Feast of Love
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) | Release Date: September 28, 2007 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
51
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 28 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
13
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
TimeRichard Corliss
Sexy, funny, sad and defiantly romantic, Feast of Love is the rare movie to cuddle up to. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Feast of Love's greatest strength is that it's about people and involves universal emotions. It's not great art but it is enjoyable soap opera. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Many of the script's observations sound as though they were lifted directly from the pages of Baxter's book, and they're too platitudinous to impart much wisdom to anyone who's been in and out of love at least once in his or her life. But it's nice to see these ideas played out by a fine cast. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Hartlaub
The multiple-story-line family drama is too cliche-ridden to be considered a great movie. But it's still a very good one, filled with excellent performances, entertaining writing and a final few scenes that are quite moving - even if you can see most of them coming at the end of the first act. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
The film, with its intersecting vignettes, might ultimately feel like more of a sampler platter than a sustaining smorgasbord, but it's effectively rooted in a lovely Morgan Freeman performance. Read full review
70
VarietyJustin Chang
Septuagenarian director Robert Benton brings his characteristically fine touch with actors and appreciation for the female form to this tastefully erotic ensembler, but compassion finally outstrips insight in a drama as soft-headed as it is soft-hearted. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
This heart-warmer by Robert Benton has some of the tender wisdom and humor of his other features (e.g., Nobody's Fool). Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Most of the love in Feast of Love is unrequited, untapped, or unfulfilled. The fine cast, which includes Jane Alexander, Selma Blair, and Radha Mitchell, is also somewhat underused. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Feast is set and was shot in Portland, and if nothing else it makes the case that we live in one gorgeous city. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia Puig
The story teeters on the edge of soap opera and emotional manipulation, but director Robert Benton (Kramer vs. Kramer) pulls back in the nick of time. What results is an involving and often poignant examination of love and loss. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
The bodies are athletic, young, and white, and yet this is not the sport sex we usually see in Hollywood movies. It's the sex of adulation. Sometimes the director Robert Benton goes heavy on the hydraulic positioning, but his movie is scarcely mechanical. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
You'll find more authenticity listening in on conversations at your corner diner. But this is a gentler alternative, especially if you prefer your coffee with extra cream and sugar anyway. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
As a meditation on the vicissitudes of love, on the need for people to connect, and the struggles that come by both making and missing those connections, the movie is wading-pool deep. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Maybe Benton's serenely dull time-waster should take a cue from one of its main settings, and become the first Hollywood film released directly to coffee shops. Otherwise, it seems destined to find an indulgent second home as an unusually classy slot-plugger over at Lifetime. Read full review
58
Seattle Post-IntelligencerBill White
Amounts to little more than high-class soap opera. Read full review
50
Village VoiceJulia Wallace
For a film that purports to be an epic consideration of Love in Our Time, Feast is strikingly unthoughtful and uninterested in any but the most obvious kind of romantic love. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Far too cloyingly pleased with its own humanity. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Benton has made better movies, but this one has no organic reality. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Robert Benton’s recent films have been vexing combinations of gentility and stiffness, and despite a fair bit of nudity "Feast of Love" behaves itself all too well. It’s as neat as a pin; it ties up every loose end in careful "Playhouse 90" style. Despite some awfully smart actors, Benton’s movie made me long for a few interrupted sentences and the occasionally conflicted character. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
The movie begins to feel more like a buffet of contrivance than a feast of love. Read full review
50
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
The final half-hour is like the not-so-grand finale for a silly-sticky sitcom. It's a college-town “Friends” with an unearned doctorate. Read full review
50
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Any of the key relationships would have been grist enough for one movie's mill, but "Feast" crams them all together. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
Mostly due to luminous writing, Baxter's novel evoked a sense of magic, but this Feast, though never completely uninteresting, leaves you hungry for enchantment. Read full review
40
The New York TimesStephen Holden
A more accurate name for Feast of Love might be “Feast of Breasts.” At every opportunity, Mr. Benton turns the camera on his actresses’ gleaming torsos. These beautifully lighted soft-core teases lend an erotic frisson to a movie that in most other ways feels enervated. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
What passes for the movie's reality is interlocking episodes of ersatz ecstasy and angst -- a Cupid-governed "Crash" -- plus snippets of wisdom dispensed by Mr. Freeman's character. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
There are warm, genuine moments that endear these attractive characters and their experiences to us despite all the falderal. Feast of Love may be enough for some to keep the pangs at bay ’til the real thing comes along. Read full review
25
New York PostLou Lumenick
You can see better stuff on TV any night of the week. Read full review
20
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
Love is a many-splendored thing in Robert Benton's dull romantic fantasy Feast of Love, though none of its splendors rings true. Read full review
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