Bel Canto
Screen Media Films | Release Date: September 14, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
50
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
10
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
IndieWireJude DrySep 14, 2018
Like a grand opera, Bel Canto weaves many stories into one sweeping epic. Read full review
80
CineVueLucy PopescuApr 30, 2019
There are moments in Bel Canto that stretch credibility but the tension never lets up. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKimber MyersSep 13, 2018
Swelling with humanity and romance like the crescendo of an aria, “Bel Canto” is a moving meditation on the power of love, music and proximity. Read full review
75
Washington PostVanessa H. LarsonSep 19, 2018
Where the novel’s omniscient narrator provides ample insight into its protagonists’ interior thoughts and backstories, much of that is missing here: Some characters, particularly Gen, come across as flat, their motivations not deeply explored or explained. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattSep 12, 2018
Director Paul Weitz is mostly known for lighter, more observational stories like "About a Boy" and "Mozart in the Jungle," and the strongest moments in Bel Canto are the small ones. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterStephen FarberSep 10, 2018
The film benefits from the fine cast and from many sharp and poignant moments. It's an impressive achievement technically as well. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzOct 25, 2018
Watanabe and Moore acquit themselves well (although the latter’s lip-syncing is questionable), but Bel Canto falls short of the operatic notes Weitz attempts to hit. Read full review
60
The GuardianCath ClarkeApr 28, 2019
It’s overripe and improbable, but you’d need a flinty heart to resist the message of solidarity, that if you spend time with someone, anyone, you’ll find common ground. Read full review
50
The TelegraphTim RobeyApr 30, 2019
Even Moore seems quite stranded, given little chance to animate her character except as an unenviable technical exercise. Love is meant to be soaring across parapets, melding destinies with the fluttering elegance of a high B flat, but in Bel Canto, flat is the operative word. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonSep 13, 2018
The most serious flaw, and one that will irk a lot of Bel Canto enthusiasts, is the too-obvious lip-syncing of Ms. Moore to Ms. Fleming’s glorious singing. They simply don’t match up, and the music takes place at points in the film when viewers really don’t want to be thrown off. But thrown off they will be. Read full review
45
Film Journal InternationalStephen Whitty Sep 13, 2018
The film—Weitz’s first since 2015’s indie Grandma—feels a little cheap and shortchanged. Read full review
40
EmpireBeth WebbApr 26, 2019
Bel Canto pushes a hard message about cultural misconceptions and boasts a promising and diverse cast, but only really makes an impact in the first and final minutes. Read full review
40
SlateMarissa MartinelliSep 19, 2018
Weitz, meanwhile, can’t decide whether the movie should be a political thriller, a relationship drama, or something else entirely, as the actors trudge through expository dialogue with the directness of opera lyrics but without any of the emotion behind them. Read full review
40
The New YorkerAnthony LaneSep 17, 2018
The narrative staggers on, enlivened only by the hovering threat of kitsch and the musical dubbing. Moore, like an upmarket version of Lina Lamont, in “Singin’ in the Rain,” lip-synchs convincingly to the sound of Renée Fleming. But not quite convincingly enough. Read full review
40
TheWrapWilliam BibbianiSep 14, 2018
The film’s failure to modulate its tone, its intensity and its messaging makes it a dreary, one-note production. Read full review
40
VarietyGuy LodgeSep 13, 2018
Between its minimal setup and frantic denouement, the middle stretch of this pleasingly multilingual movie sags shapelessly, as the hostages and even their captors gradually bond across cultural and linguistic barriers, with music — of course — as the language that binds them. Read full review
40
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisSep 13, 2018
A movie that, for all its operatic allusions and actorly expertise, feels dismayingly passionless. Read full review
20
The Observer (UK)Simran HansApr 28, 2019
There’s a tepid, cross-cultural romantic comedy trapped inside this televisual hostage drama. The reliable Moore is trapped too. Even she can’t animate the material, leaving the graphic denouement feeling like a bum note. Read full review
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