Most critics like Mona Lisa, and mostly for Bob Hoskins. Review after review puts his George, the ex-con turned chauffeur, at the centre of the film, praising the pathos he brings to a downtrodden man falling for Cathy Tyson’s guarded call girl. Neil Jordan is credited with fusing gangster thriller and love story with intelligence, and several reviews note how much the film has to say about class, race and Thatcher’s Britain. Pratt’s photography of 1980s London and Michael Caine’s supporting turn also draw praise.
The spread is narrow and nobody dismisses it outright. The reservations gather in the second half. The New York Times finds it smooth and well acted but insubstantial, with the story running down rather than building. Slant Magazine enjoys the early comedy and the Hoskins–Tyson chemistry but thinks the thriller plot turns generic and its sexual politics regressive. Eye for Film, by contrast, admires the late turn, so even the ending divides.