Closet, The

San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham

Neither a "gay" movie nor a straight one; it is simply a funny one.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Hilarious, near-flawless.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Cagey, high gloss comedy.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Wins you over with its devastating simplicity.

Washington Post Rita Kempley

The French originals are always much breezier, the characters more genuine and the actors subtler even if the situations are just as silly.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

The movie's steady good humor and respect for character is pleasing - even energizing.

Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan

It is aided both by fine performances by Auteuil, Aumont and Depardieu and by wonderful pacing.

New Times (L.A.) M.V. Moorhead

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.

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

Funny? This one is. It's also sweet and thoughtful.

Newsweek David Ansen

More sweet than savage, this amiable farce creates laughs with old-pro efficiency.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Auteuil and Depardieu spar hilariously, and writer-director Francis Veber, following "The Dinner Game," offers another delicious treat.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

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.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

An expertly developed farce that's very funny and surprisingly affecting in the bargain.

Variety Lisa Nesselson

A clever premise that's good for many laughs.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Hilarious French farce.

USA Today Mike Clark

This is economy of style that Americans get only in Woody Allen movies -- and even that's not a guarantee.

Philadelphia Inquirer Desmond Ryan

It's a bright and breezy piece, and a refreshing alternative to the gross-out Hollywood comedies.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

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.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

A farce nearly as cracked as his previous "The Dinner Game."

Boston Globe Jay Carr

Perhaps not the most uproarious of Veber's farces, but entertaining and emotionally satisfying all the same.

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.

Chicago Tribune John Petrakis

By the end we are left with a mildly amusing comedy and the lingering memory of a sterling cast that deserved better material.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Passes the time pleasantly and has a few good laughs.

Los Angeles Times John Anderson

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.

Village Voice Dennis Lim

Tumbles happily into every pitfall that lines its well-trodden path.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

It's amusing more often than it isn't, largely because the cast is so nonchalant and, well, French about everything.

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

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.

Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard

Has a blithe tone and a capable cast, but Veber's script is 100 percent laugh-free.