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Chéri
Metascore
63 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 27 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 27
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 27
  3. Negative: 0 out of 27
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  1. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Mick LaSalle
    100
    Now that she's past 50, can we all stop holding Michelle Pfeiffer's looks against her and just admit that she's a great actress?
  2. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: Peter Rainer
    100
    Plenty of terrible movies know how to work your tear ducts. Here's a weepie that, in Pfeiffer's performance, touches you on the highest levels.
  3. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    88
    The success of Stephen Frears' film Chéri begins with its casting. Michelle Pfeiffer, as Lea de Lonval, is still a great beauty.
  4. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    83
    Pfeiffer transcends any hint of cliché ''cougar'' voraciousness.
  5. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Kirk Honeycutt
    80
    Actors blossom under Frears' direction. There is no false moment or off-key note in this movie.
  6. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Kimberley Jones
    78
    They don't make women, sexy but regal, like Pfeiffer much anymore, and Cheri is quite a monument to her.
  7. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    75
    With Pfeiffer, 50, radiating uncommon beauty, grace and feeling, Frears uncovers a fragile story's grieving heart.
  8. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    75
    What makes Cheri' worth your while is that its true subjects are women and age, and its observations apply to both 19th-century France and the modern film industry.
  9. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    75
    A respectable and satisfying historical romantic melodrama.
  10. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Tasha Robinson
    75
    The film is a sumptuous, handsome portrait of a woman poised fearfully on the brink of decline, yet too proud to grab at rescue.
  11. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kenneth Turan
    70
    Michelle Pfeiffer is back, and her reappearance in Cheri, her best role in quite some time, underlines not only how much she's been missed but also how much the world of film has lost by her absence.
  12. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: J.R. Jones
    70
    The movie reunites Pfeiffer with director Stephen Frears and screenwriter Christopher Hampton, who did Dangerous Liaisons (1988); this costume drama doesn't have nearly as much bite as that one, though the age reversal of its central romance gives it a certain topicality.
  13. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    63
    The movie is a visual feast, with Oscar-caliber sets and costumes that for many will justify the trip to the Paris Theatre.
  14. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Carrie Rickey
    63
    What is lacking in this version, with its hasty third act and abrupt denouement, is the surprise that their union may be the deepest love either will ever know.
  15. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Claudia Puig
    63
    Cheri, like the character, is an entertaining bauble without much on its mind.
  16. New Orleans Times-Picayune
    Reviewed by: Mike Scott
    63
    Michelle Pfeiffer's performance brings life to a sometimes sagging script. Also, Kathy Bates is a hoot as the mother of Pfeiffer's love interest.
  17. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Elizabeth Weitzman
    60
    The movie's shallow amusements do make for an ideal guilty pleasure, especially since the actors seem to be having so much fun. Bates, marching around like an overstuffed pigeon, is a reliable scene-stealer, while the two leads make an entirely convincing couple.
  18. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: John Anderson
    60
    Cheri looks terrific, if a bit gauzy at times, and Frears, who directed Pfeiffer in that other Frenchified frolic, "Dangerous Liaisons," is never at rest. Still, the movie bogs down by going nowhere other than inside its characters, who are intensely passionate but of an era more curious than emotionally relevant.
  19. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Connie Ogle
    50
    Chéri never fulfills its emotional promise.
  20. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Stephen Cole
    50
    What's so distressing about Michelle Pfeiffer taking a mooning calf for a lover, though, is that it robs her of the quality that has always made her such an interesting actress.
  21. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Shawn Levy
    50
    Whereas "Liaisons" mixed cruelty, wit, sensuality and drama into a deliciously tart frappe, Cheri is pretty, tepid and dull.
  22. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Stephanie Zacharek
    50
    Chéri is a perfect example of a movie that gets many of the details right and the vibe all wrong.
  23. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Manohla Dargis
    50
    There's something poignant about the image of this actress (Pfeiffer) sitting in a pool of sunlight without a smile or trace of visible makeup. But she's trying to reach a character that her director seems intent to keep from her grasp.
  24. Variety
    Reviewed by: Derek Elley
    50
    Like a passable bottle of champagne, Cheri fizzes and slides down quite easily but lacks real body and doesn't really hit the spot.
  25. Empire
    Reviewed by: Anna Smith
    40
    This glimpse into a decadent era has its charms, but they're mostly visual. While Pfeiffer and Friend perform well, the script is tonally confused and lacks edge.
  26. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: David Edelstein
    40
    Michelle Pfeiffer is brittle in a way that's not especially French, but she's poignant and very lovely. Rupert Friend, on the other hand, is difficult to warm up to, especially with his features hidden behind all that hair. It's not a good sign when you have to take the movie's word for it that the lovers at its center are really, really into each other.
  27. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Melissa Anderson
    40
    Frears and Hampton's missteps begin immediately, with the director providing pinched narration as he recounts, over so many cartes de visite, the histories of other famous ladies who made a handsome living on their backs.
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User Reviews

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User Score
6.6 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 16 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 4
  3. Negative: 1 out of 4
  1. giu
    10
    Pfeiffer shines in the movie. She's the only reason!
  2. roberti
    4
    Except for Pfeiffer, the casting is laughable and undermines any hope of credibility. Bates as a former courtesan? Friend as a paramour? Please.
  3. Bichanel
    10
    One of Michelle Pfeiffer's best performances. She also looks so beautiful in this film.
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