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The Closet
Metascore
72 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 28 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 28
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 28
  3. Negative: 1 out of 28
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  1. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Bob Graham
    100
    Neither a "gay" movie nor a straight one; it is simply a funny one.
  2. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: William Arnold
    100
    Hilarious, near-flawless.
  3. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    91
    Cagey, high gloss comedy.
  4. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Desson Thomson
    90
    Wins you over with its devastating simplicity.
  5. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Rita Kempley
    90
    The French originals are always much breezier, the characters more genuine and the actors subtler even if the situations are just as silly.
  6. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Michael Sragow
    88
    The movie's steady good humor and respect for character is pleasing - even energizing.
  7. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Kim Morgan
    83
    It is aided both by fine performances by Auteuil, Aumont and Depardieu and by wonderful pacing.
  8. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    80
    Auteuil and Depardieu spar hilariously, and writer-director Francis Veber, following "The Dinner Game," offers another delicious treat.
  9. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    80
    Veber's giddy social comedy The Closet finds more delicious, chortling fun in the spectacle of obsequious hypocrisy than any movie I've seen in ages.
  10. Newsweek
    Reviewed by: David Ansen
    80
    More sweet than savage, this amiable farce creates laughs with old-pro efficiency.
    All this critic's reviews
  11. Variety
    Reviewed by: Lisa Nesselson
    80
    A clever premise that's good for many laughs.
  12. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Joe Morgenstern
    80
    An expertly developed farce that's very funny and surprisingly affecting in the bargain.
    All this critic's reviews
  13. New Times (L.A.)
    Reviewed by: M.V. Moorhead
    80
    The director is in fine form with The Closet, an expertly acted divertissement that may well be headed for a Yank incarnation within the next few years.
  14. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Lisa Alspector
    80
    Funny? This one is. It's also sweet and thoughtful.
  15. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jami Bernard
    75
    A farce nearly as cracked as his previous "The Dinner Game."
  16. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    75
    Hilarious French farce.
    All this critic's reviews
  17. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Desmond Ryan
    75
    It's a bright and breezy piece, and a refreshing alternative to the gross-out Hollywood comedies.
  18. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Mike Clark
    75
    This is economy of style that Americans get only in Woody Allen movies -- and even that's not a guarantee.
  19. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Jay Carr
    75
    Perhaps not the most uproarious of Veber's farces, but entertaining and emotionally satisfying all the same.
    All this critic's reviews
  20. Charlotte Observer
    Reviewed by: Lawrence Toppman
    75
    Auteuil does an excellent job. He's like Marcello Mastroianni, whose naturalness also deluded people into thinking for a while that he wasn't a versatile actor.
  21. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Holly Willis
    70
    Auteuil is as charming as ever, with a surprising aptitude for physical humor that keeps the tone cheerfully light and the laughs plentiful.
  22. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    63
    Passes the time pleasantly and has a few good laughs.
  23. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: John Petrakis
    63
    By the end we are left with a mildly amusing comedy and the lingering memory of a sterling cast that deserved better material.
    All this critic's reviews
  24. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    60
    It's amusing more often than it isn't, largely because the cast is so nonchalant and, well, French about everything.
  25. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Dennis Lim
    60
    Tumbles happily into every pitfall that lines its well-trodden path.
  26. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: John Anderson
    60
    Veber, also responsible for "The Dinner Game," apparently has a finger on the pulse of French audiences and Gallic-minded Americans, but there's just not a lot of freshness in this Closet.
  27. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Kimberley Jones
    40
    It doesn't have the bite to be satire, the pratfalls to be broad comedy, or the wit to pass as a comedy of manners. What does that leave? The French cinematic equivalent of motivational coaching, and -- just like Pignon -- something spectacularly unspectacular.
  28. Mr. Showbiz
    Reviewed by: Kevin Maynard
    20
    Has a blithe tone and a capable cast, but Veber's script is 100 percent laugh-free.
    All this critic's reviews
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