Mona Lisa Smile (2003) 7/10

Starring : Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Ginnifer Goodwin, Dominic West, Juliet Stevenson, Marcia Gay Harden
Director : Mike Newell
Running Time : 120 mins

It’s 1953, and when Katherine Ann Watson (Roberts) takes a job at Wellesley College teaching art history to young girls, she is horrified to discover that so many of these brilliant women are going to choose a life as a wife and mother rather than using their intellect to pursue the careers they are studying for. Her attempts to teach them how to view things differently is embraced by some of her students, but formidable student Betty Warren (Dunst) causes no end of problems due to her disliking of anything she deems subversive.

This wasn’t a bad movie, though it was basically Dead Poets Society for girls. The performances are on the whole effective and interesting, with a very nasty role for Dunst. Roberts could have been better, but in a way by being a pretty flat character she makes the rest of the cast seem more lively and effective as the movie progresses. The only bad thing I’d have to say about this movie is that Roberts character has barely any effect as she tries to change the lives of the girls she teaches, and it is more events themselves that cause them to change their view of the world.

You’ll like this if you liked : Dead Poets Society