Starring: Topher Grace, Julia Roberts, Marcia Gay Harden, Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles, Dominic West, Maggie Gyllenhaal

I never understood the practice of auditing a college course. Auditing allows a student to attend class and participate in class activities, without being required to meet the examination requirements of the course. It always appeared like a lot of time expended and thoughts engaged to come to so little. It seems that Julia Roberts, director Mike Newell, and many in the cast, are auditing Mona Lisa Smile.

That's not to say they aren't active, even passionate in class discussions. They've done their homework and they seem truly interested. But they don't feel committed. It's not fair to call it Goodbye, Miss Chipper, but it's not exactly unfair either.

Miss Chipper, in this case, is Katherine Watson (Roberts), a "bohemian" from California who comes to Wellesley College, an all-female preparatory school. She wants to make a difference and teach the young women there about art and art history. The young women there, however, seem to be more concerned with finding a husband than earning a diploma.

Betty Warren (Kirsten Dunst) is a caustic, cruel girl, engaged to just the right boy and fulfilling all the wishes of her mumsies. Joan Brandwyn (Julia Stiles) is fiercely bright, but more likely to tackle a bundt cake recipe than the pre-law entrance exams. Giselle Levy (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is the school slut with a heart of gold and Constance Baker (Ginnifer Goodwin) is the schlumpy girl who often gets overlooked in the midst of her prettier classmates.

The faculty at Wellesley includes social graces instructor Nancy Abby (Marcia Gay Harden), a lesbian school nurse (Juliet Stevenson, the uptight mother from Bend It Like Beckham, who continues to make the very most of small roles) and the impossibly good-looking French teacher, Bill Dunbar (Dominic West).

Katherine initially spurns Bill's advances and Bill's moves are so flabby, having worked for so long on students (we're told he's been sleeping with Giselle) that he seems unlikely to land her. Besides, Katherine has a more looming challenge; she has to break down the system wherein it's assumed that the student body is only there for an M.R.S. degree. She and Betty Warren are immediately at odds and, for some reason, Betty Warren has free reign of the school paper where she dashes off conservative editorials about contraception and, eventually, her art teacher. It's almost as if Betty writes "Miss Watson Needs to Get Laid", because that's precisely what Miss Watson goes out and does. With Bill, of all people.

Just when this film looks likely to be nothing more than another course in "Modern Feminist Ideals and How They Could Have Saved Other Epochs," such as Demi Moore's Scarlet Letter or Dangerous Beauty, it takes a turn. Julia Stiles's character gives a brief lecture to Katherine that keeps it from being a polemic. It also saves the film from being a long series of clichés but it doesn't really rescue it to any new ends. What begins to be interesting about Mona Lisa is that this is more about the schooling of Ms. Watson than her students. The learning is reciprocal and they gain something from each other. We're watching the temporary edification of students who will go on to other things, but, perhaps more importantly, we're watching the permanent training of a potentially great teacher. That's not where Mona Lisa goes, ultimately, and its "Oh Captain, My Captain" ending (on bikes, no less) gets a flat tire.

Roberts is still interesting to watch, though. She squares off nicely with Dunst (who turns in an impressive, bitchy performance) and carries the movie over its odder moments, such as the love affair with Bill. Stiles seems stifled and even more pursed than usual, while Gyllenhaal shows a sexy side that's radically different than the one she debuted in Secretary. Sometimes, however, it seems that she walked off a gas station pin-up calendar from the '50s, rather than being a real girl.

Smiling in Mona Lisa is no problem; we're taking the course pass/fail. That's more than the rest of them seem to be doing.