Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Weinstein Company, The | Release Date: August 15, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
70
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
30
Mixed:
4
Negative:
2
Watch Now
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
The film's freedom and control, its inspiration and focus, announce it as the work of a confident and mature artist. Read full review
91
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
It's a summery idyll: his most entertaining picture since "Bullets Over Broadway" (1994) or maybe "Sweet and Lowdown" (1999). Read full review
90
Village VoiceScott Foundas
Allen has crafted a wry and thoughtful film about the peculiar stirrings of the heart that is certainly his most accomplished piece of work since 2005's "Match Point" and arguably his funniest in the eight years since "Small Time Crooks." Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Smoking, shouting, practically shooting off sparks, Cruz spreads a wildfire sexuality across Allen's sunny tableau of Catalan country picnics and scenic Barcelona ramblings. Read full review
88
USA TodayClaudia Puig
As exhilarating, captivating and enjoyable as a summer romance in an exotic city. Read full review
88
New York PostLou Lumenick
After years of diminishing returns, Woody Allen spectacularly returns to form with Vicky Cristina Barcelona, his funniest movie in years and arguably his sexiest. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Through it all, Vicky Cristina Barcelona remains unaccountably romantic, a confirmation that love, elusive and painful as it can be, is still worth pursuing. Read full review
80
The New YorkerDavid Denby
Allen can be literal-minded about his thematic polarities, but, in this movie, he has put actors with first-class temperament on the screen, and his writing is both crisp and ambivalent: he works everything out with a stringent thoroughness that still allows room for surprise. Read full review
80
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Offers potent romantic fantasy elements for men and women and a cast that should produce the best commercial returns for a Woody Allen film since "Match Point." Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
Ought to have been an eye-roller. What a surprise that it's so seductive. The Woodman lives! Read full review
80
Washington PostDan Zak
Vicky Cristina Barcelona is beautiful because Allen is now decidedly in control of this phase of his career, which blends the sharpness of his older dramas with a newly acquired expatriate hipness. Read full review
80
EmpireIan Freer
Within Allen’s recent output, Vicky Cristina is the highlight. See it for beautiful locales, an ambivalent look at human relationships and a clutch of great performances, especially from Cruz. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
The two most hilarious characters, played by Spain's two most famous actors, Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz, are nothing if not cliches about tempestuous Latin lovers. But, boy, does Allen have fun with those cliches. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Woody Allen's sexiest movie ever. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
I enjoyed it as much as any Allen film of the last 20 years. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
The movie goes down very easily. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The actors are attractive, the city is magnificent, the love scenes don't get all sweaty, and everybody finishes the summer a little wiser and with a lifetime of memories. What more could you ask? Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Gotham gives way to Gaudi and the Met to Miro, but the sensibility is the same, the city as a precious treasure, and so is the message: Life may be hard and short, love may be flawed or doomed, but, my, aren't we blessed with lovely distractions. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Sincere, delicately funny, a little staid, a little precious, and more interested in the ebb and flow of the heart than in the dubious rewards of sensational narrative twists. Read full review
75
PremiereEric Kohn
Allen does craft a fairly observant account of human behavior, so that the solemn aspects don't put a damper on the humor, or vice versa. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Cruz, who has never been able to fully show what she's capable of as an actress in an English-language film, takes to the role of the dark-haired hellcat with a sexy, bewitching fury. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
With all this going for it, Vicky Cristina Barcelona should be better than it is. But there's something intriguing going on here. It's a movie about the sacrifices that people make to be happy. Read full review
70
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
Although Vicky Cristina trips along winningly, carried by the beauty of its locations and stars -- and all the gauzy romanticism those enchanted places and people imply -- it reverberates with implacable melancholy, a sense of loss. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoanne Kaufman
The narration, aided by a terrific score, does streamline the storytelling, and adds to it a faintly sardonic top note. Read full review
70
TimeRichard Corliss
It's just fine. Not great; just fine. Read full review
70
Film ThreatMatthew Sorrento
Let's not kid ourselves: There's something about Javi. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
The writing is zippy, the story spins like a top, and Bardem turns out to be the wittiest of leading men. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
An atypical Allen film. Some of his usual themes are present - in particular, his neuroses about sex and love - but this movie does not bear enough Allen hallmarks to single it out as his work. Read full review
63
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
There's a terrific movie buried in Woody Allen's tale of two American girls broadening their horizons in Barcelona, and every once in a while tantalizing glimpses penetrate the twee narration and mannered performances. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Fitfully good. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Bardem's performance is so good it tends to mask how lacking much of what surrounds it is. Read full review
60
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
It's literally difficult to believe that the person who made this picturesque, clueless, oddly misanthropic picture also made "Annie Hall" and "Crimes and Misdemeanors." Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
There are two stormy performances from Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz that elevate Allen's melancholy thoughts on love and relationships. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
Something is terribly amiss when the American actors sound like English is their second language. Read full review
38
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Allen's laziness is startling, even in so mechanical a filmmaker. He uses a monotonous narrator to tell us what the characters think and do, though he then shows them performing the actions that have just been described. Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Watching Allen fart out a story when he has no characters is always painful, as people are defined through clumsy expository dialogue and ranked according to their cultural accomplishments. But the script here is lazy even by his standards. Read full review
More From This Movie

70 Critic Reviews

7.0 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 71 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL