Mona Lisa Smile (2003)

The film centers on a woman who works as a professor in the 1950s at some college (played by Julia Roberts) who deals with art and her class consist of a few girls(one played by Kristen Dunst,Ginnfer Goodwin,Julia Stiles)and they all want to get married at a young age. Of course we see Dunst getting married and it falls apart and then we see Julia Stiles getting married to Topher Grace. And the whole film consists of seeing these girls getting married and attending art lessons. One of the women played by Jake Gyhellhalls' sister Maggie is in love with Dominic West who also has a thing for Julia Roberts . The film isn't anything to write home about but it wasn't too bad.

Preachy vehicle that takes setting up a straw man to new level. Could this (Wellesley) possibly be the college that a mere decade later would hatch Alinsky inspired Hillary Rodham? The trustees must be turning over in their graves. OK, the fifties were a long way from the tumultuous sixties (See: Sixty Stanzas For The Sixties), but this mindless bunch of zombies (and their modern day sexually obscure Jeanne Brody) would never have gained entrance to this high achieving albeit elite institution.I'm a guy who likes a lot of "chick flicks" and finds the phrase dismissive and unfair, but not for this one. Run guys run.

Julia Roberts put on a pretty good performance in this as Katherine Watson, a young art history instructor at Wellesley College in 1953. Wellesley is portrayed in the movie as a bastion of tradition - and especially of the traditional role of women, which was to be wives and mothers. Into that environment came Watson, a "modern" woman, who believed that the women she was teaching were getting an education (as she put it) to be the leaders of the future rather than to marry the leaders of the future. Watson faces opposition to her less than traditional approach to teaching - opposition from the college administration, and even opposition from her students, who for the most part do seem rather obsessed with finding the right man and getting married.It's an interesting context in which to set a movie like this. Historically, of course, this was a time of great flux in the perception of gender roles. During World War II, women had taken over many of the roles men had played, because the men were overseas fighting. With the end of the war, the men returned to their jobs, the women returned to their homes, but, "how ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm, after they've seen Paris?" Wellesley was fighting to keep them on the farm; Watson wanted to give them the freedom to stay in Paris. The tension of the movie, such as it was, was on this interplay.I suppose that was the greatest weakness I saw in this, however: the tension was limited to short spurts. There were long stretches of the movie which left me wondering what the movie really wanted to accomplish; there wasn't always a clear direction being selected and followed.It's certainly not a bad movie, and Roberts' performance was actually quite good. Overall, though, I did feel that it lacked a real sense of direction and purpose. (5/10)

Mona Lisa Smile is a romantic drama starring Julia Roberts together with Kirsten Dunst, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Julia Stiles. The title is a reference to the Mona Lisa, the famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci, and the song of the same name, originally performed by Nat King Cole, which was covered by Seal for the movie.It was written by Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal; and directed by Mike Newell.Set in 1953,it tells the story of Katherine Watson, a new young art history professor at Wellesley College, an all-female campus with a prestigious reputation for academic excellence. Unfortunately for free- minded Berkeley grad Watson, her East Coast teaching stint comes during a less-progressive time that finds most of her students.Among them Betty Warren, Joan Brandwyn, and Giselle Levy.They are more interested in nabbing a good husband than achieving scholastic and intellectual growth. Watson challenges her students and the Wellesley faculty to think outside of the current mores of the community and redefine what it means to be a success.Meanwhile, she tries to come to terms with her own heart's desires.Co-stars Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles and Maggie Gyllenhaal furnish well- observed performances that frequently outshine Julia Roberts's reflex characterization in this female variant of Dead Poets Society.But overall,the acting is just as fine.Also,the film is observed to be somewhat formulaic instead of being a fascinating exploration of a much more constrained time in our social history especially with the female teacher trying to dream a slightly bigger dream than his parents thought he or she was capable of achieving.It would have worked at all levels particularly costumes,set design, manners and acting if only it wasn't predictable.