Barbarian Invasions, The

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

A brilliant entertainment, full of bemused skepticism and reckless, prodigal love -- for these people and their vanishing era and lives.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Dying is not this cheerful, but we need to think it is. The Barbarian Invasions is a movie about a man who dies about as pleasantly as it's possible to imagine; the audience sheds happy tears.

Chicago Reader Ted Shen

Arcand's fondness for the good old 60s can be cloying, but despite an uneven cast, he finds a tonal balance between sentimental and cynical that keeps the conversations real and heart wrenching.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Where Denys Arcand's delightful 1986 comedy "The Decline of the American Empire" celebrated the good life, his profoundly funny sequel The Barbarian Invasions heartily toasts the good death.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

It's a feast of smart, sexy, glorious talk. The Oscar for best foreign film belongs right here.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Although the specter of death hovers over the entire film, it is neither a grim nor a depressing experience. Arcand has injected a great deal of wit into the movie, and it meshes perfectly with the anticipated pathos.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

The combination of ideas and wit, lively characterizations, believable human dilemmas and a climax that both melts and braces you makes for a fine blend. A movie about ideas may sound like a drag, but this one packages them in well-earned emotions.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Admirable in its refusal to be politically correct.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Admirable in its refusal to be politically correct.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

A movie that, in the story of one man dying, shows us all how to live.

Slate David Edelstein

A pungently funny and heartfelt piece of wish fulfillment.

Variety Lisa Nesselson

A full-bodied, funny and gloriously unpretentious ode to family, friendship and the meaning of life, The Barbarian Invasions is solidly entertaining, sharply written and genuinely touching.

The New Yorker David Denby

The Barbarian Invasions might be called an idyll of death. Without excessive sentiment (but without slighting sentiment, either). [24 November 2003, p. 113]

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

A reunion movie, and while it's often very funny, it has none of the self-satisfied piety or strenuous jokiness of "The Big Chill." Its mood shifts between defiant exuberance and wistful contemplation, but it's never mawkish.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Bristling but finally surprisingly moving film.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

The rapprochement between Rémy and Sébastien is beautiful to watch, and all of the characters in The Barbarian Invasions are played with a lusty warmth that makes them lovable even when they are being tiresome.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

The film grows on you too, a later-stage version of "The Big Chill" that starts schematically and ends as a stirring celebration.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Sharp-witted delight.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

A honey, but your response to it may depend on where you fall on life's big curve.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

The treatment of the subject isn't maudlin, thanks to a witty script and an enormously likable lead character, Remy (Remy Girard), who remains bullheaded and lusty to the finish.

USA Today Staff [Not Credited]

Despite a slight tendency to be overly pleased with itself, this is a smart piece of work that got Arcand's screenplay an award at Cannes.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

A deeply felt celebration of the life force, as embodied in Girard's fierce performance as a man who may not have done all he could, but had an enviably great time on the way.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

As a film about intellectuals, The Barbarian Invasions can sometimes seem maddeningly scattered and contradictory.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray

The Barbarian Invasions' flaws are mainly glaring because the movie is occasionally so winning.

Dallas Observer Bill Gallo

Arcand loyalists are bound to miss Rémy, but at least he goes out in style. Even the antagonists will have to admit that.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak

Like a family visit during the holidays. Tensions run high, not everyone is likable but being there's an uneasy comfort because everything is so familiar.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

I kept wondering how Arcand could have chosen as his generational representative a man not just flawed in his hedonism but one so fundamentally lacking in tenderness for others.

Premiere Maia Abraham

Girard gives feisty life to the battle-weary professor, but Rousseau just follows the drill--he is glass-eyed to the point of distraction. And for all its intellectual maneuvering, the film never regains the simple power of its opening salvo.

Empire Patrick Peters

The structure similarly misses the flashbacking subtlety of the original. Even the characterisation lacks depth.

TV Guide Ken Fox

If the banter lacks the often brilliant and erudite -- if showy -- sparkle of its predecessor, the acting is still first-rate, and the film will be best enjoyed by fans eager to spend another 90 minutes with a group of old friends.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

A bit too neat and calculated to make the emotions ring really true.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Which would all be well and good, if only Arcand's approach weren't so deliberate and stupefyingly superior.

Time Richard Corliss

Arcand has a gift for witty dialogue but a weakness for force-feeding his story with sentiment. References to ancient holocausts and to 9/11 simply expose the intent of a director who will do anything to touch his audience -- with a sweet gesture or a cattle prod. And in a comedy of manners, that behavior is very impolite.

New York Post V.A. Musetto

Schmaltzy and contrived.

Village Voice Michael Atkinson

Shear away the film's pretensions, and it's a soap opera of assholes.