Click to read the article
Comment
12/12/02
Holy Smoke! (1999)
44
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:73
Fresh:32
Rotten:41
Average Rating:5.6/10
Consensus: Superb performances hindered by weak script and incoherent story.
Runtime: 1 hr 54 mins
Genre: Comedies
Synopsis: In this wildly inventive film from director Jane Campion (THE PIANO), Kate Winslet stars as Ruth, a headstrong Australian woman determined to get back to India in time to join a group marriage to... [More]
Starring: Kate Winslet, Harvey Keitel, Sophie Lee, Tim Robertson
Director: Jane Campion
Reviews for Holy Smoke!
Top CriticClick to read the article
12/10/01
It is an immense, emotional, engrossing film that nevertheless wears its brilliance casually.
04/17/01
Click to read the article
06/24/06
Top CriticHere is a movie that promises to be a drama about two passionate people waging intellectual war on each other, but disintegrates into a bizarre mixture of Ticket to Heaven, Last Tango in Paris, Klute and Coneheads.
01/01/00
The talent on display in the first part of the movie ends up squandered, as if the film has given up on us.
01/01/00
A profoundly generous treatise on how men and women misunderstand and torment one another.
08/27/09
Why does Campion and her co-screenwriter and sister Anna need to give us a tidy resolution to this crazy mess? It doesn't fit and it invalidates much of what came before.
01/01/00
It's too bad that such an artist of such obvious ambition and power seems inclined to dismiss the greater part of humanity...
01/27/05
Holy Smoke is a demanding and often perverse picture. But its sense of itself is exhilarating.
01/01/00
Confused and lacking a tangible emotional center, Campion's tale of a sleazy cult deprogrammer and his voluptuous Aussie charge is chock-full of half-baked statements, notions, and scenes...
01/01/00
No review available.
06/18/02
Click to read the article
03/24/02
Top CriticQuit torturing yourself (and us) already, Ms. Winslet.
01/01/00
The film isn't really about cults at all, but about the struggle between men and women, and it's a little surprising, although not boring, when it turns from a mystic travelogue into a feminist parable.
01/01/00
Top Critic[A] blithering mess of a story.
10/15/02
Its pretentiousness, incoherent story, and huge logic holes make a disjointed mess.
01/01/00
As the story gets weaker and lazier, neither Winslet nor the stunning visuals can save the film from descending into camp and confusion.
01/01/00
This script -- to be kind -- is uneven at best and completely illogical at its worst.
01/01/00
Top CriticHoly Smoke does journey all over the map in a variety of tones and styles, but Campion is a master director and keeps this under control.
01/01/00
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
Fresh Links
Featured
RT on YouTube 
Subscribe to RT's YouTube channel and don't miss a second of our cracking video content.
RT on Twitter
Follow Rotten Tomatoes and join us as we tweet about the week's releases.
IGN RSS Feeds