Playing Mona Lisa

Directed by Matthew Huffman, Playing Mona Lisa follows Alicia Witt’s Claire Goldstein as her orderly life is thrown into disarray in the wake of several unfortunate happenings. It’s familiar yet agreeable subject matter that’s employed to mostly underwhelming effect by Huffman, as the filmmaker, armed with Marni Freedman and Carlos de los Rios’ screenplay, delivers an often excessively quirky post-Swingers comedy that slowly-but-surely squanders its few compelling attributes – with this especially true of an affable and charming lead turn by Witt (ie her strong work here can’t compensate for a narrative that grows less and less appealing as it unfolds). And while the picture admittedly does possess a small handful of effective moments, including a couple of stirring heart-to-heart conversations between Claire and her struggling father (Elliott Gould’s Bernie), Playing Mona Lisa, which, on top of everything else, boasts at least one party sequence too many, is ultimately unable to live up to the promise of its relatable subject matter and first-class performances. (In addition to Witt and Gould’s terrific efforts, the picture benefits from a top-notch periphery cast that includes Johnny Galecki, Harvey Fierstein, and Marlo Thomas.)

** out of ****