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GeezerVison is showing en.wikipedia.org — Playing Mona Lisa - Wikipedia

Playing Mona Lisa
Directed byMatthew Huffman
Screenplay byMarni Freedman
Carlos De Los Rios
Based on
Two Goldsteins on Acid
by Marni Freedman
Produced bySid Sheinberg
Bill Sheinberg
Jonathan Sheinberg
Starring
  • Alicia Witt
  • Harvey Fierstein
  • Brooke Langton
  • Johnny Galecki
  • Ivan Sergei
  • Marlo Thomas
  • Elliott Gould
CinematographyJames Glennon
Edited bySloane Klevin
Music byCarlos Rodriguez
Production
company
The Bubble Factory
Distributed byBuena Vista Pictures Distribution
Release date
  • October 27, 2000 (2000-10-27) (San Francisco)[1]
Running time
97 minutes[2]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$5.5 million[3]

Playing Mona Lisa is a 2000 American comedy film directed by Matthew Huffman and starring Alicia Witt, Harvey Fierstein, Johnny Galecki, Elliott Gould, Marlo Thomas, Molly Hagan, and Brooke Langton. It is based on a play by Marni Freedman.

Plot

Everything goes wrong all at once in gifted 23-year-old pianist Claire Goldstein's life. San Francisco has an earthquake, she loses her apartment, her boyfriend Jeremy dumps her and she misses out on an important piano competition.

Claire is forced to move home with her parents (Marlo Thomas, Elliott Gould), where sister Jenine (Molly Hagan) is busy planning a wedding. Claire's mom is into the occult, her teacher (Harvey Fierstein) tries to arrange auditions and friends try to hook her up with a new romantic prospect, Eddie, adding to the complications in her life.

Cast

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

Production

Development and writing

Based on Marni Freedman's play Two Goldsteins on Acid.

Filming

The film was shot on location in San Francisco in the spring of 1999.[4]

Musical score

Composed by Carlos Rodriguez the film's score includes a variety of music. From contemporary songs to classical piano, salsa, and polka.[5]

Release

The film screened at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado February 9–13, 2000. It later screened at the Gen Art Film Festival in New York City April 26 - May 2, 2000, and was shown at the Stony Brook Film Festival July 19–29, 2000.[6] It opened in San Francisco on October 27, 2000.[1]

The DVD for the film was released on April 17, 2001 by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution.[7]

Reception

As of April 2024, Playing Mona Lisa has a 62% approval rating on internet review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 14 reviews.[7]

Merle Bertrand of Film Threat gave the film a mixed review, noting that despite featuring some funny moments, "Playing Mona Lisa plays like a sitcom pilot on steroids. The cast shamelessly overplays their nitwit roles for laughs, which are rarely present, and the underlying idiocy of the various plotline twists becomes so irritating that one wishes mobsters from a Scorsese film could stop by to shoot off a few kneecaps."[8] In another review by Film Threat, it was given some praise: "Though not tremendously original and definitely not even remotely "edgy," Playing Mona Lisa is nonetheless a pleasant enough film, gently amusing and filled with enough familiar and/or attractive faces and good-natured gags to make the time pass by easily."[9]

Wesley Morris of the San Francisco Examiner described the film as an "irritatingly overwritten" domestic comedy, comparing it to a "canceled Fox dramedy [series]."[10] Buzz McClain of AllMovie gave the film a two out of five-star rating, noting: "A lighter touch for this would-be screwball comedy was called for than what director Matthew Huffman gives it..., so hateful as the antagonizing daughter on TV's Cybill, occasionally rises above the material and generates genuine sympathy, and she convincingly plays the brief classical piano parts herself... But a movie that gets its title from a lame gag recited in the film (it refers to the way single women are supposed to smile at men) is doomed from the start."[11]

The film won the Audience Choice Award for Best Feature in 2000 at the Stony Brook Film Festival.[12] It also won the Film Discovery Jury Award for Best Actor Alicia Witt in 2000 at U.S. Comedy Arts Festival.[12]

Notes

  1. 1 2 LaSalle, Mick; Peter Stack; Bob Graham (October 27, 2000). "Film Clips". San Francisco Chronicle.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  2. ↑ "Playing Mona Lisa". Encyclopedia.com.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  3. ↑ Swart, Sharon (October 12, 1999). "Sheinberg gets a taste of indie life". Variety.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  4. ↑ Fox, Michael (October 25, 2000). "Reel World". Retrieved November 13, 2008.
  5. ↑ "Playing Mona Lisa". Michael DVD. Retrieved November 13, 2008.
  6. ↑ Shirkani, K. D. "Stony Brook fest nabs 'Steal This' N.Y. bow". Variety.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  7. 1 2 "Playing Mona Lisa". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved April 30, 2024.
  8. ↑ Bertrand, Merle (October 27, 2000). "Playing Mona Lisa". Film Threat.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  9. ↑ Film Threat Staff (December 11, 2000). "Playing Mona Lisa". Film Threat.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  10. ↑ Morris, Wesley (October 27, 2000). "'Mona Lisa' a TV comedy rehash". San Francisco Examiner. p. C-2 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ McClain, Buzz. "Playing Mona Lisa (2000) Review". AllMovie.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  12. 1 2 "Playing Mona Lisa - Awards". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved November 14, 2008.

External links

  • Playing Mona Lisa at IMDb 
  • Playing Mona Lisa at Rotten Tomatoes
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Playing_Mona_Lisa&oldid=1371798218"
Categories:
  • 2000 films
  • 2000 comedy films
  • American comedy films
  • American independent films
  • Films about Jews and Judaism
  • Films about pianos and pianists
  • Films set in San Francisco
  • Films shot in San Francisco
  • Touchstone Pictures films
  • 2000 American films
  • 2000 English-language films
  • English-language comedy films
Hidden categories:
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  • All Wikipedia articles written in American English
  • Use mdy dates from February 2026
  • CS1 maint: deprecated archival service
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  • Articles containing potentially dated statements from April 2024
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