Mild non-vital spoilers come until the section marked ***(text goes here)*** Claire Goldstein is an elegant bimbo but a bimbo nonetheless, her friends are a sl*t, a nerd, a druggie, two TV-looking women and another bimbo, all who love to spend most of their time in wishful thinking and the parties these inspire, her sister is an absent-minded obsessive neurotic, her mentor is a strange swan in the way that he is not the corrupter but the other way around, he is more like her father figure with her parents very absent from her take on life in the movie... And I highlight the fact that he is not the cause of her corruption since in gossips, stereotypes and archetypes the gay friends conduct the women towards bitchery. She allows for an asshole playing an overdeveloped act win her and mourns with drugs just 'cause. Her mentor is not any better when it comes to his story with a guy who dumped him but whose existence is still important to him. The madness of the father developed by the father ***and the accidental drugging of the parents*** makes no sense, its funny but exaggerates the concept ***of being affected by a drug***. ***The strength of the slut grows dim very soon but its not appropriately explained and the protagonist cant answer the help provided by paying proper attention to her friend.*** A premise exists in the lessons she is taught to be all false. The druggie is meant to be the source of wisdom and again his actions makes no sense. The hypersexual asking her to join the orgy was so blunt and lacking of style that everything was influenced for the worse by his appearance. The scenes are filmed in such a way that everything seems great and important, this visual grandiloquence is the best in the film and the only thing that could draw me further and further into the end, expecting something to happen for the plot and its realization to improve. The plot, like this text, lacked any organization and the more I saw of it the more I hated the character for her stupidity, the more I hated all the characters in the movie. So it seemed the productors wanted to defend the lifestyle of its pitiful characters and, at the end, all I could appreciate was the beautiful use of the camera and the pity it made me feel for the everyday fool it was aimed for. ***The most I could cheer was the dumping of the as*h*le for a professional career, but seeing how the marriage was not canceled there was more for me to pity.*** The end product is kitsch in all the worst ways something can be kitsch. It was such a rubbish except for its nice visuals that I've not willed to do any effort to polish this entry, I did to much by just watching it. Luckily "The Fantasticks" followed and whether the later is a good film or not, the previous film left a good context to enjoy the later, with the aftertaste of this rubbish I could focus in the movies secondary plots to enjoy its criticism of quixotic females a la Madame Bovarie and a culture of feigned feelings like the rubbish I'm trashing in here did.

It's a decent and well-made romantic piece. Good and believable story, great acting. I prefer romantic movies that are trying to remain realistic and that are not 'overdone' so they won't become cheesy and unwatchable. Playing Mona Lisa is not a landmark in movie history but a great effort and a really enjoyable piece. What really makes this movie great is Alicia Witt, who's one of the most underrated actresses in Hollywood. She should get better roles in the future. Maybe she just have to change her agents. Alicia makes a believable character and even being a guy myself I constantly feel sympathy for her. I guess many guys dream about having a girlfriend like her character in the movie.

Claire (Witt) is having trouble getting her concert piano career on track thanks to a semi-functional family, romantic woes, and kookie friends. "Playing Mona Lisa" is a formula sitcom quality flick full of cliche characters with just enough of a creative edge to keep me from thumbing the fast-forward button. There's little new here and nothing to get excited about. However, "Playing Mona Lisa" might be worth a look for the couch potato surfing for chick flix. (C)

1st watched 4/21/2001 - 7 out of 10(Dir-Matthew Huffman): Well-written and played out girl flick that is very similar to the very popular TV series "Ally McBeal" in it's theme. A young girl trying to find her man is part of the movie, but it's also about her competing piano talent and how she shuffles her romantics wants or needs with her God-given talent. At times the movie seems confused about the direction it's going which is really not a problem because in real life we're never sure what direction everything is taking. A wide mixture of varied talents are involved in this picture from young(Alicia Witt) to old(Elliot Gould - who actually does one of his best jobs in a hard role as the mixed-up father. Funny, touching, and leaving us a good message as well in the end.