I wasn’t really expecting much from this flick but since there was a nice cast, I still wanted to check it out. The main issue with this flick is that it sounded and really looked like a female version of ‘Dead Poets Society’ and I think that’s the main reason why it was not very well received. Eventually, I thought it was actually not bad at all, even better than ‘Dead Poets Society’ which is one of the most overrated movies in my opinion. Indeed, there was a pretty good cast (Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Ginnifer Goodwin, Marcia Gay Harden) and they delivered some solid performances. Above all, I thought it was much more subtle than the terribly stereotypical ‘Dead Poets Society’ and it was much more subtle in the way that the characters handled this way of learning. Concerning Julia Roberts, she was not bad, she gave her best shot, but, honestly, it is rather difficult to take her seriously as a teacher. I mean, she has always been a charming actress but I always thought she was rather limited as an actress since, in every movie, she basically plays a variation of the same character. Still, even though it was nothing really amazing, I thought it was a decent inspirational drama and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
6/10