Populaire
Weinstein Company, The | Release Date: September 6, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
58
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
13
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaSep 19, 2013
Populaire plays like a musical - you expect anyone, at any time, to break into song. Read full review
75
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanSep 13, 2013
Populaire is a mostly delightful and entirely unironic throwback to the kind of film they stopped making about 50 years ago. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoSep 12, 2013
The joy is in the details - from the animated credits to the perky pop score to the pre-"Mad Man" hair, clothes and general sensibility. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesBruce IngramSep 12, 2013
Populaire has no interest in rewriting the rules of romantic comedy, but it does run through the expected paces with admirable style. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia PuigSep 6, 2013
Populaire takes an intrinsically boring activity — typing — and makes it unusually entertaining. Read full review
75
The PlaylistJessica KiangMar 5, 2013
It’s not like “The Artist” was gritty, but Populaire is so cotton-candy breezy it makes the Best Picture-winner look like “The Panic in Needle Park.” Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBarbara VanDenburghSep 12, 2013
It’s aggressively charming, and competitions and training montages are filmed with kinetic whimsy. The film’s chief triumph is in spinning something remotely thrilling out of something as inherently dull as speed typing. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranSep 5, 2013
The less seriously the genial French comedy Populaire takes itself, the more amusing it is. Fortunately, with small exceptions, this film doesn't take itself very seriously at all. Read full review
70
VarietyBoyd van HoeijApr 3, 2013
A colorful and impeccably styled romantic comedy that manages to turn the speed-typing competitions of the 1950s into entertaining cinematic fodder. Read full review
67
IndieWireKaleem AftabMar 5, 2013
The problem, as with most romantic comedies, is that there are no shocks in the story. Read full review
65
NPRMark JenkinsSep 5, 2013
While Populaire would still have suffered from being overlong and overfamiliar, a smoother leading man could have done much to boost the intended Cary Grant vibe. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comGodfrey CheshireSep 6, 2013
A solid, genially retro entertainment. Read full review
60
The New York TimesStephen HoldenSep 5, 2013
The best scenes are the contests in which the competitors hammer away, executing the kind of grand flourishes with each return of the carriage that Liberace exhibited at the piano. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierSep 5, 2013
This frisky late-’50s-set French comedy about a competitive typing contest hunts and pecks a bit for fun after its story gets rolling, but it’s visually vibrant throughout. Read full review
60
Time OutKeith UhlichSep 3, 2013
If anything distinguishes director Régis Roinsard’s take on well-trod material, it’s his Technicolor-bright widescreen palette (recalling many a late-’50s pillow-talk romance without a hint of snooty irony) and energetically game cast. Read full review
60
EmpireLiz BeardsworthAug 30, 2013
Offers plenty of easy nostalgia and Duris charm. Read full review
60
Time Out LondonCath ClarkeAug 30, 2013
It's très chic and charming but a bit disappointing when you see where it's headed. Read full review
60
Total FilmTom DawsonAug 30, 2013
No prizes for guessing who ends up with whom, but the colourful retro designs and the leads’ sparkling chemistry help to Tipp-Ex over some of the predictability. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Sep 4, 2013
A candy-coated French throwback to the Hollywood rom-coms of the ’50s — especially the ones starring Rock Hudson and Doris Day — Populaire is old-fashioned in more than just its pastel color scheme. Read full review
50
Boston GlobePeter KeoughSep 12, 2013
Despite hard-working performances and the occasional sexual frisson from ingénue Déborah François (a kind of French Renée Zellweger) and seductive Romain Duris (who looks like Tom Hanks by way of Montgomery Clift), Populaire hits mostly wrong keys. Read full review
50
The DissolveNathan RabinSep 5, 2013
Populaire’s initial appeal comes largely from its airiness, and it simply doesn’t have the heft or gravity to tackle weightier emotions. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineNick McCarthySep 1, 2013
Candy-colored to a potentially cavity-causing degree, the film is a bubbly regurgitation of retrograde romantic comedy tropes and reactionary sexual politics. Read full review
40
Village VoiceJon FroschSep 4, 2013
Writer-director Régis Roinsard's feature-length debut is visually sharp, with period design that's eye-catching without being fussy or fetishistic. Too bad there's not much going on beneath the surface. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawAug 30, 2013
You'll need to have a very sweet tooth for this, and it makes light of those difficult sexual politics that Mad Men attacked with such fierce satire. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerMar 5, 2013
For all the earnestness with which the filmmakers replicate the muted colors and attitudes of the post-war era, they ultimately fail to say anything truly interesting about either the past or the present, resulting in a work that feels as superficial as it does slick. Read full review
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