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The Cup
Metascore
70 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 23 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 23
  3. Negative: 0 out of 23
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  1. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: David Sterritt
    100
    The first feature-length movie from Bhutan tells its lighthearted story through smart performances, appealing images, and unfailing good humor.
  2. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: J. Hoberman
    90
    The lovability quotient is as high as the altitude.
  3. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Desson Thomson
    90
    A chalice of unpretentious delight, flowing over with goodwill, a cheeky love for soccer and, uh, Buddhist humor.
  4. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Hannah Brown
    88
    So joyous it can actually shake viewers out of a bad mood.
    All this critic's reviews
  5. Dallas Observer
    Reviewed by: Andy Klein
    80
    This sweet little movie is a mild comedy, a much calmer cousin to "Sister Act," with men in robes rather than women in habits.
  6. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Dana Stevens
    80
    A very funny movie, alive with a sense of absurdity and human foible.
  7. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    75
    A delightful demonstration of how spirituality can coexist quite happily with an intense desire for France to defeat Brazil.
  8. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Rene Rodriguez
    75
    Past the foreign mysticism and eccentricity of Tibetan Buddhism to portray its characters as unmistakably, identifiably human.
    All this critic's reviews
  9. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jack Mathews
    75
    Could well end up on the coming Oscar ballot for best foreign language film.
  10. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Peter Stack
    75
    The glimpses of religious life bumping into secular passion are touching and warmly comic.
  11. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Jay Carr
    75
    A small film and, ultimately, a satisfying one.
  12. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Ann Hornaday
    75
    It's a clear-eyed, unsentimental portrait and indelible for that very reason.
    All this critic's reviews
  13. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    70
    The tragedy of modern Tibet haunts this otherwise lighthearted tale of life inside a Buddhist monastery-in-exile.
  14. Film.com
    Reviewed by: Elizabeth Weitzman
    70
    Wouldn't you rather learn about his culture from Norbu than from Richard Gere?
  15. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kenneth Turan
    70
    Charming, slyly comic and far from conventionally religious.
    All this critic's reviews
  16. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marc Savlov
    67
    While never dull, The Cup is a leisurely, quiet film, rife with staid, sometimes ponderous moments reflecting the seriousness of their situation in exile.
  17. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Carrie Rickey
    63
    An improbably funny and transcendent account of soccer-mad Tibetan monks in exile at a Bhutan monastery.
    All this critic's reviews
  18. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Ella Taylor
    60
    Though The Cup is lovely to look at, it has none of the ceremonial rigor mortis of Scorsese's "Kundun."
  19. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Rosenbaum
    60
    Norbu tries too hard to please and charm, but his film at least carries the advantages of unactorly faces and a premise based on actual events that dramatizes the issue of religious vocation in a secular world.
  20. Mr. Showbiz
    Reviewed by: Michael Atkinson
    58
    A cute, clichéd, coming-of-age comedy.
    All this critic's reviews
  21. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Paula Nechak
    50
    Never offers much enlightenment through its message.
  22. Film.com
    Reviewed by: Ernest Hardy
    50
    Too slow-moving and too understated in much of its humor.
  23. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    42
    Little more than a plodding celebration of global television trumping everything in its midst.
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