Playing Mona Lisa (2000)

Regista:

Matthew Huffman

Writers (WGA):

Marni Freedman (play)
Marni Freedman (screenplay) ...

Genere:

Comedy

Plot:

A young pianist is looking for love in all the wrong places once her fiancee drops her. Maybe her flame will be rekindled both for the piano and a new love?

Plot Keywords:

Earthquake | Pianist | Scrabble | Gay Friend | San Francisco California

Premi:

2 wins

Recensioni degli utenti:

Unbelievably trite film

Cast

Alicia Witt	...	Claire Goldstein
Harvey Fierstein	...	Bennett
Brooke Langton	...	Sabrina
Johnny Galecki	...	Arthur
Ivan Sergei	...	Eddie / Carl / Ben
Marlo Thomas	...	Sheila Goldstein
Elliott Gould	...	Bernie Goldstein
Tammy Townsend	...	Alice
Molly Hagan	...	Jenine Goldstein
Estelle Harris	...	Aunt Velva
Pat Crawford Brown	...	Grandma Ida Weinberg
Zachary Kranzler	...	Jeremy
Joe Mazza	...	Barry / Bo
Sulo Williams	...	Manny
Sandra Bernhard	...	Bibi Carlson

Alias:

Two Goldsteins on Acid (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for drug content, sex-related dialogue and brief language.

Durata:

USA:97 min | Brazil:97 min

Nazionalità:

USA

Lingua:

Inglese

Colore:

Colore

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sonoro:

Dolby

Divieti:

South Korea:15 | Australia:M | USA:R

Luoghi delle riprese:

Hayes Street, San Francisco, California, USA

Company:

Bubble Factory, The

Errori:

Continuity: When Claire puts the Tchaikovsky Competition letter on her mirror, she puts it across the corner lengthwise. In the next and subsequent shots, it can be seen sticking out of the corner endwise.

Citazioni:

Arthur: No, I only work at the video store part time, and at night I'm working on my first novel, called "I Hate People".

Movie Connections:

Fa riferimento a "Baywatch" (1989)

Unbelievably trite film

Another case of "should have left it alone". I read the description of the film on digital cable, I saw "classical musician" and "Harvey Fierstein" and decided to give it a shot. I figured if anything, I would get some decent classical music and well, Harvey Fierstein - one of my favorite people in entertainment after seeing "Torch Song Trilogy" 16 years ago.

Unfortunately, that's pretty much all I got out of this film, and in very small doses. Playing Mona Lisa is has a ridiculous premise: A gifted classically trained pianist graduates from the San Francisco Conservatory and is first proposed to after a drunken night, then dumped. She then moves back in with her family, which tries really hard to be quirky but truly fails and is actually irritating. In between spastic situations with her family, she hangs out with her impossibly "cool" friends who hold some pretty outrageously expensive looking parties and then finds a guy to mess around with. (A relationship that goes nowhere, despite the movie's attempts to make it seem like it's all hot and heavy).

Like I said, the only personal saving graces for this movie were the short appearances of classical piano playing (by Alicia Witt herself, which is impressive) and the fabulous Harvey Fierstein. He should be a "relief actor". Anytime a film looks like it's going to fail miserably, bring in Harvey as a pinch actor, and you'll have at least one redeeming factor. It worked for Mrs. Doubtfire and Independence Day.

--Shelly