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I expected a little more from this movie, which starts off like a ‘Dead Poet’s Society’ for girls set in the 50’s, where the basic plotline is a kooky teacher in the form of smiley, outgoing Julia Roberts arrives at a high-class comprehensive school determined to tech these snotty girls that contrary to what their mothers had taught them, there was more to life than taking the stereotypical route for most young women of the decade (ie. getting married young and settling for being a housewife before exploring the prospects of higher education). It’s clear from the start that new ‘History of Arts’ scholar, Julia isn’t really going to fit in with the faculty at the strict grammar school where girls are groomed for marriage between classes, but she’s determined to teach the girls something new. (Que the cheesy female bonding music. Bleugh!)
Most of the acting was fine, and yes, as many critica have noted, the movie did serve very nicely as a sort of ‘Teen stars growing up’ thingy, with cinema veteran Julia Roberts trying her best to be charming and school mature movie-stars- to-be, Julia Stiles, Kirsten Dunst and fellow kook Maggie Gyllenhaal; the only stories that were truly gripping to me were those of Kirsten Dunst’s character, a cynical, bitchy daughter of a rich mother who despite doing the ‘right thing’ and getting married early, finds her life falling apart because of a husband who doesn’t love her- and I found it intriguing to see the usually sugary sweet, squeaky clean Kirsten play the bitch for once! Note, for this role she was sure to change her hair from blonde to mousy brown, because we can’t have a bitchy blonde in the movie, can we?! (Bichy brunettes are far more believable. Fact.) Anyway, the romance between Julia and the promiscuous Italian teacher was sappy and gratuitous, clearly just ‘tossed in’ for good measure, however I found Maggie Gyllenhaal’s fun-loving party girl character’s infatuation with her professor to be quite believable (but, unfortunately this is one of many plotlines in the film that never really concludes itself.)
Little Julia (Stiles’) role was relatively minor, and didn’t seem a stretch from her usual parts as the posh but loveable sweetheart, with beauty and brains etc, but it was quite surprising to see her for once not being the perfect heroine in the film, and trading a promising career in law for marriage and life as a housewife, much to the disappointment of mentor Big Julia. Of all the performances, I though sister to Jake, Maggie. G’s performance was the most believable, as the irresponsible floozy with a tough exterior but a heart of gold…the others were alright, but I had the impression that good old Julia has gotten a little too comfy with her acting and isn’t really stretching herself anymore, and overall I found the film generally average i.e. It never got so bad or dull that I felt like turning it off, but at the same time, it wasn’t really very exciting, either. 6/10
Dir: Mike Newell
Stars: Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles, Maggie Gyllenhaal