Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

Movies

Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Best / Worst of the Decade

Wide Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Limited Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Priceless

EMAILPRINTSamuel Goldwyn Films

Priceless reviews
72
6.8 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 20 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 7 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >

Movie Info

Genre(s): Comedy

Written by: Benoit Graffin
Piere Salvadori

Directed by: Pierre Salvadori

Release Date:
Theatrical: March 28, 2008
DVD: November 18, 2008

Running Time: 104 minutes, Color

Origin: France

Language(s): French

Summary

RATING: PG-13 for sexual content including nudity

Starring Gad Elmaleh, Audrey Tautou, Marie-Christine Adam, Vernon Dobtcheff, Jacques Spiesser, and Annelise Hesme

Jean, a shy young bartender, is mistaken for a millionaire by a beautiful, scheming opportunist named Irene. When Irene discovers his true identity, she abandons him, only to find that love-struck Jean has no intention of letting her get away. Jean's comical attempts to gain her affections gradually evolve into setting himself up as a gigolo at a luxury hotel, until Irene finally starts to warm to her persistent, persuasive suitor. Against the wildly atmospheric backdrop of the south of France, Pierre Salvadori directs this sexy and thoroughly charming romantic comedy, which is a fresh reimagining of the cinema classic Breakfast at Tiffany's. (Samuel Goldwyn Films)

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...

88

TV Guide Ken Fox

The lovely Audrey Tautou and sad-eyed Gad Elmaleh are perfectly cast as a gold digger and the poor sap who loves her, but the real star of Pierre Salvadori's larky, Lubitsch-esque farce is France's impossibly chic Cote d'Azure.

Read Full Review >
83

The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray

Unlike Salvadori's previous comedy, 2003's "Après Vous," Priceless is less preposterous, and more grounded in character.

Read Full Review >
83

Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan

It's a fun and attractive ride.

Read Full Review >
80

Wall Street Journal Joanne Kaufman

Calls to mind Lubitsch's "Trouble in Paradise" and beguiles all the way from the parade of umbrellas decorating the opening titles to the closing credits.

Read Full Review >
80

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

A cynic is someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing, or so the saying goes, but the unadulterated joy Irène takes in throwing open the closet door to show Jean how this gold digging is done is positively infectious.

Read Full Review >
80

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Tautou is a delight, as always, using her bubbly personality to comic advantage. And Elmaleh makes for a sort of poor man's Buster Keaton, perpetually stressed but refusing to surrender, no matter how much damage he sustains to himself or his wallet.

Read Full Review >
78

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Priceless is a supremely satisfying confection – a French romantic comedy of the sort that ends with you standing outside the theatre with a dopey grin on your face.

Read Full Review >
75

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Tautou's kind of talent: priceless.

Read Full Review >
75

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

The comedy, which verges on farce from time to time, also has the smilingly cynical approach to romance that we identify with the French.

Read Full Review >
75

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

The fetching comedy Priceless”(“Hors de Prix”) weighs about as much as its star, Audrey Tautou, but like Tautou’s pleasingly craven heroine it knows exactly what it’s doing.

Read Full Review >
75

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Stop laughing long enough, and you'll see that it's a picture about compromised lives and love for sale. But no one who watches Priceless will stop laughing for that long.

Read Full Review >
75

New York Daily News Joe Neumaier

Dirty, kinda-rotten scoundrels Elmaleh and Tautou make an engaging pair.

Read Full Review >
75

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Salvadori's homage is a bittersweet, funny, sporadically charming and consistently entertaining love story between two "kept" people.

Read Full Review >
70

Variety Lisa Nesselson

Co-scripter/helmer Pierre Salvadori serves up an enjoyable riff on genuine romance versus the pay-as-you-go variety, in crowd-pleasing, exportable picture.

Read Full Review >
70

Village Voice Vadim Rizov

Priceless begins as standard, unconvincing, assembly-line French farce and ends as a cop-out, feel-good rom-com. In between, it develops into something considerably more interesting.

Read Full Review >
70

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

The outcome is never much in doubt, but Salvadori artfully choreographs the endless table turning, and the Moroccan-born Elmaleh capitalizes on his striking resemblance to Buster Keaton with a similarly comic composure.

Read Full Review >
63

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Priceless is a bauble - an art-house diamond made of paste that somehow still gives you good glimmer for the money.

Read Full Review >
60

Empire Rosamund Witcher

A farcical romp but, being French, it's hugely glamorous and dripping with style.

Read Full Review >
60

The New York Times Stephen Holden

The movie is an amusing ball of fluff that refuses to judge its characters’ amoral high jinks. Winking at the vanity of wealthy voluptuaries and hustlers playing games of tainted love, it heaves a sigh and says welcome to the human comedy.

Read Full Review >
50

New York Post V.A. Musetto

Priceless provides lightweight, predictable entertainment that will make you yearn for the Tatou of yesteryear.

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 6.8 (out of 10) based on 7 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

S M gave it a10:
Absolutely worth to watch. Actings are excellent. Fantastic movie.

Paul S. gave it a1:
If you enjoy movies about unlikeable frenchies forming amoral relationships and doing boring, unfunny things - this is your film. Alternately, if you found Tatou simply too sweet in Amelie, watch this immediately afterwards as an antidote.

Chad S. gave it a9:
The gold digger forgets the rules of the game. Love may be priceless, but the price you pay for love is your life. Nevertheless, the gold digger relents, the gold digger runs, to undo the damage she abetted when she taught a dopey bartender the ways of a kept man. Trouble is, her pupil Jean(Gad Elmaleh) becomes so practiced, he's practically a lothario when she bangs on the door of his hotel room. Jean develops a taste for the good life at the same time that the good life loses its flavor for Irene(Audrey Tautou). That's why she runs. Irene needs to stop Jean before he loses his scruples. Tone, obviously, is everything for a film like "Hors de prix", in which its two leads behave badly. It's a delicate matter when Jean dumps his benefactor. He's not the same man we were rooting for in the middle of the movie, when the lowly bartender was wooing Irene, by allowing himself to be wooed by money. Their courtship is based on being co-conspirators. Now they have something in common. Now Irene starts to respect Jean. "Hors de prix" tries to pretend otherwise, but the finished product resembles a cad. Madeleine(Marie-Christine Adam) deserved better, even Agnes(Annelise Hesme), who like Irene, would serve herself on a silver platter to the highest bidder. By the end of "Hors de prix", the tables have turned. Arguably, Irene now loves Jean more than Jean loves Irene. But that's the French for you; a wicked lot, when it comes to love. American romantic comedies are never this complicated, never this amoral, or hillarious.

Jon Boy gave it a6:
Ooooh, a French film. With Audrey Tatou in it. In French. With more than a wiff of Audrey Hepburn about it? You can almost hear a collective critical underwear moistening sigh of delight before the opening credits have finished. However, like the setting in real life, its all style over substance. I found Tatou's character thoroughly dislikable, despite the doe eyed actress' charms being turned up to near face-melting. Her single minded, self centered materialism combined with a cold hearted attempt to ruin her besotted chap left me cold and rather hoping that Elmaleh's well played nervous barman would hook up with the other woman instead. Still, it was diverting enough, and had a bit of wry humour thrown in to draw a few laughs. As a critic above has noted, its always the stunning locations that steal the show.

n hom gave it a6:
Cute date movie. Although there is humor, film as an underbelly of reality to it of loneliness, aging, and longing. Shots of Biarritz is as beautiful as ever. Makes you appreciate the Euros even more.

James P. gave it a7:
Priceless certainly won't change your life, it's not even at all original, but the script is sharp and the leads are engaging. Tatou even manages to imbue the otherwise reprehensible Irene with sufficient vulnerability to make us cheer her most outrageous scams.

Popular on CBS sites: College Signing Day | Olympics | Lost | iPhone | Cell Phones | Video Game Reviews | Free Music

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy (UPDATED) | Terms of Use