i can’t remember the last good movie julia roberts was in. (ocean’s eleven doesn’t count because she had such a minor role.) plus, i am constantly referring to this movie as “mona lisa’s smile” because i have no idea whether that is supposed to be an imperative instruction or not (i.e., “hey, mona lisa! smile, goddammit!”) — or is it suppose be an adjective (i.e, “she has sort of a ‘mona lisa’ smile”)? either way, mona lisa smile is like the poor woman’s pleasantville, except no one gets sucked into the television. instead, the audience gets sucked into the fifties while julia roberts looks suspiciously like she is from the second millennium.

i didn’t feel very moved by this film, mostly because it isn’t very different from other “challenging the status quo” movies i’ve seen in the past. i didn’t find very many of the characters interesting and i thought it was such a cop-out that a certain student didn’t even end up going to yale law after all that work (yeah, that’s pretty much a spoiler). also, kirsten dunst just bugs me. usually julia stiles bugs me, too, but i actually quite liked her in this movie. maggie gyllenhaal also turned in a good performance, although she was pretty much a stock character (“slutty schoolgirl”).

the whole love affair between katherine and the pedophilic bill was awkward to me. so, he sleeps with his students and she’s alright with that? weird.