...And They Lived Happily Ever After
Kino International | Release Date: April 8, 2005 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
58
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 21 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
9
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
Gives moviegoers a funny, observant, evanescent approach to the mysteries of human desire. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Stylish and only superficially superficial, Happily Ever After plunks us down with three male friends as they dance on the edge of their 40s. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneAllison Benedikt
With husband and wife starring, you can't help but wonder which details here are autobiographical. No matter: This is obviously a deeply personal work for Attal, whose comic timing and passion can only serve him well both on screen and off. Read full review
80
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Happily Ever After is an exhilarating, joyous picture, but it's sometimes terrifying, too. It offers a vision of marriage as an adventure we embark on together, alone. If you didn't cry, you'd laugh. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
A marital comedy as perceptive as it is delectable. Read full review
70
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Nobody does adultery in movies with more style and zest than the French, especially when the mode is frivolous. And anyone who watches Happily Ever After can identify with the grass-is-always-greener daydreams that haunt its characters. Read full review
70
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
The most important aspect of the stories about all five characters is the way they are told. Attal and his editor Jennifer Augé have found an attractive playful style: they never let the stories rest, almost juggling them, and keep them gamboling before us. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
If this strikes some as some kind of gallingly blasé, ostentatious Parisian sophistication, it's far from it. Read full review
70
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
It's French. It's sexy. It's got a killer soundtrack. Read full review
63
New York PostV.A. Musetto
You need a scorecard to keep track of who's bedding whom in Happily Ever After, a tres French take on sex and love, in that order. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Where My Wife was offbeat and original, Happily Ever After gets bogged down in midlife-crisis cliches. Read full review
60
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Manages to be a diverting and funny character study, at least most of the time. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Attal's characters are one-note position statements, which forces the unsubtle soundtrack - mostly American pop songs that range from the Velvet Underground's "Sunday Morning" to Radiohead's "Creep" - to bear the brunt of clarifying their thoughts and feelings. Without it, you'd be entirely in the dark. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
On the whole, the film is a shallow, shrill, and all-too-familiar marital roundelay. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Gainsbourg has some cute scenes with Johnny Depp, a debonair stranger she meets in a Virgin Megastore, but otherwise this is a fairly banal installment in the battle of the sexes. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
There's nothing much wrong with the film; my complaint is that there's nothing much right about it. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldMarta Barber
This is an affair to forget. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarrit Ingman
The movie is kind of a mess – all over the place tonally, hastily paced, and overly reliant on the ostensible truisms of romantic comedy. Read full review
40
VarietyLisa Nesselson
Repetitive and needlessly prolonged tale does build to an inspired final scene, but it's too little, too late. Read full review
40
L.A. WeeklyErnest Hardy
This look at the assorted struggles of modern hetero coupledom gives off a distinctly moldy aroma. Read full review
20
Village VoiceDavid Ng
This would-be comedy about a thirtysomething family man (Attal) and his foray into infidelity is probably the worst in the putrid bushel of recent Gallic imports. Read full review
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