X
- 2003
- PG-13
- Columbia Pictures
- 1 h 57 m
- 2003
- PG-13
- Columbia Pictures
- 1 h 57 m
Summary Set at all-female Wellesley College in 1953, this is an uplifting and poignant drama about one woman's desire to enrich the lives of her students. (Sony)
Directed By: Mike Newell
Written By: Lawrence Konner, Mark Rosenthal
- 2003
- PG-13
- Columbia Pictures
- 1 h 57 m
- 2003
- PG-13
- Columbia Pictures
- 1 h 57 m
Mona Lisa Smile
45
6.8
Where to Watch
Summary Set at all-female Wellesley College in 1953, this is an uplifting and poignant drama about one woman's desire to enrich the lives of her students. (Sony)
Directed By: Mike Newell
Written By: Lawrence Konner, Mark Rosenthal
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 40 Critic Reviews
45
23% Positive
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
65% Mixed
26 Reviews
26 Reviews
13% Negative
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 40 Critic Reviews
45
23% Positive
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
65% Mixed
26 Reviews
26 Reviews
13% Negative
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
The characters involve us, we sympathize with their dreams and despair of their matrimonial tunnel vision, and at the end we are relieved that we listened to Miss Watson and became the wonderful people who we are today.
The men here are negligible, but all the actresses are good -- especially Dunst, who shows a previously unrevealed gift for blending cold conservative roots, starchy appearance, forgiveness and unexpected redemption.
Still, if it doesn't go down in film history as a key moment in Roberts' career, it might very well be remembered as a breakthrough for one of its trio of rising stars.
In terms of the gap between the movie it's trying to be and the movie it actually is, Mona Lisa Smile is in many ways indefensible. Yet for all its problems, it's satisfyingly movielike. The minutes drift by pleasurably and mindlessly.
It almost takes skill to make this cast dull, but the relentlessly tepid film does it anyway, by never getting the characters straight.
An appealing female cast gives the hollowly formulaic Mona Lisa Smile more dignity than it perhaps deserves, yet it's Julia Roberts in an ill-suited starring role that represents one of the film's chief shortcomings.
It's a gussied-up sorority-of-rising-stars project produced, I fantasize, by baby-boomer studio guys whose younger spouses articulately defend a woman's right to stay home and raise the kids.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 31 User Ratings
6.8
52% Positive
16 Ratings
16 Ratings
45% Mixed
14 Ratings
14 Ratings
3% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 31 User Ratings
6.8
52% Positive
16 Ratings
16 Ratings
45% Mixed
14 Ratings
14 Ratings
3% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.
Production Company
Revolution Studios,
Red Om Films
Release Date Dec 19, 2003
Duration 1 h 57 m
Rating PG-13
Genres
Tagline In a world that told them how to think, she showed them how to live.
Awards
Golden Globes, USA
• 1 Nomination
Teen Choice Awards
• 2 Nominations
Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards
• 1 Nomination
