Bossa Nova

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

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.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The story is slender, but the Brazilian settings are exquisite and lilting tunes by Antonio Carlos Jobim cast a spell over the entire enterprise.

Variety Joe Leydon

Imagine a '30s screwball comedy played to a sensuous Brazilian beat and you're ready for Bossa Nova, a delightfully amusing romantic roundelay.

Film.com Elizabeth Weitzman

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.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

The air smells sweet and there's a thrumming beat in Bossa Nova.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

A cheerful and stylish romantic comedy that's easy on the eyes and ears, and makes few demands on the intellect.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Isn't great. But I had fun watching.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

A breezy, elegant charmer of a movie.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

One of the most warmly beguiling romantic comedies the Southern Hemisphere has sent our way in ages.

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

The coincidences that bring some characters together and keep others apart in this romantic comedy are plotted with musical grace.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

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.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

May not carry great emotional or intellectual weight, but, in a slim and fetching way, it's peachy.

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.

Newsweek Donna Freydkin

Sort of like a Jennifer Lopez video: pretty to look at, easy on the ears, but ultimately completely vacuous and lackluster.

San Francisco Examiner G. Allen Johnson

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.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

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.

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Stack

Does have a certain classy charm because of its upscale setting. One could wait for the video.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

Tilts toward the slight and merely pleasant when it could have had much more emotional impact.

Mr. Showbiz Richard T. Jameson

Bossa Nova has no beat.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

This suffocatingly pleasant cross between "Sliding Doors" and "Six Degrees of Separation" is barely rescued by one beautiful scene.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

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.

Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf

Sits before us like an exquisite platter of wax fruit, colorful, flavorless, and, if you eat it, very likely to come back up.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Unromantic, nonsexual and hellaciously dull.