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Angel-A
EMAILPRINTSony Pictures Classics

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 25 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 5 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Comedy | Fantasy | Foreign | Romance
Written by: Luc Besson
Directed by: Luc Besson
Release Date:
Theatrical: May 25, 2007
DVD: November 20, 2007
Running Time: 88 minutes, B/W
Origin: France
Summary
RATING: R for language and some sexual content
Starring Jamel Debbouze, Rie Rasmussen, Gilbert Melki, Serge Riaboukine, Akim Chir, Eric Balliet, Loïc Pora, and Venus Boone
A man meets a woman in Paris in unlikely circumstances, and an usual relationship blossoms.
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database 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...
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
The overall experience of the movie is of something fresh.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
Attractive black-and-white 'Scope compositions, strong Paris locations, and effective handling of the actors makes this captivating throughout.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Angel-A isn't as nutso as some of Besson's other pictures: It doesn't have the crazy inventiveness of, say, "The Fifth Element." As I watched it, I found myself wishing it were just a little loopier. But the picture is still seductive and pleasing.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
Movies often turn on slender notions worked up to look like full-fledged ideas. Once in a while, though, a notion will be fertile to begin with, a self-renewing source of delight. That's the case with Luc Besson's Angel-A.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan
The weirdly earnest literalism of Besson's story is a weak point. His desire to make Angela satisfy both sides of the Madonna-whore complex is too blatant.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
What's maddening about Angel-A is that Besson is so brilliant with his visuals - and so in love with his two leads and the city they're parading around - that you desperately want the story, and the characters, to make some kind of emotional sense. This, however, does not happen.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
Angel-A is an intriguing film, but more of an interesting failure than an offbeat success.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
Its strongest asset is the stunningly poetic cinematography by Thierry Arbogast.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
There's always been a wide streak of the tediously naughty little boy in Besson, and all the seductively stylized images in the world can't hide it.
Read Full Review >Premiere Peter Debruge
A charming midlife crisis of a movie that bottles the "La Femme Nikita" director's typically high-concept inclinations in a modest indie package.
Read Full Review >New York Post Kyle Smith
A black-and-white fantasia shot against a bright backdrop of famous sites, and it has potential to be a cult hit on its dreamy-hipster look alone.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
The beautiful black-and-white photography - and disappointingly sappy ending - are the only remotely sober elements here, thanks to Besson's loopy script and Debbouze's very funny turn as a loser who simply can't believe his luck.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
So stunningly shot and visualized--and scored so hauntingly well by Anja Garbarek, the daughter of saxophonist/composer Jan Garbarek--that it works even if you don't pay attention to the story. Maybe it works better that way.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
Rie Rasmussen and Jamel Debbouze, the stars who portray Angela, the celestial therapist, and André, her star patient, display enough screwball romantic charm to keep this sugary trifle afloat longer than you'd expect.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
Under the lingerie model façade beats the heart of a celestial Dr. Phil.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
What nearly saves the movie, besides the Rasmussen eye candy, is Paris itself, shot in shimmering black-and-white by the gifted Thierry Arbogast. Talk is cheap here, and often inane, but as a silent film, Angel-A could have been magic.
Read Full Review >Variety Lisa Nesselson
For his (Besson) fans, Angel-A is an achingly sincere but protracted effort to trade mostly action for mostly dialogue.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kevin Crust
In essence, you get "It's a Wonderful Life" meets "Wings of Desire," swapping out the substance for self-help platitudes. If you can get past that, you can enjoy it as a 90-minute look at a lovely postcard.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
A gorgeous-looking but ill-conceived mash note to the city of Paris that riffs on its better, wiser, glaringly obvious cinematic predecessors.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
The movie might have been more tolerable had Besson searched harder for a performer and not a specimen. Barbara Stanwyck in her prime might have made more sense.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
Angel-A is counterfeit art-house chic writ large -- a French film that fails to produce the ineffable charms of the yesteryear movies it brazenly imitates.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
At heart, it's just the latest from one-man industry Luc Besson, so even though it looks like art, it plays like schlock.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Kamal AL-Solaylee
How Besson drags this premise into 90 minutes of screen time should be of interest to the perverse among you – or anybody teaching a how-not-to-make-a-movie summer course.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Angel-A shows how director Luc Besson can be French in a way that even the French might despise...Quel ick. And très tedious.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 4.4 (out of 10) based on 5 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
lameo33 forf gave it a0:
Expected better. Not good at all.
James T. gave it a9:
top movie that brought a tear to my eye with its humour, beauty and passion all shot in black and white making paris inself look like some mythical land ,solid acting by the lead actors.
