Product Details

• Actors: Alicia Witt, Harvey Fierstein, Brooke Langton, Johnny Galecki, Ivan Sergei
• Directors: Matthew Huffman
• Writers: Carlos De Los Rios, Marni Freedman
• Producers: Bill Sheinberg, Carlos De Los Rios, Gerard Bocaccio, Jeff Kirshbaum, Jonathan Sheinberg
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Walt Disney Video
• VHS Release Date: April 17, 2001
• Run Time: 97 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000059XZ6
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #205,262 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious and Spontaneous, May 25, 2001

By 

Jessica (Santa Barbara, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Playing Mona Lisa [VHS] (VHS Tape)

"Playing Mona Lisa" is the story of a talented musician whose family is completly wacked out and whose personal life is even more so. Alicia Witt, who actually plays the piano pieces on and off-screen, plays the character tremendously. What a talented young woman! The rest of the cast, including Ivan Sergei, Brooke Langton, Johnny Galecki, Elliot Gould, and Marlo Thomas, add a wonderful humorous touch, each fitting his or her part flawlessly. One of my favorite characters from Seinfeld is present; George's mother, playing her typical hilarious obnoxious self. Perfect!

I have read a few critics' reviews of this movie, and I think that some are a bit too harsh. This is not an Oscar-worthy movie, so why treat it as one? Sit back and have fun, laugh at the ridiculous antics and play along with the at-times-unplausible yet intriguing story line. Bravo to the cast and crew for creating an uplifting, airy tale of life, love, music, and growing up.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Amusing Movie, Crappy DVD, July 18, 2001

By 

neilathotep (San Mateo, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Playing Mona Lisa (DVD)

This is the kind of DVD that makes me quite sad. Basically, the only advantage you have over the VHS version is that it is widescreen. Other than that, it really doesn't have any features, so the price seems a bit high.

The movie itself, however, is pretty amusing. Claire Goldstein(Alicia Witt) is a recent graduate in the field of fine arts -piano playing to be exact (which is appropriate since Witt plays the piano quite well in real life). When her boyfriend proposes to her, she is on the top of the world... and then falls all the way down when it turns out he was drunk and forgets all about it. Will her family and friends be able to bring her back up?

Some of the relatively minor characters are great, such as Estelle Harris, aka Estelle Costanza as Aunt Velva, and Elliot Gould and Marlo Thomas as Claire's parents. Overall, I'd say that this movie is more of a rental fare, unless your sure you'll watch it 8 or 9 times, given that there is no extended content on the disc.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Playing Mona Lisa Review, February 15, 2009

By 

W. E. Butler "movie genius" (Nantucket, MA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Playing Mona Lisa (DVD)

I saw this movie a few years ago on one of my cable channels while I was lounging around my home. It has one of my favorite actresses in it, Alicia Witt, and she's actually playing the piano, which is has studied for years, in the movie. It's real quirky and interesting and funny to watch when you're in the mood to just watch movies and feel better about yourself.