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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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Holy Smoke
Miramax Films
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...
88
Chicago Tribune
Michael Wilmington
As much fun as anything director/co-writer Jane Campion has ever filmed. Holy Smoke lets it all hang out.
88
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.
83
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Paula Nechak
It's a funny, insightful film whose feminist undertones don't overwhelm the story and characters.
80
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.
80
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.
75
San Francisco Chronicle
Bob Graham
If this is an example of Australian live-and-let- live, it is very likable.
75
Baltimore Sun
Ann Hornaday
A quirky and satisfying love story.
75
New York Daily News
Jack Mathews
Winslet and Keitel are brilliant as cult member & deprogrammer.
75
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.
75
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
Too tightly made not to keep you watching, Holy Smoke is also too hokey and didactic to take seriously.
70
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.
70
Village Voice
J. Hoberman
Filled with flashy sight gags, overwrought performances, and madly overlapping dialogue.
63
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.
63
Boston Globe
Jay Carr
In the end, Holy Smoke crashes and burns.
63
Philadelphia Inquirer
Carrie Rickey
Either Campion is the most inspirational director of performers or Winslet the most carnal.
63
Miami Herald
Curtis Morgan
In a movie packed with broad humor, the best jokes are so small they're easy to overlook.
60
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.
60
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.
60
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.
60
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
Winslet and Keitel are perfectly matched, go-for-broke actors handed dramatic license to do a psychic striptease.
58
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.
50
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.
50
Chicago Reader
Jonathan Rosenbaum
This is mainly smoke, not fire.
50
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.
50
Variety
David Rooney
Original in every sense.
40
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.
38
New York Post
Jonathan Foreman
It lurches ineptly from lame comedy to hokey melodrama.
30
TNT RoughCut
Sarah Raskin
Just not enough for me.
20
Washington Post
Michael O'Sullivan
There's so much wrong with this movie.
20
Austin Chronicle
Marc Savlov
A forgivable error, but an error nonetheless.
 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.
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