Casanova
Buena Vista Pictures | Release Date: December 25, 2005 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
57
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
19
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
A lovely, mischievous Casanova that will sweep you off your feet. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Hallstrom gives us a genial interpretation and a supremely good-humored film. Read full review
80
Film ThreatPhil Hall
A delightfully silly romp which reinvents the legendary Italian lover's adventures into the realm of broad farce. Read full review
80
VarietyDerek Elley
A handsome chunk of widescreen entertainment that's as nimble as its rakish hero. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderAndrea Gronvall
Lasse Hallstrom (Chocolat) directs a sparking screenplay by Jeffrey Hatcher (Stage Beauty) and Kimberly Simi; it starts as a frothy boudoir comedy but evolves into a masquerade by turns sweetly meditative and sharply satirical. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
In the exhilarating Casanova, giddy shenanigans effectively set off the dangerous, darker impulses of human nature. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterRay Bennett
A smart and sophisticated comedy romp. Read full review
80
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Among the least-heralded of the Christmas releases, Casanova is one of the few that's wholly enjoyable. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Casanova is an entertaining if silly romp, with amusing dialogue, gorgeous production design and painterly cinematography. Venice, where the movie is set, has never been so breathtaking. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
And if real eroticism is missing - this is a Disney movie, with bosoms heaving more in a gentle parody of heaving than in full desire - the great discovery of this Casanova is Hallström's recovered capacity for play. Read full review
70
Dallas ObserverMelissa Levine
It's a sweet, silly and not unintelligent romantic comedy: For a period farce, you could do worse. Read full review
70
The New York TimesDana Stevens
In any case, what is on screen is a delightful respite from awards-season seriousness - a feather film, you might say, that actually tickles. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarrit Ingman
Hallström's latest is fine but unambitious, content with what it is – an arthouse trifle for the masses. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
As with his other costume farce, "Stage Beauty" (with Billy Crudup and Claire Danes), Hatcher produces more froth than zest. Read full review
63
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
The feisty supporting cast is forced to carry the show, and fortunately, they're more than up to it, notably Olin, Platt and Jeremy Irons. Read full review
60
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Little by little, though, he (Ledger)and those around him achieve a critical mass -- an extremely light critical mass -- and the plot pops with entertaining complications. Read full review
58
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
Unfortunately, the goofiness never quite finds its groove. The romantic chemistry is tepid, the comedy misses as often as it hits, the picaresque plot keeps dogging down and even actors as skilled as Platt, Irons and Lena Olin fail to register strongly in their roles. Read full review
58
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Although Casanova is far from a stinker, I can't join in the chorus of praise for what is essentially a coy farce replete with arch performances and even archer dialogue. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
What happens when movie producers cross "Three's Company" with "Masterpiece Theater?" The result would be similar to what Touchstone Pictures has provided with Casanova, a farcical romantic comedy period piece. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyScott Foundas
The movie cries out for the bawdy, rompy air that filled Richard Lester's "Three Musketeers" movies, and what it gets instead is the same dispassionate "professionalism" that has made Hallström a steady fixture in a Hollywood that could do with an infusion of Casanova's own virile lifeblood. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
That the new Casanova lacks such wit is fatal. Heath Ledger is a good actor but Hallstrom's film is busy and unfocused, giving us the view of Casanova's ceaseless activity but not the excitement. It's a sitcom when what is wanted is comic opera. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
A period romp that tries too hard. Read full review
50
New York PostKyle Smith
Don't confuse the 18th-century Vene tian setting in Casanova with sophisti cation. The film's one-dimensional characters and lame one-liners make it a sitcom with petticoats. Read full review
50
Washington PostDesson Thomson
The movie Casanova, starring Heath Ledger, not only fetters the randy Venetian in political correctness, it condemns him to dwell inside the modern equivalent of a bad Shakespeare play. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
At best, it's a light, boisterous little confection, but hasn't Hugh Grant already starred in this film a few times? Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
A light film, airy, likable and set in Venice. Read full review
50
The New YorkerDavid Denby
When the credits were over at last, I sighed, and took away a moviegoer's fantasy of Ledger and Miller starting work again, far away from Venice and ball gowns, on something that might be worth seeing. Read full review
50
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Miller gives the film's one genuine, focused, committed performance, and you can see why she might even reform a rake of Casanova's standing. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
Casanova doesn't seduce so much as lull the audience into a stupor with tedious blather about the battle of the sexes, intermittent but pointless swordplay and clumsy slapstick. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Jeremy Irons slithers on board with a haughty sneer and papal vestments, playing Bishop Pucci. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
The story, as so often in bad farce, treats them all as idiots, so it's almost impossible be engaged by anything other than the pretty rooms, gondolas and costumes. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Ledger's comic flair is a big plus in a film that is fanatically busy and fatally sexless. Read full review
50
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
This Jeffrey Hatcher-Kimberly Simi version, directed by Lasse Hallström, has a resemblance to some of Casanova's memoirs but is chiefly based on the assumption that, in a costume drama, anything goes. Read full review
40
EmpireDan Jolin
Occasionally fun, always pretty, completely a mess, Casanova never quite finds its footing. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
The movie treats trysting as comedy and yet is stingy with the laughs. Read full review
20
Village VoiceJessica Winter
Ledger's deadpan baritone pumps wit into his tepid one-liners like collagen into a wilted starlet's kisser, and the clumsy staging might not grate so much if the tone weren't so self-congratulatory. Read full review
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