Metascore
64 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 25 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 21 out of 25
  2. Negative: 1 out of 25
  1. 83
    While this sort of thing can easily devolve into bourgeois comfort food, Thompson, a veteran of the genre, knows how to serve it up just about right.
  2. A thoroughly enjoyably and wistfully charming ensemble drama carried off with an irresistible Gallic flair.
  3. Rarely has Paris seemed more enchanting than in Danièle Thompson's optimistic ode to Gallic romance.
  4. That the film succeeds as well as it does despite a series of coincidences that strain credibility is a credit to a fine cast and a joie de vivre that pervades even the most implausible moments.
  5. 75
    Thompson's stories are familiar, but she weaves them together with such assurance and good humor that they're equally soothing and thoroughly enjoyable.
  6. 75
    The film uses effective acting, deft dialogue, and a sly wit to entertain, if not educate.
  7. Reviewed by: Ethan Alter
    75
    All of the actors are on point (Dupontel and Morante are particularly good), the individual story arcs are involving, if not exactly complex, and Thompson keeps the proceedings moving along at a comfortable clip.
  8. Avenue Montaigne is not a film to be taken too earnestly, but it would be a mistake to miss its bittersweet undertones. The movie is as airy as a spun-sugar dessert, but Thompson's observations on the artistic life are both affectionate and knowing: Beauty and wealth, though inevitably compelling, are appreciated as means to humane ends, not goals in themselves.
  9. Director Daniele Thompson gets the point across so airily and pleasantly, in a film cast to perfection, that it's no problem accepting the message with a shrug, while profoundly enjoying the messenger.
  10. Bookending the film is the relationship between Jessica and the grandmother who raised her. This role is delightfully played by Suzanne Flon, who recently died at age 87. The film is dedicated to the veteran actress.
  11. 70
    Avenue Montaigne, is a delicious French pastry, tart and sweet, steeped in Parisian glamour.
  12. Reviewed by: Ella Taylor
    70
    Not that Thompson's films lack for romance. She shoots Paris like Woody Allen shoots New York--ritzy, golden, and packed with chance meetings between highly strung arty types.
  13. Avenue Montaigne may not be a centimeter deeper than it needs to be, but you also won't be feeling that your pocket was picked when it's over.
  14. Avenue Montaigne is a bonbon, not a bouillabaisse. But because this is finally a film about desire, it carries a bittersweet tang.
  15. Reviewed by: Lisa Nesselson
    70
    A well-oiled script is nicely served by a multigenerational cast, a bittersweet and consistently entertaining mainstream comedy that tackles the big themes of Life and Art with unpretentious brio.
  16. Avenue Montaigne transforms an overwhelming metropolis into a user-friendly village with quirkily appealing characters.
  17. 70
    Effortlessly interlinking the stories through the jaunty perambulations of a fresh-faced waitress from a local cafe, Thomson's crowd-pleaser makes up in refined schmaltz what it lacks in innovation or profundity.
  18. Reviewed by: Josh Rosenblatt
    67
    With her lithe frame and insouciantly boyish mop of blond hair, De France is a particularly French sort of film heroine.
  19. For Yank color in her soap-bubbly movie, director Daniele Thompson has her pal Sydney Pollack appear as...a famous director.
  20. Originally titled "Orchestra Seats," Montaigne takes a page from the "Amelie" playbook, without the fancy visuals or magical realism.
  21. Has a breezy, Altmanesque air, as it tracks the mini-dramas of its crisscrossing characters.
  22. Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    50
    Aside from pretty people behaving cutely, there's just not much here, and even devoted Francophiles may nod into their cafe crèmes.
  23. Avenue Montaigne would be difficult to stomach if it weren't so light and uninsistent, and if its actors weren't so charming. I still rolled my eyes--but sometimes I do that when I get a really good croissant.
  24. It's formula stuff, to be sure, but full of feeling for the sweep of the past as well as for the unsettled, yearning present.
  25. 38
    A lightweight French comedy worth watching only for Cecile de France. The gamine actress - decked out in short reddish hair, black tights and a thigh-high mini - is charming as Jessica.
User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 15 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 8
  2. Negative: 1 out of 8
  1. BruceC.
    9
    Unmistakably French but delightfully full of surprises this unpretentious piece set in the most stylish part of Paris covers a range of people and their personal struggles. Fine acting performances superb photography and music and tasteful moments of pathos balanced with warmth. Ultimately an uplifting and enjoyable experience thanks to some imaginative writing and direction by Daniele Thompson. Full Review »
  2. DougF.
    9
    A warm, enjoyable film - not being a film critic I'm not jaded and so loved it - youth, optimism, and open-heartedness cross paths with age, experience, and benevolence, and who wouldn't like to see them come together in mutual appreciation? The worst thing that happens is the heroine gets caught in the rain - the best things are the mutual reinforcemnt by the characters in each other's continued joie de vivre -- the US attempts at random-coincidence encounter movies seem to be straining for high-voltage ironic/Zen significance (Magnolia, Crash) or schtick and schmalz. But this film - ah, it was the best cinema experience I've had in several years, and it makes me want to brush up on my high-school French and emigrate to la belle France. I recommend it, subtitles and all. Full Review »
  3. MaryB.
    8
    My friend and I figured that this would be more of a travelogue on Paris. We were wrong! It was a funny, wise and very enjoyable movie. Viva la France! Full Review »