One of the box office duds of 2003 was
Mona Lisa Smile, one of the few fizzles that have appeared on Julia Roberts''
resume in recent years. Thanks to bad timing, poor marketing and and a recognizable plot, it failed to make back its budget. Nonetheless, it is a surprisingly decent film with some entertaining moments.
In what can only be deemed as the female version of Dead Poet''s Society, Roberts stars as Katherine Ann Watson, a feminist who has taken up a job as an art history professor at one of the most prestigious girls'' school in the country. Every girl that attends her class is intelligent beyond dreams, but Katherine soon learns that the school is less about stimulating the girls'' minds and more about preparing them for wifehood. Her frustration strikes chords with the schools'' administration, who frown upon her new ways of thinkings. Nevertheless, she soon begins to grow on her students.
There is nothing especially new about this movie; as mentioned before, it is just a woman''s version of a film that has already been made. The formula has been done many times, including the Kevin Kline movie The Emperor''s Club. Despite the plot''s unoriginality, I tend to be a sucker for these kinds of films, and I liked Mona Lisa Smile.