Chéri
Miramax Films | Release Date: June 26, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
63
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 27 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
11
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Now that she's past 50, can we all stop holding Michelle Pfeiffer's looks against her and just admit that she's a great actress? Read full review
100
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Plenty of terrible movies know how to work your tear ducts. Here's a weepie that, in Pfeiffer's performance, touches you on the highest levels. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The success of Stephen Frears’ film Chéri begins with its casting. Michelle Pfeiffer, as Lea de Lonval, is still a great beauty. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Pfeiffer transcends any hint of cliché ''cougar'' voraciousness. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Actors blossom under Frears' direction. There is no false moment or off-key note in this movie. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
They don't make women, sexy but regal, like Pfeiffer much anymore, and Cheri is quite a monument to her. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
A respectable and satisfying historical romantic melodrama. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
With Pfeiffer, 50, radiating uncommon beauty, grace and feeling, Frears uncovers a fragile story's grieving heart. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubTasha Robinson
The film is a sumptuous, handsome portrait of a woman poised fearfully on the brink of decline, yet too proud to grab at rescue. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy Burr
What makes Cheri’ worth your while is that its true subjects are women and age, and its observations apply to both 19th-century France and the modern film industry. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Michelle Pfeiffer is back, and her reappearance in Cheri, her best role in quite some time, underlines not only how much she's been missed but also how much the world of film has lost by her absence. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
The movie reunites Pfeiffer with director Stephen Frears and screenwriter Christopher Hampton, who did Dangerous Liaisons (1988); this costume drama doesn't have nearly as much bite as that one, though the age reversal of its central romance gives it a certain topicality. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
What is lacking in this version, with its hasty third act and abrupt denouement, is the surprise that their union may be the deepest love either will ever know. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Cheri, like the character, is an entertaining bauble without much on its mind. Read full review
63
New York PostLou Lumenick
The movie is a visual feast, with Oscar-caliber sets and costumes that for many will justify the trip to the Paris Theatre. Read full review
63
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike Scott
Michelle Pfeiffer's performance brings life to a sometimes sagging script. Also, Kathy Bates is a hoot as the mother of Pfeiffer's love interest. Read full review
60
Washington PostJohn Anderson
Cheri looks terrific, if a bit gauzy at times, and Frears, who directed Pfeiffer in that other Frenchified frolic, "Dangerous Liaisons," is never at rest. Still, the movie bogs down by going nowhere other than inside its characters, who are intensely passionate but of an era more curious than emotionally relevant. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
The movie’s shallow amusements do make for an ideal guilty pleasure, especially since the actors seem to be having so much fun. Bates, marching around like an overstuffed pigeon, is a reliable scene-stealer, while the two leads make an entirely convincing couple. Read full review
50
VarietyDerek Elley
Like a passable bottle of champagne, Cheri fizzes and slides down quite easily but lacks real body and doesn't really hit the spot. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
Chéri never fulfills its emotional promise. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Stephen Cole
What's so distressing about Michelle Pfeiffer taking a mooning calf for a lover, though, is that it robs her of the quality that has always made her such an interesting actress. Read full review
50
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
There's something poignant about the image of this actress (Pfeiffer) sitting in a pool of sunlight without a smile or trace of visible makeup. But she's trying to reach a character that her director seems intent to keep from her grasp. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Whereas "Liaisons" mixed cruelty, wit, sensuality and drama into a deliciously tart frappe, Cheri is pretty, tepid and dull. Read full review
50
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Chéri is a perfect example of a movie that gets many of the details right and the vibe all wrong. Read full review
40
EmpireAnna Smith
This glimpse into a decadent era has its charms, but they’re mostly visual. While Pfeiffer and Friend perform well, the script is tonally confused and lacks edge. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
Michelle Pfeiffer is brittle in a way that's not especially French, but she's poignant and very lovely. Rupert Friend, on the other hand, is difficult to warm up to, especially with his features hidden behind all that hair. It's not a good sign when you have to take the movie's word for it that the lovers at its center are really, really into each other. Read full review
40
Village VoiceMelissa Anderson
Frears and Hampton's missteps begin immediately, with the director providing pinched narration as he recounts, over so many cartes de visite, the histories of other famous ladies who made a handsome living on their backs. Read full review
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