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Holy Smoke
Miramax Films


8.7

based on 30 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 4 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: R for strong sexuality and language

Starring Kate Winslet, Harvey Keitel, Julie Hamilton, Sophie Lee, Daniel Wyllie, and Paul Goddard

An Australian family is trying to rescue their daughter (Winslet) who has been lured into a cult. Her family introduces her to an American deprogrammer (Keitel) who finds himself falling in love with her in the process.

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Jane Campion Anna Campion
DIRECTED BY:	Jane Campion
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: August 8, 2000 Video: August 8, 2000 Theatrical: December 3, 1999
RUNNING TIME:	114 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

As much fun as anything director/co-writer Jane Campion has ever filmed. Holy Smoke lets it all hang out.

USA Today Mike Clark

Sexy, snotty, vulnerable and above all contentious, she's (Winslet) the catalyst in a movie that creates more man-woman electricity than any other movie this year.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak

It's a funny, insightful film whose feminist undertones don't overwhelm the story and characters.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

At once hilarious and serious, cruel and tender, and bristling with vitality, Holy Smoke is the right movie for the millennium, envisioning new possibilities in the way people view and relate to one another.

LA Weekly F. X. Feeney

What transpires is so rich that I've seen this movie three times. The joy of being involved with two wholly truthful (if colorfully fucked up) characters is that exhilarating.

San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham

If this is an example of Australian live-and-let- live, it is very likable.

Baltimore Sun Ann Hornaday

A quirky and satisfying love story.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Winslet and Keitel are brilliant as cult member & deprogrammer.

San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris

By its hilarious, grotesquely over-the-top climax, Holy Smoke is ideologically, metaphorically out of control, as if it has risen from the '70s ashes.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Too tightly made not to keep you watching, Holy Smoke is also too hokey and didactic to take seriously.

Film.com Robert Horton

I'm not even sure the movie makes sense at times, yet Campion's offbeat rhythms and eye for startling images always made me happy to be looking at the screen.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

Filled with flashy sight gags, overwrought performances, and madly overlapping dialogue.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

A smaller picture like this, shot out of the mainstream, has a better chance of being quirky and original. And quirky it is, even if not successful.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

In the end, Holy Smoke crashes and burns.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Either Campion is the most inspirational director of performers or Winslet the most carnal.

Miami Herald Curtis Morgan

In a movie packed with broad humor, the best jokes are so small they're easy to overlook.

Salon.com Mary Elizabeth Williams

Kate Winslet is a mesmerizing force in her own right, but too much of Holy Smoke turns out to be hot air.

The New York Times Janet Maslin

As Holy Smoke moves from its early mix of rapture and humor into this more serious, confrontational stage, it runs into trouble.

Mr. Showbiz Michael Atkinson

It's not a movie you could call dispassionate, however aimless and unfocused. It's a Molotov cocktail tossed in several directions at once.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Winslet and Keitel are perfectly matched, go-for-broke actors handed dramatic license to do a psychic striptease.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

It's an often lovely, constantly assured film that now and again burps forth a really remarkable vision. But it's also half-nuts -- maybe three-quarters.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Campion is an imaginative filmmaker, but here she reduces a fascinating subject to a two-character soap opera that often seems contrived on both spiritual and psychological levels.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

This is mainly smoke, not fire.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Wrestles with big questions, gets the upper hand during the first hour, then loses its grip. By the end, it's flat on its back on the mat.

Variety David Rooney

Original in every sense.

Dallas Observer Jean Oppenheimer

If Campion has a message in all this -- something about the eternal battle of the sexes -- it is far from clear.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

It lurches ineptly from lame comedy to hokey melodrama.

TNT RoughCut Sarah Raskin

Just not enough for me.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

There's so much wrong with this movie.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

A forgivable error, but an error nonetheless.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.7 (out of 10) based on 4 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Frans T. gave it a10:
A brilliant duo!! Kate Winslet and Harvey Keitel.

Max gave it an 8:
Kate Winslet gives one of the strongest performances of the '90s.

Matt M. gave it a 9:
A colorful and smolderingly sexy motion picture from Jane Campion. Kate Winslet sizzles in one of the best performances of her career! Altogether, one of 1999's most intriguing films.

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Holy Smoke Miramax Films

Holy Smoke
Miramax Films