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Holy Smoke

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 30 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 7 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by:
Jane Campion
Anna Campion
Directed by: Jane Campion
Release Date:
Theatrical: December 3, 1999
DVD: August 8, 2000
Running Time: 114 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
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.
Also On Metacritic
FILM: In the Cut The Piano The Portrait of A Lady
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham
If this is an example of Australian live-and-let- live, it is very likable.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Village Voice J. Hoberman
Filled with flashy sight gags, overwrought performances, and madly overlapping dialogue.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
Winslet and Keitel are perfectly matched, go-for-broke actors handed dramatic license to do a psychic striptease.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >New York Post Jonathan Foreman
It lurches ineptly from lame comedy to hokey melodrama.
TNT RoughCut Sarah Raskin
Just not enough for me.
What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.7 (out of 10) based on 7 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
lance k gave it a3:
A possibly very powerful premise is turned into misdirected, pathetic joke by the end. A total embarrassment for Keitel and Campion. Someone need to take this idea and remake it into a real movie. I give it a three only for scenery and color.
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.
