her impact on the girls, consequently doing neither very well. We see very little of her lessons, and what we do see doesn't at all indicate she's that inspiring. Nor do we get to deeply explore the girls' struggles to internalise her message, which we could have with the characters of Betty and Joan. We do get little bits of her life, but a little bit of several aspects, rather than a key focus on her clash with the establishment.

Yes, there is a teacher who is a bit different and who loses her job because of it. Yes, there's a bunch of students - a rebel, a romantic, and two others - one of whom ultimately 'buys in' to the message and one who doesn't. That's where the similarities end.