Irina Palm
Strand Releasing | Release Date: March 21, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
55
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
9
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Faithfull is marvelous: Once notorious for her own escapades, this great-great-niece of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch is no shrinking violet, but she's perfect as a plump, frumpy widow with a huge heart and a hidden talent no one would ever suspect. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
Sam Garbarski's use of slow-motion shots is pretentious, and he paces the film too slowly. But he captures the seedy side of London, giving you a feel for Soho during the day when sunshine exposes a cheap gaudiness. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneSid Smith
It turns out a success, tempering its farfetched scenario with enough restraint and believability to pass for a modest parable of modern manners. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerBill White
Garbarski recovers from the melodrama with a final image that is so sweet, so simple and so understated that one is tempted to say it is perfect. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Genially preposterous and pleasantly diverting, it balances calculation against humanity and generally comes out on top. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterRay Bennett
Marianne Faithfull is unforgettable as a middle-class, middle-aged frump …in Sam Garbarski's crowd-pleasing comedy-drama Irina Palm. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
Hoary, rather than whore-y, Irina Palm is shameless only in its mawkish sincerity. Read full review
60
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
Irina Palm is, for the most part, a phony trifle, but at its heart, somehow, is a real and fascinating person. Read full review
60
EmpireKat Brown
There's a heartwarming quality that softens the hardcore setting but this does lack an assured, er, hand. Read full review
50
New York PostLou Lumenick
The demand for her services is so great that she suffers from "penis elbow," but her popularity also brings self-esteem and a possible boyfriend in her boss (Miki Manojlovic) in this lethargically directed comedy. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
The dopey premise only takes to a gross extreme the "Full Monty" formula that the Brits have been milking for more than a decade. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeJanice Page
Doesn't deliver on a lot of fronts. But then again it gives us full-on Faithfull, who manages to bare herself completely without ever actually getting undressed. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
Plays like a throwback to gritty-but-softhearted English dramas of the 1980s like "Mona Lisa" and "Sammy and Rosie Get Laid." Read full review
50
Washington PostDesson Thomson
It is, however, a baby boomer's treat to see Faithfull, romancer of Mick Jagger back in the day and a pop siren in her own right, show her qualities as an actor. One is hopeful she'll find her way to other, better projects. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianMarc Mohan
Mixed messages are the order of the day in the conflicted British drama Irina Palm. At first blush, it seems like another entry in the saucy-but-safe Brit genre, a la "Calendar Girls," "Saving Grace" or "The Full Monty," but it turns out to be both more ambitious and less successful than those diversions. Read full review
40
VarietyLeslie Felperin
Astonishingly, pic reaped hearty guffaws at Berlinale press show, suggesting this might play best in Europe, but Anglophone auds are more likely to give Palm the thumbs down. Read full review
30
Village VoiceJim Ridley
Nobody can reduce tawdry material to doddering quaintness like the British, but this staggeringly inane joint effort of U.K., Belgian, French, German, and Luxembourgian film financing represents a true coalition of the witless. Read full review
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