| 100 |
Chicago Tribune
Michael Wilmington
It's tantalizing, delectable and randy, a movie of melting eroticism and toothsome humor.
|
| 91 |
Portland Oregonian
Shawn Levy
It's built of such exquisite craft -- the acting, the decor, the photography, the music -- that to refuse it is to refuse the very sensations that draw us to art, romance and maybe even life itself.
|
| 90 |
Los Angeles Times
Kevin Thomas
A work of artistry and craftsmanship at the highest level.
|
| 90 |
Variety
Lael Loewenstein
The most satisfying epicurean feast since "Big Night."
|
| 80 |
Film.com
Tom Keogh
Abittersweet fable about the raw joys of human revival.
|
| 80 |
Dallas Observer
Gregory Weinkauf
If Hallström has a problem with tone, it lies in his almost supernatural niceness. Thus, what arrives on-screen is purely a man's feminism, simple and trite and beautiful and vital.
|
| 80 |
TV Guide
Frank Lovece
The film burbles with delightful dialogue and a sparkling sense of life.
|
| 80 |
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
A sinfully scrumptious bonbon.
|
| 80 |
Mr. Showbiz
Kristy Martin
It's so easy to be mesmerized by Chocolat's brilliant indulgences that one abandons reason altogether.
|
| 80 |
Newsweek
David Ansen
Chocolat is a seriocomic plea for tolerance, gift-wrapped in the baby blue colors of a fairy tale and served up with a sybaritic smile.
|
| 80 |
LA Weekly
Paul Malcolm
While there are scenes of wrenching emotional openness and spontaneous charm -- largely due to the irresistible allure and impeccable craft of its ensemble cast -- the degree of calculation apparent in its plot and images undermines its efforts to move and seduce.
|
| 80 |
The New York Times
A.O. Scott
So assured in its manipulative prowess that only afterward do you realize how fully you've been worked over.
|
| 75 |
Boston Globe
Jay Carr
May not be deep, but it certainly is lip-smacking.
|
| 75 |
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
A bittersweet confection that few holiday filmgoers will be able to resist, thanks to melt-in-your-mouth performances by Juliette Binoche, Alfred Molina and Judi Dench.
|
| 75 |
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
The movie is charming and whimsical, and Binoche reigns as a serene and wise goddess.
|
| 75 |
New York Daily News
Jack Mathews
A charming trifle, beautifully filmed in a Currier & Ives setting, with buttery-smooth performances from Binoche and Depp, and enough good tidings in its nougat center to get you through the holidays.
|
| 70 |
Chicago Reader
Jonathan Rosenbaum
The director (Hallstrom) and cast are all excellent.
|
| 70 |
Salon.com
Charles Taylor
A cozy little ode to sensual and culinary pleasure.
|
| 67 |
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
It's as agreeably sweet as advertised, with a particularly yummy performance by Juliette Binoche.
|
| 63 |
Baltimore Sun
Chris Kaltenbach
Has an unerring capacity for going soft whenever a hard edge is called for.
|
| 63 |
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
Certainly satisfies our hunger for a light, bright dessert, yet it may leave you hungry for more.
|
| 63 |
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
Too bad Chocolat isn't as seductive as its leading lady.
|
| 50 |
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
Like binging on a bottomless box of truffles: Tastes good and sweet at first, but after a while, you start feeling a little green.
|
| 50 |
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
More sugary than satisfying.
|
| 50 |
Time
Richard Schickel
Made with a sort of tasteful vulgarity, this movie never disappoints the slack-minded audience's anticipation of the humanistically healing banality, the life-crushing behavioral cliché.
|
| 50 |
USA Today
Mike Clark
Never enough goodies to keep the two-hour running time from seeming like three.
|
| 50 |
San Francisco Chronicle
Carla Meyer
A lighthearted fable with jarring scenes of violence and halfhearted stabs at mystical realism, its saving grace is its gooey center, the luminous Binoche.
|
| 50 |
Austin Chronicle
Marjorie Baumgarten
Like its title implies, Chocolat tastes good in the moment but leaves behind little nutritional substance.
|
| 40 |
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
I can only bestow this adaptation of Joanne Harris's bestselling novel with such faint praise as "pleasant" and "mildly disarming."
|
| 30 |
Village Voice
Dennis Lim
Airy, pseudo-folkloric gibberish at best.
|
| 20 |
Slate
David Edelstein
The movie is barely sufferable.
|
