| 100 |
San Francisco Chronicle
Neither a "gay" movie nor a straight one; it is simply a funny one.
|
| 100 |
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Hilarious, near-flawless.
|
| 91 |
Entertainment Weekly
Cagey, high gloss comedy.
|
| 90 |
Washington Post
Wins you over with its devastating simplicity.
|
| 90 |
Washington Post
The French originals are always much breezier, the characters more genuine and the actors subtler even if the situations are just as silly.
|
| 88 |
Baltimore Sun
The movie's steady good humor and respect for character is pleasing - even energizing.
|
| 83 |
Portland Oregonian
It is aided both by fine performances by Auteuil, Aumont and Depardieu and by wonderful pacing.
|
| 80 |
New Times (L.A.)
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.
|
| 80 |
Chicago Reader
Funny? This one is. It's also sweet and thoughtful.
|
| 80 |
Newsweek
More sweet than savage, this amiable farce creates laughs with old-pro efficiency.
|
| 80 |
Rolling Stone
Auteuil and Depardieu spar hilariously, and writer-director Francis Veber, following "The Dinner Game," offers another delicious treat.
|
| 80 |
The New York Times
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.
|
| 80 |
Wall Street Journal
An expertly developed farce that's very funny and surprisingly affecting in the bargain.
|
| 80 |
Variety
Lisa Nesselson
A clever premise that's good for many laughs.
|
| 75 |
New York Post
Hilarious French farce.
|
| 75 |
USA Today
This is economy of style that Americans get only in Woody Allen movies -- and even that's not a guarantee.
|
| 75 |
Philadelphia Inquirer
It's a bright and breezy piece, and a refreshing alternative to the gross-out Hollywood comedies.
|
| 75 |
Charlotte Observer
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.
|
| 75 |
New York Daily News
A farce nearly as cracked as his previous "The Dinner Game."
|
| 75 |
Boston Globe
Perhaps not the most uproarious of Veber's farces, but entertaining and emotionally satisfying all the same.
|
| 70 |
LA Weekly
Holly Willis
Auteuil is as charming as ever, with a surprising aptitude for physical humor that keeps the tone cheerfully light and the laughs plentiful.
|
| 63 |
Chicago Tribune
By the end we are left with a mildly amusing comedy and the lingering memory of a sterling cast that deserved better material.
|
| 63 |
Chicago Sun-Times
Passes the time pleasantly and has a few good laughs.
|
| 60 |
Los Angeles Times
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.
|
| 60 |
Village Voice
Tumbles happily into every pitfall that lines its well-trodden path.
|
| 60 |
TV Guide
It's amusing more often than it isn't, largely because the cast is so nonchalant and, well, French about everything.
|
| 40 |
Austin Chronicle
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.
|
| 20 |
Mr. Showbiz
Has a blithe tone and a capable cast, but Veber's script is 100 percent laugh-free.
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