| 75 |
Entertainment Weekly
Scott Brown
This is feel-good filmmaking, to be sure, but the culture clash here is more than a meaningless vehicle for fizzy wish fulfillment. The not-unpleasant result is hearty Italian fare with the half-life of Chinese takeout.
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| 70 |
Los Angeles Times
Intent on offering viewers a good time yet manages to sneak in considerable substance in a disarming, even old-fashioned manner.
|
| 63 |
New York Daily News
So desperately eager to please: Gaudreault doesn't offer much in the way of wit or originality, but he's determined to win us over with sheer enthusiasm.
|
| 63 |
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Patterns itself after the Greek model -- that is, more ethnic humour with a contemporary twist.
|
| 63 |
Boston Globe
No sophisticated dance, but it moves about with an open heart. And hey, it's at least as funny as that Greek thing.
|
| 60 |
TV Guide
Beneath the heavy accents, wild gesticulating, slaps to the head and garish flocked wallpaper, there's an awful lot of heart.
|
| 60 |
Empire
Caroline Westbrook
Lacks sparkle, and finally tips its gallery of colourful protagonists into the realm of caricature.
|
| 60 |
Variety
The broad comedy is somewhat strained and obvious, and the hyper-real atmosphere encourages the cast to slice the prosciutto a little thickly. But the film's sweet-natured ingenuousness proves reasonably contagious.
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| 50 |
New York Post
You don't have to be gay or Italian or live in Canada to enjoy Mambo Italiano, but a tolerance for ethnic mugging helps.
|
| 50 |
San Francisco Chronicle
Carla Meyer
A coming-out comedy that mines every cliche of cloistered Italian culture. But like "Greek Wedding," Mambo has enough funny moments to save it.
|
| 50 |
Chicago Tribune
Likable but relentlessly trivial.
|
| 50 |
Chicago Reader
The "Big Fat Wedding" formula dictates a certain amount of ugly-duckling fantasy along with the ethnic scenery chewing.
|
| 50 |
Chicago Sun-Times
There are laughs in the movie, and a lot of good feeling, but it seems more interested in its Italian stereotypes than its gay insights.
|
| 50 |
Baltimore Sun
Unless you think "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" was the height of genius, there's little reason to sit though another version.
|
| 42 |
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
More than painful to behold, it's simply insincere in a film determined to undermine gay stereotypes.
|
| 40 |
The Onion (A.V. Club)
If Gaudreault's 90-minute pilot ever makes it to television, French-Canadians can look forward to their own Italian version of A.K.A. Pablo.
|
| 40 |
The Hollywood Reporter
Frank Scheck
Ethnic and sexual stereotypes receive equally clumsy treatment in this Canadian comedy.
|
| 40 |
The New York Times
As Angelo, Mr. Kirby has a boyish charm, which is probably the best that can be said for this film as well.
|
| 40 |
Village Voice
Ed Halter
Old annoying ethnic family stereotypes meet new annoying gay-relationship stereotypes in this candidate for "Kiss Me Guido's" heretofore uncontested niche.
|
| 40 |
LA Weekly
More dispiriting than the caricatured Italian families is the sense that, by picture's end, the filmmakers have neutered Angelo, so that his sexual energy is dulled, made non-threatening -- the perfect son after all.
|
| 38 |
Charlotte Observer
This film might have been daringly funny 10 years ago, even with its broadest elements intact. Now it's comfortable as old slippers and unthreatening as a sleeping kitten.
|
| 33 |
Portland Oregonian
The script is inane, and though Ferri has some funny moments, the acting is annoying or hopelessly bland.
|
| 30 |
Dallas Observer
David Ehrenstein
If any further indication were needed of the fact that gay has gone mainstream, this flaccid farce provides definitive proof, for it's as forced and unfunny as subpar Sandra Dee.
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| 25 |
Premiere
Perfectly harmless but by no means cinematic. It is unapologetically vying for the same moviegoers that "Greek Wedding" connected with last summer.
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| 20 |
Washington Post
Lacks that outrageous effrontery that might have socked it to its intended audience.
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| 20 |
Austin Chronicle
Disappointing flop that is best left off your dance card.
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