Review of Holy Smoke

Holy Smoke (1999)
6/10
Could have been better.
11 September 2000
If you are a Harvey Keitel fan this movie is worth seeing. I felt the story was somewhat confusing and wandered towards the end. Ruth, the Kate Winslet character, seemed to be a dippy spoiled suburban girl who finds some emotional depth in India. Given the family she grew up with she could have found emotional depth in a local Indian restaurant. Once she returns to Australia and gets deprogrammed she falls back into her air headed ways. Did the difference between the two states have to be so overstated? I didn't like the Ruth character. Ruth lacked depth but had the curiosity to seek it out. She used her youth, beauty and ripe sexuality to manipulate PJ. I would have been manipulated. She was hot. Her feminist sayings did not have conviction but seemed like repeated magazine slogans. If she was ten years older and didn't look as good nude would she still have the same effect on people? Would the story have been the same if Ruth was in her 40's. Ruth lacked substance but had beauty. Beauty killed the PJ beast.
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