From Paris with Love
Lionsgate | Release Date: February 5, 2010 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
42
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
16
Negative:
9
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Stoopid fun, From Paris With Love doesn't do much for Paris or love, or your brain cells, but it flies like a crazed eagle on uppers and comes from the talented, propulsive schlocketeer Pierre Morel. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Morel and his crew certainly know how to stage action: the fight scenes and shootouts, the stairwell pursuits and motorway mayhem, are as good, if not better, than anything to come out of Hong Kong in a long time. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
It's pure comic book/popcorn action. If that's your kind of movie, it's hard to go wrong with this one. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
Morel will inevitably be compared to John Woo, whom he trounces. He has fewer mannerisms (no damn doves) and a keener eye; his fastest, most kinetic shots flow together like frames in a flipbook. Read full review
70
Village VoiceNick Pinkerton
He (Morel) brings in lobotomized entertainment at 90-odd minutes. During the February doldrums, this cannot be underestimated. Read full review
70
The New York TimesStephen Holden
I am ashamed to admit that this empty-headed, preposterous, possibly evil mélange of gunplay and high-speed car chases on Parisian boulevards is a feel-good movie that produces a buzz. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Generic but breezily entertaining. Read full review
60
Time OutKeith Uhlich
John Travolta breaks the braggadocio meter in the latest tightly wound actioner from "Taken’s" Pierre Morel. Read full review
60
EmpireAngie Errigo
It’s absolute nonsense, of course, but does quite nicely as knockabout Friday night fun. We can smell a sequel if Travolta can be bothered. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
With his flamboyant ridiculousness, Travolta does, however, give From Paris With Love a pulse, which is more than can be said for the film’s petulant hero, played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
Travolta has/is a blast in an action-thriller-comedy that otherwise comes up short. Read full review
50
VarietyAndrew Barker
To his credit, Travolta hams it up with the kind of laissez-faire irony that might have made the film a tongue-in-cheek pleasure, had his attitude extended to the filmmakers. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicBill Goodykoontz
Doesn't really know what it wants to be. Morel would have done better to remember the "to thine own self be true" bit, and stayed with the dunderheaded shoot-'em-up vibe, with Travolta having a blast, often literally. Read full review
50
Orlando SentinelRoger Moore
Basically a bloody buddy picture that tries too hard. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
A ''fun trash'' movie that's more trash than fun. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
I hasten to say this is not criticism of John Travolta. He succeeds in this movie by essentially acting in a movie of his own. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
This is the sort of asinine action exercise that needs a star to blow up cars and leap from rooftop to rooftop with gusto. Read full review
50
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
It's a hyper-violent buddy comedy. If you like that sort of thing -- think "Training Day," with laughs -- you'll love this. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
No movie star appears to have more fun in a crap movie than John Travolta, and his inimitable my-check-has-cleared! glee is the best thing about this lame espionage thriller. Read full review
42
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Amid all the mayhem, there is Paris in all its faded-light glory. Is the movie worth seeing as a travelogue? Only if you are (a) a masochist, (b) a terrorist, or (c) desperate. Read full review
40
Boxoffice MagazinePete Hammond
If so inclined for a breezy, violent time-waster audiences could do worse. Travolta sadly can do so much better. Read full review
40
TimeMary Pols
This pickpocket of a movie flashes open its coat to proudly display all its swiped goodies. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
The film is so self-referencing, however, that a running gag about Wax/Travolta craving a “royale with cheese” moves the film’s energy backward rather than forward. Perhaps instead it was a reference to the film’s nutritional value rather than its screen precedents. Read full review
38
USA TodayClaudia Puig
So leaden and obnoxious that it actually makes you long for the John Travolta of "Old Dogs." Read full review
30
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Still, the action is ponderous too. Mr. Morel is no Kubrick, or Tarantino, just as Mr. Travolta's caricature of John Travolta is no Travolta. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Holes in the script, overwrought camera work, dialogue that's embarrassing, and a plot device that's obvious 10 minutes into the movie - all these are major problems. Read full review
25
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
The one thing that’s briefly enjoyable about From Paris with Love is John Travolta’s appearance. In a black leather jacket, with a shaved bald head and a goatee and a perpetual scarf to hide his jowls, he looks like a well-fed pimp or a gay bear. Read full review
25
New York PostKyle Smith
John Travolta's From Paris With Love assassin/ superagent Charlie Wax is the master of whatever the opposite of wisecracking is. Fooljoshing? Lametalking? Flatlining? Read full review
25
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Has no vital signs at all, just crushing dull repetition that makes one noisy, violent scene play exactly like the last one. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
This sock-it-to-'em souffle falls very quickly, unless watching Travolta trying on another faux-hip look is considered fun. Read full review
20
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Both mean-spirited and self-conscious. It's all style and no soul, which wouldn't be a problem if its style at least gave us something to look at, or to laugh at. But From Paris With Love, filmed on location in Paris, has a raggedy, greasy, dingy look: It's the movie equivalent of an unbathed, unshaven French boyfriend (the bad kind). It thinks it's suave, but it just smells bad. Read full review
0
ObserverRex Reed
We all know how rotten today’s movies can be, but even at the bottom of the slag pit, you won’t find a load of garbage any smellier than From Paris With Love. Read full review
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