Angel-A

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

The overall experience of the movie is of something fresh.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Attractive black-and-white 'Scope compositions, strong Paris locations, and effective handling of the actors makes this captivating throughout.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Angel-A isn't as nutso as some of Besson's other pictures: It doesn't have the crazy inventiveness of, say, "The Fifth Element." As I watched it, I found myself wishing it were just a little loopier. But the picture is still seductive and pleasing.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Movies often turn on slender notions worked up to look like full-fledged ideas. Once in a while, though, a notion will be fertile to begin with, a self-renewing source of delight. That's the case with Luc Besson's Angel-A.

Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan

The weirdly earnest literalism of Besson's story is a weak point. His desire to make Angela satisfy both sides of the Madonna-whore complex is too blatant.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

What's maddening about Angel-A is that Besson is so brilliant with his visuals - and so in love with his two leads and the city they're parading around - that you desperately want the story, and the characters, to make some kind of emotional sense. This, however, does not happen.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Angel-A is an intriguing film, but more of an interesting failure than an offbeat success.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Its strongest asset is the stunningly poetic cinematography by Thierry Arbogast.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

There's always been a wide streak of the tediously naughty little boy in Besson, and all the seductively stylized images in the world can't hide it.

Premiere Peter Debruge

A charming midlife crisis of a movie that bottles the "La Femme Nikita" director's typically high-concept inclinations in a modest indie package.

New York Post Kyle Smith

A black-and-white fantasia shot against a bright backdrop of famous sites, and it has potential to be a cult hit on its dreamy-hipster look alone.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

The beautiful black-and-white photography - and disappointingly sappy ending - are the only remotely sober elements here, thanks to Besson's loopy script and Debbouze's very funny turn as a loser who simply can't believe his luck.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

So stunningly shot and visualized--and scored so hauntingly well by Anja Garbarek, the daughter of saxophonist/composer Jan Garbarek--that it works even if you don't pay attention to the story. Maybe it works better that way.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

Rie Rasmussen and Jamel Debbouze, the stars who portray Angela, the celestial therapist, and André, her star patient, display enough screwball romantic charm to keep this sugary trifle afloat longer than you'd expect.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

Under the lingerie model façade beats the heart of a celestial Dr. Phil.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

What nearly saves the movie, besides the Rasmussen eye candy, is Paris itself, shot in shimmering black-and-white by the gifted Thierry Arbogast. Talk is cheap here, and often inane, but as a silent film, Angel-A could have been magic.

Variety Lisa Nesselson

For his (Besson) fans, Angel-A is an achingly sincere but protracted effort to trade mostly action for mostly dialogue.

Village Voice Jim Ridley

Amiably inconsequential fairy tale.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Crust

In essence, you get "It's a Wonderful Life" meets "Wings of Desire," swapping out the substance for self-help platitudes. If you can get past that, you can enjoy it as a 90-minute look at a lovely postcard.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

A gorgeous-looking but ill-conceived mash note to the city of Paris that riffs on its better, wiser, glaringly obvious cinematic predecessors.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

The movie might have been more tolerable had Besson searched harder for a performer and not a specimen. Barbara Stanwyck in her prime might have made more sense.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Angel-A is counterfeit art-house chic writ large -- a French film that fails to produce the ineffable charms of the yesteryear movies it brazenly imitates.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

At heart, it's just the latest from one-man industry Luc Besson, so even though it looks like art, it plays like schlock.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Kamal AL-Solaylee

How Besson drags this premise into 90 minutes of screen time should be of interest to the perverse among you – or anybody teaching a how-not-to-make-a-movie summer course.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Angel-A shows how director Luc Besson can be French in a way that even the French might despise...Quel ick. And très tedious.