MOVIE REVIEW

Mona Lisa Smile  (2003)

Starring: Julia Roberts, Julia Stiles, Kirsten Dunst
Director: Mike Newell

Rating: PG-13

Studio: Revolution Studios

Release Date: 12.19.03

Review Posted: 12.19.03

Spoilers: Minor

By Sara M. Fetters

Cast Gets Good Marks Despite Writers’ Failure

Mike Newell is no stranger to reinvigorating a moribund genre. Not only did make romantic comedies palatable again with “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” the director also breathed fresh life into the mob movie with the devastatingly brilliant “Donnie Brasco.” Now Newell turns his attention to the teacher/student coming of age drama with “Mona Lisa Smile” starring Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles and Maggie Gyllenhaal. Unfortunately, despite some winning performances, nothing happens we haven’t seen before, the movie stuck with a script more moribund than a bran muffin at an Atkins Convention.

Roberts plays Katherine Wilson, an art history professor whom travels cross-country to teach at New England’s prestigious Wellesley College for girls. It’s 1953 and the post-war world is in full tilt. Rosie the Rivetor has returned to her kitchen aprons and beauty magazines, young women seemingly more than happy to settle for an engagement ring over a well-rounded education. This doesn’t sit well with the independent and enigmatic Wilson, and she sees an opportunity at Wellesley to help the best a brightest young female minds in the country see they have more to offer than becoming well-manicured baby factories.

By choosing to confront her students and force them to think outside the proverbial box, Katherine quickly runs afoul of the conservative faculty and alumni, most of which are more than happy to see the status quo continue. Her views also don’t sit well with campus newspaper editorialist Betty Warren (Dunst), an upper-crust student recently wed. Although quite brilliant, especially in her comprehension of art and art history, the prissy and materialistic scholar is more than happy to skip her classes and turn her attentions toward building the perfect home for her suspiciously distracted husband.

Things don’t go really bad for Katherine until she prods accomplished student Joan Brandwyn (Stiles) to hold off on marriage and apply to Yale Law School. This infuriates Betty, the young woman completely unable to understand why her best friend would want nothing else than to be a good wife and mother to longtime boyfriend Tommy (“That 70’s Show” actor Topher Grace). Warren launches a full editorial assault against her teacher in Wellesley’s student paper, her venomous offensive more than enough to threaten Katherine’s position at the institution.

This is another in a long line of films that show the gifted powers of an accomplished teacher, and how sometimes they’re biggest challenges don’t always come from their students. Changing times and attitudes come slowly in places of learning, professors on the cutting edge many times driven away before they can bring about changes that challenge and push their students. Like “Dead Poets Society” and “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” before it, “Mona Lisa Smile” treads these waters with an easy grace that is sweetly soothing.

Yet, writers Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal (known for such by-the-numbers affairs like “The Jewel of the Nile” and “Mercury Rising”) have nothing new to show us. It is as if they attended “Inspirational Teacher Movies 101” and cribbed from all the best sources they had when crafting their screenplay. Elements of “Poets” and “Brodie” abound, with equal helpings of “Mr. Holland’s Opus,” “To Sir With Love” and “Stand and Deliver” thrown in for good measure. In fact, a case could be made the duo didn’t actually do any writing at all, piecing together as many moments from these other films as possible, plagiaristically putting their names on it all and then passing it off as their own.

That the movie almost passes is in no way due to them. In fact, the real hero here has to be the casting director who, along with Newell, managed to attract a dream cast more than qualified to play this cliché-ridden coming of age story to the hilt. Roberts is perfect in the title role. Flashing her trademark smile and underlying it with a stoic brazenness, the actress sparkles in a guise obviously tailored directly for her. Don’t get me wrong, Katherine Watson is about as far away from a stretch as Roberts could possible get. Be that as it may, she’s still fantastic, smooth and easy to watch as she surfs all of the professor’s required ups and downs.

Better is the talented group of youngsters surrounding the Oscar-winning superstar. Dunst is quite good, Betty easily the most complex and – ultimately – surprising character in the film. After last year’s “Secretary” and the recent John Sayle’s drama “Casa de los Babys,” Gyllenhaal continues to show why she might be the best young actress of her generation. And while her over-sexed girl-on-the-verge-of-a-revolution character is a bit routine, somehow she pulls it all off. Even better is Ginnefer Goodwin, a regular on NBC’s overly quirky series “Ed.” The movie’s best moments belong to her, the lovely young actress managing to display an array of emotions with beguiling ease. Only Stiles disappoints, playing Joan with such aloof sincerity that I quickly became weary of her every time she arrived on screen.

Also worth note are the small, winning supporting turns from Marcia Gay Harden (whom with this and Clint Eastwood’s “Mystic River” is having a super year) John Slattery, Juliet Stevenson and Dominic West. Each has a moment to shine, and Roberts graciously tunes down her spark to allow them to make an impact. In fact Slattery, playing Katherine’s infatuated paramour whom travels cross country to propose, has the film’s most heartfelt and intense moment, a brief flash of realization crossing his face enough to bring on a pair of honestly earned tears.

It’s moments like this that show Newell at his best. At first, I was worried the director was going to let his slumming duties overwhelm him, “Mona Lisa Smile” opening with just the type of banal period scoring (the usually reliable Rachel Portman) and muted cinematography I’d anticipated on my walk to the theater. But he quickly gets his feet under him, the movie progressing with almost documentary-like intensity and the director even managing a moment or two of genuine surprise. Newell also refuses to cement the picture with a maudlin layer of schmaltz, eschewing the “captain my captain” pomposity that’s sunk almost ever teacher/student movie in a post “Dead Poets Society” world.

It’s not really enough to make “Mona Lisa Smile” anything special, but that’s far better than the alternative when faced with the banality of Konner and Rosenthal’s script. This is easily a movie that could have ended up as one of the year’s worst, rather than an easy-on-the-eyes disappointment. And if the film doesn’t exactly make the grade, at least the director and actors are good enough to receive passing marks. That’s more than can be said for the writers. They’re still stuck at the back of the class.

Rating: êê1/2  (out of 4)

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