ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Cassandra Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

mrmut This is phenomenal movie about art and artistic inspiration. It is an unusual view of one of the most iconic paintings ever made.The story is fantastic, and the movie shows the realism of life in that era very well. The grade 8 is very high in my world, and the only reason it is not 9 is further lack of realism (given it is historic movie).The acting in the movie is stunning, and dare I say - the model for the painting in the movie is actually prettier than the original painting itself.NOTE: Watch this only if you can get it in very high quality. BluRay or higher. The reason for that is fantastic lighting. Entine movie was recorded as if Vermeer painted it.

cinemajesty "Girl With a Pearl Earring" combines the crafts of production design, cinematography and musical score sublimely. Director Peter Webber stands back, handling his cast in restraining fashion. Female lead, played by Scarlett Johansson on the verge to have her breakthrough with "Lost in Translation", releasing at international film festivals at the same time, gives the character of Griet undermined cold appearance. Nevertheless her potential is not fully explored in an adaptation of Tracy Chevalier's equally named novel on the evolutionary creation of the painting by Johannes Vermeer in 1665. Peter Webber delivers hardly the overall punchline "You've seen inside me", when Scarlett Johansson needed to be pushed out of the comfort zone of the ghostly dragging peasant girl, cleaning the artist's household. British actor Colin Firth, given the part of Vermeer, almost in the same restrained fashion. The characters of Griet and Vermeer share one tender moment, when the girl's ear needs to be pierced in order to hang the ear ring at her earlobe. The actors' hands meet for brief moment of truth, which saves the otherwise conventionally playing interpretation of historical period piece. Additional supporting cast members as Tom Wilkinson and Cillian Murphy are also in the film, but share the same fate of not getting intrigued into their characters enough in order to elevate the picture beyond mediocrity. "Girl With A Pearl Earring" can be enjoyed for its splendor in audio-visual decor, mainly through the expertise of a flawless collaboration between Cinematographer Eduardo Serra and Ben Van Os and round finish of Alexandre Desplat's minimalist piano score. For Director Peter Webber it has been a craftsman exercise towards cinema, from which never really departed to this day.© 2017 Felix Alexander Dausend

marty-09195 First, this is a chick flick. There is very little action; it's all about a girl's feelings; it takes an incredibly long time for the plot to develop; and finally, only a chick flick would devote major time to a girl getting her ears pierced (a metaphor for sex, but still boring). After one hour into the movie, we finally find out that a fat, rich guy has commissioned Vermeer to paint Griet (Scarlet's character), while also expecting to have sex with her. That would make her one heck of an expensive whore, but (get ready for it) the "twist" is that she's just a conservative servant girl. Yes, believe it or not, that's what the whole movie is about! Also, it's about the pearl earrings changing hands. Exciting stuff, huh?The main problem lies with Scarlet's acting. Sometimes her eyes are shifting all over the place (mostly up and down), and at other times she stares. I feel like she should have been portrayed as a strict Calvinist. However, we aren't given enough background information to know for sure how puritanical her morals are, plus she sometimes stares right into Vermeer's eyes, which is not what a highly religious girl would do. So sometimes she seems to be "asking for it" (I don't mean asking to be raped so please don't go there), and other times she pulls away from him as if in terror. So the character is very inconsistent and not well developed, despite all the screen time devoted to her.I know that girls, especially teenage girls, can be rather weird, inconsistent, and hard to read. Even so this character portrayal seems phony and hard to watch due to all the eye movements and staring; dumbly hanging her mouth open; at other times opening and closing her mouth like a fish; staring at a mistress or master somewhat brazenly before bowing her head in a supposed gesture of respect; going around in silence most of the time but at other times speaking boldly; etc. It's all too freaky and weird for me.Scarlet's mouth and face are beautiful, but to those who say one reason they watch the movie is just to see her mouth and face, I say go buy a poster of her instead of wasting almost two hours on this. In fact, a quick google tells me there are some nude photos of her floating around, but I probably shouldn't go there.Other potential faults of this movie: Vermeer, though he is already a famous painter and the breadwinner of the household, is depicted as henpecked and allowing the mother-in-law to dominate the household.Even though Vermeer's wife hears lots of rumors that Vermeer is painting Griet (the rumors are all over town and throughout the house), she doesn't go check on him while he is painting and catch him in the atrocious act of having Griet model fully clothed for his painting. Quelle horreur!The worst thing is that this fictional movie is unfair to the real Johannes Vermeer, and to his family and descendants.

leonblackwood Review: Although this movie is about an historical moment, I did find the pace quite slow and boring in parts. The director captured the period very well and I did feel for the servants who had to work extremely hard for there disrespectful masters. Griet, whose played by Scarlett Johannson, didn't do anything wrong as a servant, but she was constantly getting punished because of the attention that she was getting from Johannes Vermeer, played by Colin Firth. When you actually look at the real picture, you can't help but wonder what is going on in this girls mind. This movie does bring some light to the whole world surrounding this one picture, but I would have liked to see more about Vermeer who was a very unique artist. His attention to detail was a long process and the way that he created the colours were an eye opener. Anyway, you do have to be in the right mood to watch the movie because it has a very moody tone, but it is interesting because of it's historical element. Average!Round-Up: After watching a few of Scarlett Johannson's movies back to back, she did seem to act the same in her earlier roles, but she has grown out of that habit of late. With movies like The Avengers and Lucy, she has become a more physical actress who has been blowing up at the box office. She also showed that she can tone down her roles with movies like Under The Skin and Hitchcock which didn't rely on her physical abilities so she has proved that she can take on any project that is put in front of her. Colin Firth is the master of period dramas so this role was right down his street. He is a proud owner of an Oscar after his brilliant performance in The King's Speech so there isn't that much more for him to achieve in such a versatile career. As for the other actors in this movie, they all put in a great performance but I'm just not a big fan of period dramas. Budget: $10million Worldwide Gross: $31.5millionI recommend this movie to people who are into there period dramas about the famous Girl With A Pearl Earring painting and how it came about. 4/10