| 88 |
Philadelphia Inquirer
Not only is Bossa Nova a lovely romance, but one can say, as one can about few films, that it is restorative as a vacation.
|
| 88 |
Christian Science Monitor
The story is slender, but the Brazilian settings are exquisite and lilting tunes by Antonio Carlos Jobim cast a spell over the entire enterprise.
|
| 80 |
Variety
Imagine a '30s screwball comedy played to a sensuous Brazilian beat and you're ready for Bossa Nova, a delightfully amusing romantic roundelay.
|
| 80 |
Film.com
Despite the frivolous feel, it's clear the director intends for Bossa Nova to be a love letter to his two passions: Brazil and his leading lady (who's also his real-life wife). Neither lets him down.
|
| 75 |
Entertainment Weekly
The air smells sweet and there's a thrumming beat in Bossa Nova.
|
| 75 |
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
A cheerful and stylish romantic comedy that's easy on the eyes and ears, and makes few demands on the intellect.
|
| 75 |
New York Post
Isn't great. But I had fun watching.
|
| 75 |
Chicago Tribune
A breezy, elegant charmer of a movie.
|
| 75 |
Boston Globe
One of the most warmly beguiling romantic comedies the Southern Hemisphere has sent our way in ages.
|
| 70 |
Chicago Reader
The coincidences that bring some characters together and keep others apart in this romantic comedy are plotted with musical grace.
|
| 70 |
The New York Times
There must be a name for a picture so inconsequential, in which the music provides so much of the chemistry that you get the feeling Bossa Nova would be funereal without it.
|
| 67 |
Portland Oregonian
May not carry great emotional or intellectual weight, but, in a slim and fetching way, it's peachy.
|
| 63 |
Miami Herald
Marta Barber
Romantic comedy that softens your date into giving you that first kiss. It's not much more than that -- it's flawed and somewhat unfocused.
|
| 60 |
Newsweek
Donna Freydkin
Sort of like a Jennifer Lopez video: pretty to look at, easy on the ears, but ultimately completely vacuous and lackluster.
|
| 50 |
San Francisco Examiner
Like sitting on the beach under a cozy, warm afternoon sun. The view is beautiful, but not much is happening and soon you drift peacefully to sleep.
|
| 50 |
TV Guide
The city looks breathtakingly lovely, the movie's Brazilian characters are charming and filled with joie de vivre, and using excerpts would take care of the fact that the pacing's a bit sluggish for such fluffy material.
|
| 50 |
San Francisco Chronicle
Does have a certain classy charm because of its upscale setting. One could wait for the video.
|
| 50 |
Los Angeles Times
Tilts toward the slight and merely pleasant when it could have had much more emotional impact.
|
| 45 |
Mr. Showbiz
Richard T. Jameson
Bossa Nova has no beat.
|
| 40 |
LA Weekly
This suffocatingly pleasant cross between "Sliding Doors" and "Six Degrees of Separation" is barely rescued by one beautiful scene.
|
| 40 |
Austin Chronicle
It's a feast of inconsequentiality, though, a love affair-lite that looks great but is ultimately less filling than a sunny summer Sunday's creampuff dream.
|
| 30 |
Dallas Observer
Sits before us like an exquisite platter of wax fruit, colorful, flavorless, and, if you eat it, very likely to come back up.
|
| 20 |
Washington Post
Unromantic, nonsexual and hellaciously dull.
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