Little White Lies
MPI | Release Date: August 24, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
50
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
12
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertAug 29, 2012
Cluzot, with his uncanny resemblance to Dustin Hoffman, is an engaging actor who effortlessly summons up inner neurosis. The others are all skilled at light wit and banter; in a way, the film is simply a record of the French being French. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicKerry LengelSep 6, 2012
It's a style of storytelling that leaves the audience guessing, but it also gives the actors room to breathe, to inhabit their characters without having to explain them away in terms of biography or pop psychology. Read full review
80
EmpireAnna SmithAug 20, 2012
It's overlong, but with its gorgeous cast, irreverent humour and beautifully drawn characters, this smart comedy-drama is the kind of movie Couples Retreat and Grown Ups should have been. Please, nobody let Adam Sandler anywhere near a remake. Read full review
80
Total FilmNeil SmithAug 20, 2012
Populist fare from across the channel that will amply repay those ready to put the time in. The scenery, meanwhile, makes you want to run out and buy a timeshare. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonOct 12, 2012
Whereas "Chill" attempted to define a generation, "Lies" is more of a statement about the nature and limits of friendship. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianMarc MohanOct 4, 2012
Director Guillaume Canet, who previously teamed with Cluzet on the excellent thriller "Tell No One," capably handles the sprawling cast. Read full review
67
The PlaylistKevin JagernauthAug 21, 2012
It's no surprise the film became a box office sensation in its native France; the characters are a delight to know and the whole movie goes down easy like a cold glass of Chardonnay on a warm summer evening. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliSep 13, 2012
The French have an entirely different idea of what constitutes a "comedy" from the Americans. Little White Lies is classified as a "comedy" in its country of origin. I suppose that's meant in a Shakespearean sense, because there's not a lot of humor in Canet's screenplay, which is primarily dramatic and includes scenes of outright tragedy. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaSep 6, 2012
Little White Lies wants to capture something momentous and meaningful in these people's lives. But ultimately it's hard to care. Read full review
63
New York PostKyle SmithAug 23, 2012
France's friendship dramedy Little White Lies is such a blatant rip-off of a far better American movie that it could have been called "Le Big Chill." Read full review
63
Slant MagazineJoseph Jon LanthierAug 20, 2012
The specific narrative handicaps throughout are mostly too banal to warrant exegesis, though the choice of vintage pop tunes for dramatic underscoring is particularly grating. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesSheri LindenAug 23, 2012
With an ensemble led by Marion Cotillard and François Cluzet, the French hit has personality to burn, and squanders most of it. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierAug 23, 2012
The boat rides and picnics we're privy to are an enjoyable way to get to a bittersweet conclusion. Yet it's hard not to feel like we've taken this trip before. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterMichael RechtshaffenAug 20, 2012
Thanks to a sparkling ensemble headed by Francois Cluzet and Marion Cotillard, the familiar backdrop still provides ample opportunity for audience pleasing in Guillaume Canet's nicely observed dramatic comedy. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrSep 13, 2012
Of the two French films opening in the Boston area today - "Beloved" is the other - Little White Lies is the less ambitious, more watchable, and ultimately more annoying. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleAug 30, 2012
Little White Lies is never boring, always watchable, always reasonably rewarding. It's just that, when it's over, 2 1/2 hours seems too big an investment for just pretty good. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanAug 29, 2012
The trouble with Guillaume Canet's French gloss on "The Big Chill" is that it has no underlying chill. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenAug 20, 2012
In what's meant to be a French take on "The Big Chill" - comedy meets pathos as friends gather at a country house in the wake of a tragedy - writer-director Guillaume Canet has wrought a meandering script that exercises everything except restraint. Read full review
50
VarietyJordan MintzerAug 20, 2012
With its bloated running time and tonal shifts, the story tends to steer off course, though strong performances help keep it in tow. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonAug 22, 2012
Unfortunately, Canet's 2010 film Little White Lies feels like "Tell No One" minus that inciting incident, and therefore minus the plot. Read full review
40
The New York TimesStephen HoldenAug 23, 2012
With the exception of Marie Little White Lies focuses mostly on the men: whiny, strutting little boys whose exasperated, tight-lipped wives put up with their bad behavior and sometimes have to act like mommies. Read full review
40
Time OutDavid FearAug 21, 2012
When Canet isn't dabbling in schmaltz, he's forcing text-message gags and metaphor-heavy vermin jokes down viewers' throats in a lame attempt at levity. Emotional fraudulence does indeed constitute a lie, just not a white one. Read full review
40
The GuardianXan BrooksAug 20, 2012
Little White Lies unspools as glossy, high-grade tosh, a sun-dappled Big Chill, without the rigour or insight required to make you care about these people and wonder which bed they will eventually wind up in. Read full review
30
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternAug 23, 2012
You're tempted to keep watching, even though the running time is a bloated 154 minutes, to see if anyone, or the movie itself, turns remotely likable. The answer to that, alas, is no. Read full review
30
Village VoiceMelissa AndersonAug 21, 2012
Of sole interest is Benoît Magimel's Vincent, who sheepishly confesses a same-sex attraction to one in the cabal; his moments on-screen provide the only break from this slog. Read full review
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