The Look of Love
IFC Films | Release Date: July 5, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
57
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
13
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
The TelegraphSebastian DoggartJun 18, 2013
It’s funny and touching, but feels like a missed opportunity. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesBill StametsJul 16, 2013
In his press notes, Winterbottom adds: “We didn’t make the moral too obvious, or too heavy-handed.” And they don’t. But the bottom line is unmistakable. Read full review
70
VarietyDennis HarveyJun 18, 2013
Michael Winterbottom and Steve Coogan's fourth feature collaboration is a vivid period whirlwind that impressively showcases the comic thesp's more dramatic side. Read full review
63
Boston GlobePeter KeoughAug 3, 2013
Although Raymond’s career extended over five decades of London sleaze, decadence, and celebrity, neither director nor actor provide much insight into the man or his times, not to mention the significance of Raymond’s prime product. Read full review
63
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJul 5, 2013
The Look of Love also is filled with acres and acres of naked flesh, but it’s the storytelling that keeps you engaged. Read full review
63
New York PostLou LumenickJul 4, 2013
Coogan is often very funny as the libertine Raymond, whose real estate holdings made him one of the UK’s richest men at the time of his death in 2006. But tragedy simply is beyond his range at this point. Read full review
60
The New York TimesStephen HoldenJul 4, 2013
Had The Look of Love focused more acutely on the father-daughter relationship or explored Mr. Raymond’s relationships with his two sons, only one of whom appears briefly, it might have amounted to something more substantial than a keenly observed period piece that keeps a celebrity journalist’s distance from its subject. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanJul 4, 2013
It’s still compelling entertainment, as any biopic about Paul Raymond ought to be. Though nearly unknown in the U.S., Raymond was a famous figure in his native Britain, a flashy combination of Donald Trump and Hugh Hefner. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinJul 3, 2013
Skims a host of provocative surfaces without truly dissecting the self-absorbed playboy. Read full review
60
NPRMark JenkinsJul 3, 2013
Winterbottom's 2004 film "9 Songs" is the most sexually explicit picture ever to get general release in Britain. Oddly, given its subject matter, The Look of Love turns out to be much tamer; as Raymond's shows and magazines become raunchier, the director sidesteps or actively censors the steamiest material. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfJul 2, 2013
Zippy and saturated with soft-core nudity, The Look of Love isn’t hard to watch, especially when statuesque Tamsin Egerton enters the picture as a redheaded dancer who captures Raymond’s heart. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyJun 18, 2013
The film is absorbing on a scene-by-scene basis. But it connects the dots of Raymond’s life in a perfunctory way, without locating a fluid through-line or gaining emotional access to its elusive subject. Read full review
60
Total FilmMatt GlasbyJun 18, 2013
Exuberant when it’s in the ascendence but empty on the way back down, this well-crafted cock and balls story is – for the most part – filthy good fun. Read full review
60
EmpireDan JolinJun 18, 2013
A solid, straightforward biopic about a fascinating individual and his destructive relationships, with strong performances and a healthy sense of naffness. Read full review
60
Time Out LondonCath ClarkeJun 18, 2013
There’s something a bit over-familiar here – in a solidly entertaining, made-for-telly, nothing-we-haven’t-seen-before, way. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawJun 18, 2013
This is a shallow but watchable movie, and it nicely conveys the world of semi-respectable Soho porn, sadder and tattier than its sleazier end, with its desperate champagne lunches and dreary afternoon hangovers. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineNick McCarthyJul 3, 2013
With its softened edges, bland aftertaste, and watered-down distillation of Raymond's life and career, Michael Winterbottom's film represents the house champagne of biographical cinema. Read full review
50
Village VoiceNick SchagerJul 2, 2013
Coogan's portrayal is heartfelt, but The Look of Love rarely exploits its star's comedic dexterity. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubSam AdamsJul 3, 2013
The movie is a character study in search of a character. Read full review
33
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezJun 18, 2013
While stylishly capturing the verve, exotica, and free-spirited mojo of swinging '60s London, uber-prolific English director Michael Winterbottom's portrait of legendary U.K. smut impresario Paul Raymond is otherwise a shallow misfire. Read full review
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