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Namesake, The
Fox Searchlight Pictures


8.1

based on 33 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 49 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for sexuality/nudity, a scene of drug use, some disturbing images and brief language

Starring Kal Penn, Tabu, Irfan Khan, Jacinda Barrett, Glenne Headly, Linus Roache, and Daniel Gerroll

Spanning two generations, two clashing cultures and two very different ways of life that crash into each other only to become lovingly intertwined, The Namesake is ultimately about the imminently relevant question: what does it mean to be an American family? (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Comedy \| Drama \| Romance
WRITTEN BY:	Sooni Taraporevala Jhumpa Lahiri (novel)
DIRECTED BY:	Mira Nair
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: November 27, 2007 Theatrical: March 9, 2007
RUNNING TIME:	122 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	India / USA
LANGUAGE(S):	Bengali / Hindi / English

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...

100

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Brims with intelligence, compassion and sensuous delight in the textures, sights and sounds of life--all the way from the Taj Mahal to Pearl Jam.

100

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

Nair takes mostly low-key material about a traditional Indian family raising kids in America and turns it into something sensual, funny and quietly devastating.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak

The actors are all well-cast, thoughtful and sometimes funny. Tabu was apparently not Nair's first choice, but after watching her in the role it's hard to imagine anyone else -- she's heartbreakingly good.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Moving and marvelous new cross-cultural family saga.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

The Namesake takes in a lot of territory, and at times is too diffuse, too attenuated. But the actors are so expressive that they provide their own continuity. They transport us to a realm of pure feeling.

Los Angeles Times Dennis Lim

Despite being rooted in knotty issues of identity, Lahiri's novel forgoes didacticism in favor of vivid portraiture. Nair and her uniformly superb cast take the same tack: The characters are individuals before they are emblems.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

The Namesake, adapted from Jhumpa Lahiri’s popular novel, conveys a palpable sense of people as living, breathing creatures who are far more complex than their words might indicate.

Austin Chronicle Toddy Burton

Reminiscent of Jim Sheridan’s masterly "In America," The Namesake delivers such a tactile presence that it's difficult not to leave feeling as if you've just struggled through a New York winter, attended an Indian wedding, and returned from a Calcutta holiday.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

It has been said that all modern Russian literature came out of Gogol’s “Overcoat.” In the same way, all of us came out of the overcoat of this same immigrant experience.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

A rarity, a film that preserves the depth and integrity of its source while bringing the story to life in an indelible way.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

The Namesake has a deep, alluvial poetry to it, like a mighty river reaching the sea. It's mysterious and ordinary, insightful and banal, rambling and precise, and it is altogether unexpected.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

It's a tearjerker, sometimes, and sweetly funny at other moments. It's near perfect.

USA Today Claudia Puig

An engaging and moving film with a universal story about the bonds of family as told through two generations of a Bengali family.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The acting is uniformly excellent. For the roles of Ashoke and Ashima, Nair has employed prolific Bollywood stars Tabu and Irfan Khan, both of whom give performances of great range and empathy.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Overall, this gorgeously designed and photographed movie artfully depicts the immigrant experience in ways that transcend its setting, melding Hollywood and Bollywood storytelling techniques to weave a tale a large audience will relate to.

TV Guide Ken Fox

A funny and touching adaptation of Pulitzer Prize-winner Jhumpa Lahiri's novel about two generations of Bengali-Americans attempting to reconcile the world of their collective past with that of their individual futures.

Premiere Glenn Kenny

A thoroughly engaging, terrifically moving family story that's rich in beautifully observed and lovingly conveyed human detail.

Variety Scott Foundas

A richly compelling story of family and self-discovery.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

This immensely pleasurable film is anything but dry. It's a saga of the immigrant experience that captures the snap, crackle and pop of American life, along with the pounding pulse, emotional reticence, volcanic colors and cherished rituals of Indian culture.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

After trying her hand at Thackeray with "Vanity Fair," director Mira Nair has found a literary property much closer to her heart: Jhumpa Lahiri's best-selling novel about a Bengali couple and their children trying to find their place in American culture.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Although we miss some of the finer details that made Jhumpa Lahiri's 2003 book so meaningful, we're moved by the movie's themes of cultural displacement and the power of chance.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Making you feel the presence of absences - of the distant and the departed, of dreams that never quite come true - is the key thing that this uneven film gets exactly right.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

It's well-acted and filled with striking compositions, but director Mira Nair has trouble with a different kind of balance.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

This is a generational family saga everyone can relate to, and Nair gives it her special magic.

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

Showing the intricate dynamics of family relationships is something Mira Nair does as well as any director working today.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

The Namesake is suffused with radiant grace, and manages to be old-fashioned yet immediate, epic and intimate.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

In her adaptation of The Namesake, Mira Nair hits it right at least half the time. In places, the movie feels aimless and misshapen; it doesn't have the gentle but focused energy of Lahiri's book. And sometimes Nair goes overboard in heightening the cultural contrasts -- the inevitable incongruities between East and West -- that Lahiri navigates so subtly.

Slate Dana Stevens

It's so courteously deferential to its source that it never really comes alive as a movie...Even so, Nair has a gift for directing actors and a feeling for the immigrant milieu of the novel that make The Namesake a rich, if not completely satisfying, pleasure.

Newsweek David Ansen

There are times when you wish the movie was a mini-series. This is meant both as a tribute, for the Ganguli family is so engaging you'd be happy spending much more time with them, and an acknowledgment that a tale this expansive doesn't always fit comfortably within the constraints of a feature-length frame.

Village Voice Ella Taylor

The Namesake carries faint echoes of the carnal physicality that makes Nair's more lightweight movies so much fun to look at--"Monsoon Wedding" was a dandy piece of froth, and "Vanity Fair" survives only on its looks--but it's a quieter, more mature work.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

It is hard to imagine a better cast or production values so the film should find audiences among sophisticated urban adults.

Film Threat Stina Chyn

When The Namesake ends, one feels as though one has lived with the characters instead of just watching them.

Empire Anna Smith

This Indian immigrant family saga is a pleasant watch, but given the emotive source novel, it’s surprisingly superficial.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.1 (out of 10) based on 49 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

C O gave it a5:
This movie covered too much ground in too little time. I never felt a palpable connection with the characters in the movie besides the father and mother. The scenes regarding the son seemed trite and irrelevant to the plot. I feel like the movie should have focused more on the racial issues than just mere glimpses (i.e. the mailbox graffiti). The classroom scene where Kal Penn first makes his appearance was horrible. My guess is that they wanted to depict to what extent Kal's character lamented his name but the scene never really grabbed me. It fell into the category of a B teen movie. The filming locations were beautiful but the plot hardly matched.

Nathan R gave it a5:
If you want a much better story about the conflict and struggle to adapt between immigrants and their first generation children, watch/read the Joy Luck Club. I echo Andrew K. in that the movie tried to cover too much, and in the end, felt twice as long as the 2+ hours it really is. When you can surmise the message of a movie within the first 10 minutes of watching it, it makes you wonder what the next two hours are for.

Jennifer gave it a10:
The movie is very rich and satisfying. The picture was beautifully laid out and captivating the entire time. A reviewer below said the book is better than the movie. I’m going to have to get that book because the movie was fantastic.

sfdafsa dsfsa gave it a10:
Excellent movie. Not as good as book though.

Thomas H. gave it a9:
Probably the best movie out this year! Great cast, with terrific Indian scenery. The best part is the message about foreigners trying to assimilate into a new culture, and the desire to keep traditions. This is the must-see movie of the year!

Fred B. gave it a7:
A movie that shocked me. I thought it was going to be a waste of my time. But its actually not that bad. No action, but a lot of touching scense.

Tim D. gave it an8:
A lovely, heartfelt, beautifully-acted film that explores relationships and family in the framework of cultural and generational contrast, with depth and complexity. Rich in emotional content and, in its low-key way, passionately told.

Namesake, The Fox Searchlight Pictures

Namesake, The
Fox Searchlight Pictures