The Face of Love
IFC Films | Release Date: March 7, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
51
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
13
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Portland OregonianJamie S. RichApr 3, 2014
It’s still worthwhile to see such seasoned screen professionals working to create something meaningful. Read full review
75
ObserverRex ReedMar 5, 2014
Ms. Bening does a touching, masterful job of conveying real emotional pain. Read full review
70
Village VoiceSherilyn ConnellyMar 4, 2014
Bening and Harris have excellent chemistry. Read full review
70
VarietyJustin ChangMar 4, 2014
This tale of a still-grieving widow (Bening) hypnotized by a dead ringer for her late husband verges on ludicrous, but ultimately succeeds at conveying one person’s complicated yet emotionally rational response to a highly irrational situation. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrMar 20, 2014
The result isn’t a great movie, but it is an excellent guilty pleasure. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesMary HoulihanMar 13, 2014
The stars hold the film together. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldConnie OgleMar 13, 2014
Thoughtfully directed and co-written by Arie Posin, the film is not a ghost story, nor is it played for campy laughs, but its melodramatic subject matter flirts with Douglas Sirk territory — and sometimes just dives right into it. Read full review
63
New York PostLou LumenickMar 6, 2014
It’s the wonderful performances by Bening and Harris that make this flawed, somewhat maudlin film worth seeing. Read full review
60
EmpireAnna SmithDec 8, 2014
A soapy but stirring romance with two committed leads. Read full review
60
Time OutKeith UhlichMar 4, 2014
Melodrama often risks the ridiculous to achieve the sublime, and though this unabashedly earnest tearjerker doesn’t completely transcend its narrative absurdities, it’s enough of a distinctively odd duck to keep you engaged. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeMar 4, 2014
Annette Bening captivates as the self-delusionist, with Ed Harris ruggedly irresistible as the object of her fantasy. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMar 20, 2014
It's a maudlin, superficial exercise in obsession masquerading as a heartfelt romance and study of grief, and character development is sorely lacking. Although well-acted, particularly by Annette Bening, the story feels contrived. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMar 13, 2014
John Lennon once said that because he was an artist, if you gave him a tuba, he could get something out of it. The Face of Love presents us with Annette Bening and Ed Harris playing the tuba. They get something out of it - they get everything there is to get and more - but it's not enough. Read full review
50
The PlaylistNikola GrozdanovicMar 11, 2014
The Face Of Love has splashes of brilliance without and within its overtly saccharine story. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia PuigMar 7, 2014
It's a maudlin, superficial exercise in obsession masquerading as a heartfelt romance and study of grief, and character development is sorely lacking. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comSusan WloszczynaMar 7, 2014
If Nancy Meyers ever decided to dabble in gothic romance, it probably would turn out to be something like The Face of Love. Read full review
50
The New York TimesManohla DargisMar 6, 2014
That Mr. Posin and Mr. McDuffie have stacked the deck against Nikki would be more irritating if Ms. Bening didn’t immediately make this woman come so satisfyingly alive, breathing believable vitality and at times contradictory emotions into what might have otherwise registered as a blur or cliché. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternMar 6, 2014
The director, Arie Posin, and his co-writer, Matthew McDuffie, have tried to do with their film — fill a bare-bones version of the Hitchcock film with an illusion of life. They do succeed sporadically. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleMar 6, 2014
Arie Posin regrettably sticks to the tastefully designed, artless tear-jerker. The lost opportunity is that he's got the masterful Bening and Harris to play with, great enough actors to turn any interaction — however tritely written — into an intimate, emotionally honest dance of the scarred and delicate. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyMar 5, 2014
The Face Of Love provides itself with countless similar opportunities for emotional sweep, and squanders most of them by being workmanlike and unambitious, presuming that a story and a string score are enough to carry a movie. Read full review
50
The DissolveMike D'AngeloMar 4, 2014
Whether it’s worth seeing a film solely for one amazing performance is a personal judgment call; for those who take that particular leap once in a while, though, here’s a worthy candidate. Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyApr 18, 2014
After a while, it begins to feel like a confused comedy: How to explain to the neighbours that your dead husband has moved back home? Read full review
38
Slant MagazineChuck BowenMar 4, 2014
An almost offensively "tasteful" dud that remains irritatingly on the surface, more alive to the set design than the characters' motivations. Read full review
37
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanMar 27, 2014
Bening and Harris are great actors, and they fill their roles as completely as they can, given the limitations of the soggy and implausible script by Matthew McDuffie and director Arie Posin. Read full review
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