Rating: 6/10
Review date: January 6, 2004
Katherine Watson is a teacher from California who was accepted in the conservative Wellesley College to teach in the art history department. Set in the year of 1953, it follows her struggle as she incorporate new ideas to the female students in her class so that they may be liberated from the repressive rules and expectations imposed upon them.
First of all, allow me to say that this is definitely a chick-flick and most men would not enjoy the show although there are exceptions of course.
The role of males in this is movie is very limited and I�m absolutely fine with that. However I don�t understand why they have to be portrayed in a very negative light too. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why men would tend to dislike the movie.
Personally, I find this movie quite inspiring due to the themes that it tackles, mainly on the emancipation of women and their freedom in society to do what they want to do with their lives.
Julia Roberts gave a great performance as always, slipping into the role of an art history teacher flawlessly. Her acting is strong and credible thus making her efforts to liberalize the students convincing to me.
She is supported by some other actresses who deserve to be mentioned for their great acting as well although their characters are typically stereotyped.
Kirsten Dunst stars as Betty Warren, the antagonist bitch that just has to oppose everybody on her path. There is Maggie Gyllenhaal as Giselle Levy, the �whore� who slept around with men and smokes like a locomotive.
Julia Stiles (Joan Brandwyn) deserves commendation as the good housewife who ultimately chose to make her own decision. Ginnifer Goodwin (Connie Baker) rounds up the brilliant cast as the plump girl who tries to find love.
I do enjoy the musical score when it is occasionally present and the cinematography is also quite nice, mostly showing the campus building and blankets of snow during its outdoor scenes. There�s nothing else to say beyond that aside from the costumes which look really gorgeous.
Ultimately I found this movie inspiring although not as much as my girlfriend (she rate it a 7/10). It is not a bad movie as most men would say but it is not a good one either. I would recommend it to fans of Julia Roberts and for those who are looking for a fresh change in the form of women taking the lead roles.
*Trivia*
In order to prepare for her role, Julia Roberts observed art history classes at New York University.
Memorable quote: �See past the paint; let us open our minds to a different idea.�
-Julia Roberts as Katherine Watson-
(c) Martin Taidy