Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Micitype Pretty Good

Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Lela The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

James Hitchcock On his release from prison George, a minor-league criminal, finds that life is tough. He is estranged from his wife, who wants to deny him access to their teenage daughter Jeannie, and cannot find a legitimate job. Even his former associates no longer want him in on their schemes. Eventually, his former boss Denny Mortwell gives him a job as chauffeur and bodyguard to a high-class call girl named Simone, for whom Mortwell effectively acts as pimp. Mortwell also wants him to gather information on Simone's customers, whom he intends to blackmail.Despite his criminal past, George still retains much of the moral conservatism of the working-class London community from which he springs; he disapproves strongly, for example, of drug use. He also disapproves of prostitution, especially when he discovers that some of the girls working the streets are no older than Jeannie. This initially makes for a difficult working relationship with Simone, particularly as she has worked hard to cultivate a ladylike, upper-class style to fit in with her wealthy clients and finds George uncouth and vulgar. As their relationship progresses, however, the two become friends, and George even begins to fall in love with Simone- so much so that when she asks him for help in finding her friend Cathy, who has disappeared, George readily agrees, even though he may be putting himself in danger by doing so.The title does not refer directly to Leonardo's famous painting, which is never seen or referred to, but rather to the Nat King Cole song, which serves as the film's theme tune. The song is about a beautiful young woman whose aloof and enigmatic manner have won her the nickname "Mona Lisa", and its use here may be a reference to the similarly beautiful but aloof Simone, who may be hiding a number of secrets.The 1980s saw a revival of the sort of "kitchen-sink" realism which had played so important a part in the British cinema of the fifties and sixties. This being the decade of "Thatcher's Britain", many of these social-realist films had a political edge, and although "Mona Lisa" is not as overtly political as some it nevertheless reflects the social divisions in British society during the period. These divisions are even reflected in the world of prostitution; there is a sharp contrast between the superficially glamorous world of high-class call-girls like Simone, wined and dined by the wealthy elite in luxury hotels, and the seedy world of streetwalkers like Cathy and the pathetic Irish teenager May, brutalised both by their clients and their pimps.The film reunites Michael Caine and Bob Hoskins, who had previously acted together in "The Honorary Consul". Caine and Hoskins were around the same age, but Caine had achieved stardom much earlier, and Hoskins had taken a supporting role in "The Honorary Consul". Here, however, Hoskins plays the leading role with Caine in support. It can be said, in fact, that this was the film which brought Hoskins, who was already well-known in Britain after starring in another London crime drama, "The Long Good Friday", to international notice. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor, even though "Mona Lisa", with its gritty urban setting and regional accents, is not the sort of British movie which generally appeals to the American market.In the event, Hoskins lost out to Paul Newman in "The Color of Money". Newman's win is often, like Henry Fonda's for "On Golden Pond", dismissed as a "sentimental Oscar", awarded less for the performance itself than as a way of making amends to the actor for having been overlooked in the past. I would not dissent from this view; Newman's performance is a reasonably good one, but it is far from being the best of his career and far from being the best given by any actor in 1986. That does not, however, necessarily mean that Hoskins should have won the award. 1986 was a strong year in the cinema, on both sides of the Atlantic, and other possible contenders would have included both Jeremy Irons and Robert de Niro for "The Mission", William Hurt for "Children of a Lesser God" and Woody Allen for "Hannah and Her Sisters". Hoskins combines well here with Cathy Tyson, who on the strength of this performance was widely tipped to become Britain's first major black female film star. (In the event she never quite made it; this remains her best-known role). Both George and Simone are flawed characters whose activities have put them on the wrong side of the law or of accepted standards of morality, but Hoskins and Tyson succeed in making them well-rounded and understandable individuals, even at times likable despite their flaws, and do this without falling back on sentimental "tart with a heart" clichés. There are also good contributions from Caine as Mortwell and Robbie Coltrane as George's friend Thomas. The eighties saw a revival not just of the "kitchen-sink" tradition but also of the British cinema as a whole, which had been in something of a decline in the seventies. When I first saw "Mona Lisa" in the cinema in 1986 I found it no more than a run-of-the-mill neo-noir crime drama, but over the years my respect for it has increased, and today its gripping story, fine acting and cold-eyed look at the Britain of the period make it one of the key films in this eighties revival. 8/10

SnoopyStyle George (Bob Hoskins) gets out of prison but his wife won't let him see his daughter. Thomas (Robbie Coltrane) is his friend from the old days. Times have changed. The only job he can get is to drive high-priced call girl Simone (Cathy Tyson) for local gangster Denny Mortwell (Michael Caine). George and Simone don't get along at first. Simone talks George into looking for young prostitute Cathy but he befriends abused May (Sammi Davis) instead. Meanwhile Denny wants George to find out what Simone is doing with one particular client.Cathy Tyson is electric in her character. Bob Hoskins is great but his character is conveniently written dumb sometimes. At times, he's too naive like crashing in on one of Simone's tricks. I don't know what exactly he expects to see in that room. Sammi Davis is absolutely heart-breaking. The movie is a little uneven at times but the two leads are great.

Degree7 After seeing Hoskins in "The Long Good Friday", I was eager to catch another one of his highly celebrated performances. Filling in a similar role as an ex-con looking for work in 1980s London, I found his relationship with a call-girl to be highly effective in the character's exploration of a world he is simultaneously out of touch, but all too familiar with. It is a story that moves along leisurely, as he is soon employed by his employer's worker to find a vulnerable young girl on the streets, and it is here that the film offers a disparaging outlook on urban prostitution, through the annals of both high and low society. Hoskin's character becomes embroiled in an emotional investment beyond his control, and like any Noir protagonist, is very soon out of his league and receiving the short end of the stick.The ending revelation is effective, but slightly underwhelming when one realizes that his journey was doomed from the beginning, but this kind of set up is to be expected from these sorts of tales. The character development and progression between lead actor and actress is simple, but highly effective.The cinematography comes across as drab sometimes, but there are many beautiful moments in this film with some detailed choreography and impressive lighting of seedy, smoke filled interiors as Hoskins navigates the Londonian labyrinths. The ending does feel slightly rushed, but there are so many great moments, and the film has a lot of untold backstory that gives its characters a lot of depth and very realistic insight into human longing. This is a great example of effective exposition that is relayed naturally and not a distraction or disservice to the film. A few choppy moments, but overall 'Mona Lisa' is more than the sum of its parts, and is an entertaining and atmospheric indie flick from Neil Jordan.

Richard Burin Mona Lisa (Neil Jordan, 1986) is a fantastic piece of work: a quiet, touching love story framed against a sordid, squalid London underworld full of underage prostitutes, drug addicts and pitiless gangsters. Bob Hoskins is magnificent as a former mob driver and Nat 'King' Cole fan who gets out after seven years in stir and seeks a helping hand from his old bosses. What he gets is a job ferrying around high class call girl Cathy Tyson, with whom he falls in love. So perhaps he's not thinking straight when he agrees to track down a friend "the tall black tart" promised to look out for years before, taking him deep into the sordid, squalid underbelly of the capital. Jordan establishes many of the concerns he'd conclusively nail in The Crying Game - unlikely friendships, game-playing and moral courage awoken within a lost soul by undaunted love - but his view is bleaker, even nihilistic, as the unconventional, sweet-hearted hero struggles to breathe in an appalling, stifling universe that's impossible for him to comprehend. Then gets royally screwed.The acting is universally superb, though Hoskins is unquestionably the stand-out, trading on his great gift: the ability to transmit his very thoughts through that intelligently expressive fizzog. Tyson is also terrific, while Caine is stunningly utilised in what's essentially a glorified cameo as a colourful, rabbit-loving crime lord. Jordan's script, co-written with future Wish You Were Here director David Leland is exceptional: poetic, funny, quotable and frequently profane, while his direction is laced with idiosyncratic, left-field touches. The film also casts its net a little wider than you might expect, dealing with the artificiality of the '80s and the rise of consumerism through Robbie Coltrane's comic foil. He peddles fake spaghetti that goes "like hot cakes" and winds up apologising for his friend's language to a glow-in-the-dark statue of the Virgin Mary that he thinks could be the next big thing. It's a nice, offbeat subplot that offers solace from the grime, though Mona Lisa's calling card remains the unforgettable love story at its centre, which has a nod to film noir and carries a devastating sucker punch.