Samba
Broad Green Pictures | Release Date: July 24, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
53
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
13
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattJul 28, 2015
Samba finds a much stronger rhythm when it stops contriving and simply shines a light on the joy and pain (and musical interludes) of lives lived in the margins. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsKatherine PushkarJul 22, 2015
With the tender love story, charming comedy and underlying point of shared humanity all getting equal standing, directors Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache earn the benefit of the doubt. You won’t be bored. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJul 30, 2015
Gainsbourg is always going through a little more than she cares to tell the audience about, but the connection her character makes with Samba — real, complicated and not typical — is one of the movie’s highlights. Read full review
70
TheWrapTim AppeloAug 10, 2015
Most elements of Samba sound mockable, and are. Yet it does have oodles of charm, plus a cast of characters that feels like an impromptu family circle. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeJul 21, 2015
Running a full reel longer than needed, the film’s balance of romance, humor and pathos starts to slip in the final stretch... though the emotional notes ring true. Read full review
63
Boston GlobePeter KeoughAug 6, 2015
Unfortunately, the material flounders from the broadly farcical to the bombastically melodramatic. Race and ethnicity aren’t so much the problem as gender is. Despite Gainsbourg’s efforts, her character becomes a caricature. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyJul 24, 2015
An actor has to just have it and Omar Sy has it. One needs only to watch his performance in Samba to see Sy's old-school natural star power in its purest form. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineNick PriggeJul 19, 2015
Even as Samba struggles to hold onto his identity, the film becomes entangled in an identity crisis of its own. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinJul 23, 2015
Nakache and Toledano...pepper the film with enough stirring emotional beats, crowd-pleasing bits...and vivid supporting characters such as Samba's ebullient immigrant pal, Wilson (Tahar Rahim), that there are distinct pleasures to be had. Read full review
60
CineVueBen NicholsonJul 23, 2015
That Sy and Gainsbourg's love story never quite inflames the heart ultimately means that Samba remains a pleasant, rather than an enduring watch. Read full review
60
The TelegraphMike McCahillJul 21, 2015
Sy is such an attentive listener in close-up that you instantly grasp the frazzled Alice’s attraction; if she’s less well defined, Gainsbourg’s nervy intelligence and clenched-jaw resistance to sentimentality hold the interest nevertheless. Read full review
60
Time Out LondonTrevor JohnstonJul 21, 2015
Both actors are tremendous. Sy adds powerful dramatic shading to his usual irresistible charm, while Gainsbourg hints at a sunnier disposition beneath her volatile nervousness. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJul 30, 2015
The cast is full of strong actors, among them Tahar Rahim (riveting in "A Prophet") as Samba's allegedly Brazilian friend and confidant. It's easy to enjoy what the cast does on screen; it's harder to buy the nutty mood swings. Read full review
50
Washington PostMark JenkinsJul 30, 2015
Like “The Intouchables,” Samba is loosely plotted and is at least 20 minutes too long. It seems ready to end half a dozen times before it finally does, with ironic payoffs for Samba and Alice that are too glib to be satisfying. Read full review
50
The New York TimesNicolas RapoldJul 23, 2015
Mr. Toledano and Mr. Nakache, who wrote the scattered screenplay, have a well-honed touch for comic beats and a feel for workaday details. That comes in handy when their points about French identity miss the mark, or when the main characters share special moments without really acquiring depth. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJul 23, 2015
But Samba’s personality, intriguingly volatile for a while, turns unpredictable, with no coherent center, as suspicion grows that the film’s stylistic shifts — including a genial parody of a well-known Coke commercial — are little more than pretexts for showing what its multitalented star can do. Read full review
50
Village VoiceAbbey BenderJul 21, 2015
Samba's relationship with Alice (Charlotte Gainsbourg), a volunteer at an immigration advocacy center, has moments of sweetness, but is painted in too-broad brushstrokes. Read full review
42
The PlaylistNikola GrozdanovicJul 21, 2015
It’s a love story set in a contemporary world brimming with immigration issues, but it manages to be neither political drama, nor bubbly romance, somehow getting away with being labeled as a comedy. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleJosh KupeckiAug 5, 2015
In its inclusive attempt to be all things to all people, Samba ends up inadvertently trivializing the topics it’s trying to stand up for. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawJul 21, 2015
It is refreshing that this story does not simply unravel into miserablism, but the film’s weird narrative leaps are implausible and jarring. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerJul 21, 2015
Neither funny enough as an outright comedy nor solid enough as a drama, and certainly not believable as an affaire de coeur. Read full review
33
The A.V. ClubKeith UhlichJul 22, 2015
On the evidence of their worldwide smash "The Intouchables," as well as their latest comedy-drama Samba, writer-directors Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano specialize in well-intentioned, crowd-pleasing bullshit. Read full review
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