Hey folks, Harry here with a review of MONA LISA SMILE by a first time reviewer. He's a bit rough around the edges, but from his review, I'm anxious to see both Kirsten and Maggie's performances as he has definitely whetted my appetite. Besides - Newell films are always worth checking out! Click here for the Trailer!
Hey whats up Harry? Great job with the site. This is the first time I've ever sent anything to this site.
I recently got dragged by a friend into a test screening of Mona Lisa Smile starring Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst, Maggie Gyllenhal, and Julia Stiles. Just by the cast listing you can guess that this was a pretty hardcore chick flick. But to my surprise, I enjoyed it more than she did.
Another big surprise was finding out that the Director, Mike Newell, also directed Donnie Brasco which was another great gangster film.
The premise for the plot is quite simple. A teacher begins teaching at a college for women, and helps the students through trials and tribulations while learning some lessons herself. The story isn't all that great. The test audience was mostly blonde, giggly, annoying, and hot bimbos ranging from 16 to 30 years of age. Only a few males were caught in the audience. The film wasnt perfect and ready to go, but still looked good. The real thing that people who go to this movie, who know what 2+2 equals will be surprised by the acting job by the main performers. I was pulled into the lives of the individual characters in the film. Julia Roberts is her usual charming self. Julia Styles holds her own in one of her more serious dramatic roles, but the 2 stars that shine are Kirsten Dunst and Maggi Gyllenhal.
Kirsten Dunst has been mainly known for her ultra-bimbo role in Bring It On. Her performance in this movie blew me away. For those of you that have seen the trailer, its obvious that shes the cruel bitch in the film, but wow. She was on-target with this performance, she's cold, yet shows enough emotion in her face and her acting to steal the show.
Maggie Gyllenhal was superb, despite having less screen time than the other actresses. Shes definately on the rise in Hollywood. I would recommend to other males to go see this movie simply because of the acting that is involved. The only downsides of the film are that it starts to tank towwards the end. The movie could benefit by losing 10 or 15 minutes.
Another problem I had with the movie was that the movie is a chick version of Dead Poets Society. The only difference is instead of Poetry, this movie deals with Art. This is a movie that I will reccomend to others, and I advise not to shy away from this film even though its a chick flick.
If you post this Harry, please call me GRIFFITH.
