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50Thanks to this relentlessly likable film's playful sexuality and utter lack of pretension it's surprisingly easy to let all of one's objections float away on a fragrant cloud of kitchen sweat, pheromones, and sweet lime zest.
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50Lovely to look at and listen to but doesn't reward any closer study.
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63A romantic fairy tale that's light and in several ways seductive, if not exactly filling.
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60This gently satirical farce is atmospheric when dabbling in religion--the chef turns to spiritual magic to defuse her passion for her husband--and moving during her heart-to-hearts with her friend.
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63This is the kind of movie you sort of like, and yet even while you're liking it, you're thinking how much better these characters and this situation could have been with a little more imagination and daring.
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A dish that's pretty easy to swallow, but if it could have borrowed some of Isabella's more potent spices, it might have boasted a more lasting flavor.
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30Consistently fails to deliver the charm it presumes to have.
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33Has all the mood enhancing flavor of a tropical cocktail made with watered down rum and fake fruit juice.
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30There is something especially irritating about whimsy done badly.
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30The visual fireworks and catchy score just underline the extreme superficiality of the material.
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60Relentlessly positive and optimistic, the film is also likable, in the most chaste way imaginable.
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20If Penélope Cruz were any less attractive, maybe someone would have noticed how dull this mild, would-be romantic fairy tale has turned out.
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75A charming confection spun from pure whimsy.
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49Predictable, tame dreariness.
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50Gets the proportions all wrong -- too much magic, not enough realism.
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63Prime date fare, but cotton-candy light and occasionally just a little too whimsical.
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63Tries too hard to be playful and sensual, wacky and romantic, and comes away feeling fake and prefabricated instead.
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58Awfully sloppy entertainment, built on a script with only a glancing acquaintance with logic, filled with uneven performances and staged with a near-amateur touch for comedy.
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30Cruz is a dish, but her movie is as soggy and indigestible as Styrofoam.
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30Just a string of cute gags and pouting on Isabella's part that's supposed to signify soul-searching.
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50Wants to be a brightly colored bubble but has trouble getting aloft.
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50Not the sweaty midnight stroll through the garden of carnal delights that its title wants you to believe.
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83As a goofy little fantasy, however, this film has loads of charm.
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50This would-be spicy film has been made blandly palatable.
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20This is as close to a total wipeout as can be imagined.
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50Bright, bubbly and thoroughly inconsequential.
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75All coy and fey -- and painless to digest.
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70A fantastical romp with a buoyant pace, exotic locations, a finger-popping score, appealing leads and spicy cooking demonstrations.
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40Too flimsily built and baldly unfunny to bolster Cruz's charms, but Almodóvar's blessed Virgin is, as usual, winning and guilelessly seductive.
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40Never the magic charmer it sets out to be.
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10The mind will be starved for subtlety, wit and substance.