Puccini for Beginners

Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar

Kirk and Mol are convincing, easily inhabiting their respective roles.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Woody Allen certainly hasn't managed anything remotely this funny lately.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Puccini for Beginners, which takes its title from its heroine's passion for opera, isn't just another trendy toe-dip in sexual experimentation. It may not be the real world of New York, or even of most relationships, but it's worth a visit.

Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall

Fresh Manhattan locations prove as photogenic as the leads, and the supporting actors--especially Tina Benko as a glacial, impeccably dressed amazon--don't miss a beat of Maggenti's snappy dialogue.

The Hollywood Reporter Duane Byrge

Brainy and balmy.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

It all looks easy when it's carried off this smoothly. But as any number of stilted duds can attest, applying a Philip Barry or Woody Allen sensibility to 21st-century New Yorkers in their 30s is as delicate a craft as diamond cutting.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

The plot, which spins around Allegra's lovers having just been an item, is awkward bedroom farce, but the tone is Woody Allen-meets-"The L Word," with a patina of literary cuteness that now seems like the sound of a vanished Manhattan.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

In the end, it's all la dolce vita no matter how you look at it.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

If Woody Allen were a young, attractive gay woman, he might make something like this, or so Maggenti hopes. But it would probably be funnier, and it would definitely cut deeper.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Considering how good "Puccini's" middle often is, it's a shame it falls down fore and aft. But Maggenti, who loves Carole Lombard and William Powell in "My Man Godfrey," is tapping a likable vein here. She should open it up again.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Crust

Bisexuality certainly increases the geometric possibilities of the romantic comedy, completing its triangles and allowing for quadrangles and other, more amorphous layers of amorous involvement.

Variety David Rooney

While it tips its hat to screwball comedy, Puccini for Beginners owes more to contemporary sitcom. It also has way more in common with "Sex and the City" than "The L Word." None of that is entirely a bad thing in a film that never really soars but has enough breezy humor.

TV Guide Ken Fox

There's also precious little chemistry between the players. Only Mol has any charm of which to speak, and, frankly, she deserves much better.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

Puccini for Beginners may divide individual audience members. It divided me; rarely have I seen a film simultaneously so good and so bad.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray

Maggenti is still trapped behind surfaces, enamored of the IDEA of making a buoyant, urbane romantic comedy, while falling short of anything really resonant or personal.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Awkward, unconvincing bisexual roundelay.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Puccini for Beginners is literate and sensitive, characterized by witty dialogue and smart, emotional two-person encounters.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

There's no conviction among these self-involved folks who sidestep commitment with a quip and a grin.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

But when mechanical plots are a drama's main engine, we look for something else to divert us, preferably good comedy. That's in short supply, unfortunately. And it's no fun to sit through the movie's retread Woody Allenisms.

Village Voice Ed Gonzalez

Maggenti suffocates her story with dated references to every buzzword from Laura Mulvey's feminist catalog except for "the male gaze." In short, a nightmare worse than "Trust the Man."