Movies
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Wide Releases
Now In Theaters
76
(500) Days of Summer
49
2012
60
9
17
All About Steve
37
Amelia
53
Astro Boy
70
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
52
Blind Side
47
Box, The
61
Capitalism: A Love Story
55
Christmas Carol, A
43
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
66
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
23
Couples Retreat
39
Fame
30
Final Destination, The
34
Fourth Kind, The
41
G-Force
46
Halloween II
73
Hangover, The
78
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
66
Informant!, The
69
Inglourious Basterds
58
Invention of Lying, The
47
Jennifer's Body
66
Julie & Julia
34
Law Abiding Citizen
54
Men Who Stare At Goats, The
67
Michael Jackson's This Is It
28
Pandorum
58
Pirate Radio
39
Planet 51
30
Saw VI
53
Shorts
33
Stepfather, The
45
Surrogates
46
Twilight Saga: New Moon, The
71
Where the Wild Things Are
67
Whip It
28
Whiteout
73
Zombieland
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Limited Releases
Now In Theaters
58
(Untitled)
96
35 Shots of Rum
56
Adam
39
Adventures of Power
66
Afterschool
73
Amreeka
49
Antichrist
76
Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86
Beaches of Agnes, The
71
Big Fan
65
Black Dynamite
76
Bliss
26
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
44
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81
Bright Star
76
Broken Embraces
70
Bronson
62
Cloud 9
65
Coco Before Chanel
69
Cold Souls
60
Collapse
82
Cove, The
75
Crude
82
Damned United, The
53
Dare
50
Defamation
67
Departures
70
Earth Days
85
Education, An
55
Endgame
88
Fantastic Mr. Fox
31
Fix
49
Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80
Food, Inc.
xx
From Mexico with Love
28
Gentlemen Broncos
72
Good Hair
89
Goodbye Solo
63
Horse Boy, The
74
House of the Devil, The
xx
How to Seduce Difficult Women
26
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
70
It Might Get Loud
46
Killing Kasztner
43
Little Traitor, The
34
Looking for Palladin
80
Lorna's Silence
46
Love Hurts
84
Maid, The
45
Mammoth
75
Messenger, The
55
Missing Person, The
59
More Than a Game
34
Motherhood
62
My One and Only
48
New York, I Love You
66
No Impact Man
26
Oh My God
68
Paranormal Activity
68
Paris
79
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
73
Red Cliff
69
September Issue, The
79
Serious Man, A
65
Skin
41
Splinterheads
42
Staten Island
50
Stoning of Soraya M., The
58
Storm
82
Sun, The
49
Ten9Eight: Shoot for the Moon
73
That Evening Sun
61
Trucker
49
Turning Green
83
U2 3D
45
Uncertainty
67
Visual Acoustics
32
War on Kids
67
Way We Get By, The
65
Wedding Song, The
xx
White on Rice
59
William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe
74
Woman in Berlin, A
43
Women in Trouble
69
Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Amélie
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 31 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 134 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Romance
Written by:
Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Guillaume Laurant
Directed by: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Release Date:
Theatrical: November 2, 2001
DVD: July 16, 2002
Running Time: 120 minutes, Color / BW
Origin: France / Germany
Summary
RATING: R for sexual content
Starring Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz, Rufus, Yolande Moreau, and Artus de Penguern
Amélie, a young waitress in a tiny Parisian café, discovers an old box of childhood treasures hidden beneath her apartment floorboards which leads her on an odyssey to transform the lives of her neighbors, and perhaps even her own.
Also On Metacritic
FILM: A Very Long Engagement Alien: Resurrection Delicatessen The City of Lost Children
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Film Threat Ross Williams
Joyous. This is a film that will put a goofy grin on your face from the opening frame, through to the credits, out into the lobby, the whole way home, and possibly even till you fall asleep.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
A movie for aesthetically hungry moviegoers: wildly amusing, sometimes sardonic and always touching. There's so much here, and all of it delightful.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
This is the Paris -- and the mad, beautiful young Parisienne -- we look for in dreams.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
The movie is never mechanical or emotionally contrived, and at its heart is a guileless, enchanting performance by Tautou.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
The charming movie, already an international success, seduces.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
There is no denying that Amélie is, to paraphrase its title, fabulous.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Jay Carr
Delightful and original, the film conjures up a corner of Paris distinct and specific, yet fairy-tale fanciful.
Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
At two hours, the movie is probably 15 minutes too long -- the final half-hour in particular could have used some trimming -- but complaining about having too much of a good thing makes one sound like a grouch.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
A delicious pastry of a movie -- You see it, and later when you think about it, you smile.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
A big-hearted French movie that shines with wit, beauty, humor, sunshine and the love of love.
Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
An endearing film, and a fascinating one.
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
A charmer, a movie whose embrace of cinema is so passionate it could be mistaken for an embrace of life.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
The barometer for whether you'll enjoy Amélie is whether you liked "Moulin Rouge" last summer. If snappy visuals, tangy colors, mood-drenched scenery, and a good-hearted heroine make you as happy as a box of Parisian chocolates, it's definitely for you.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
A slick, sweet, fast-paced, feel-good romantic fantasy that's fairly irresistible if you can keep your cynicism in check for a couple of hours.
Read Full Review >Village Voice J. Hoberman
The screen is saturated with Gallic whimsy and the romance of Montmartre in the person of Amélie.
Read Full Review >New York Magazine Peter Rainer
Jeunet wants us to know that times are hard for dreamers and that one shouldn't pass up a chance for true love. He means it, no doubt, but he doesn't have the simplicity of soul to quite bring off the sentiment. Still, we're charmed by the attempt.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
Whether you're charmed or bored by the movie depends entirely on your feelings for Amelie, a young woman whose hyper-quirky personality both takes some getting used to and grows old fast.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
Akin to being force-fed sugary confections from a bottomless bowl. At first the idea seems just grand, but after a while, all you want to do is scream, "Enough!"
New Times (L.A.) Bill Gallo
Not a film for everyone, but if you're in the mood for a little sensory overload, some spirited intellectual gymnastics and an introduction to the most intriguing new actress Europe has produced in years, get in line with the rest of the thrill-seekers.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
The lanky, wide-eyed Tautou is so phenomenally charming -- her smile could sweeten vinegar -- as to make Amelie irresistible.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Ronnie Scheib
The ease with which the perky, big-eyed heroine ingeniously succeeds in improving the lot of everyone around her and the painterly manner in which reality in every inch of the frame is "improved" constitute both the "quirky" charm and the pure fishiness of the film.
Read Full Review >Time Richard Corliss
You could get drunk, or ill, on the high dose of whimsy in Amelie.
The New Yorker Anthony Lane
As a director, he seems incapable of trusting his actors to carry the mood, preferring always to lend them a backup -- jokes, fripperies, kooky camera angles -- that they don't require. [5 Nov 2001, p. 105]
Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
Features an aggressive, in-your-face romanticism that's noticeably lacking in genuine warmth. While its story of lonely misfits searching for love has appealing moments, more often it turns into an overbearing fable overburdened with fake joie de vivre.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Charles Taylor
The problem is that the charm and good spirits of Amélie feel calculated rather than natural.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Manohla Dargis
Sucks -- because it's a frenetic bore that insists on its audience's adoration while making no demands upon their intelligence.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.6 (out of 10) based on 134 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Neill M gave it a9:
Really enjoyable movie that has unique moments, lines, and actions that are hilarious, brilliant, and fun. Definitely an art movie, but easily reachable and understandable.
Sean P gave it a9:
Just to let metacritic know: Empire magazine gave this film a 5/5.
Jenna T. gave it a10:
loved it, the colors the art, the jokes. Its just exquisit, with sweet and spicy scenes, funny and inspiring. A tribute to happiness and life. If you dont get it, you just dont know what life is. Touching and perfect to the very last minute. With a balance beteen complements. Just perfect.
Sophie gave it a10:
An artistic movie, art in sounds colors, everything its just magic. A fairy tale that moves the world for searching happines, best movie i have seen, exciting until the very last minutes. worth watching and understanding. Perfect art movie.
Esteban F gave it a3:
Horribly boring and dumb, this is a movie that tries to be what it isn't: an artistic production. After 30 minutes of it, you just want to stop. The story is just too "pink", simply too "happy" to stand it. 0 realism, dumb, it doesn't challenge the audience and it doesn't make you feel anything but boredom. Soul-less, failed artistic wannabe movie.
Kat C. gave it a10:
Life is so full of the ups and downs... It's refreshing for the soul the see the whimsical and magical side of life and love. To see the difference one person can make to so many. Don't look so deep into it that you lose the purpose of Amelie... just enjoy the moment.
Rachel C. gave it a9:
I love this movie. Why I like it? Because, mostly of it's uniqueness, and it's such an original idea. The camera style is lovely, and even with the subtitles it made me feel thoroughly engaged. I think it depends on your personality on how you value this film, as I have noticed people either give it 9's or 10's, to 0's. I think you have to patient, and give it a fair chance, and if you prefer the big blockbusters then maybe you wouldn't be interested in this film. But, nevertheless, I do think some of the comments are pretty tight and harsh, and didn't give it a chance! Overall, beautiful movie. Lovely cinematography.
