A Good Year
Fox 2000 Pictures | Release Date: November 10, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
47
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
19
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Gorgeous photography and strong acting keep the formula from becoming stale. For those who don't mind pictures that fall into predictable rhythms, A Good Year represents a pleasant diversion. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy Burr
A shamelessly enjoyable retread, an ode to la belle vie that has been well turned on a factory spindle. Read full review
70
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Ridley Scott's A Good Year is a bonbon made by a mechanic, a well-intentioned diversion put together by someone who clumsily adds the right ingredients in the wrong proportions at the wrong time. But sometimes, if you get the sugar level close to right, you can do OK, and A Good Year offers some pretty basic pleasures that movies often fail to give us these days. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Because Crowe is hamstrung by his role, he never strikes the requisite sparks with Cotillard. This is quite an achievement, since her beauty is on par with Provence's. Read full review
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
It's an art-house genre piece, very much in the tradition of "Enchanted April," "Shirley Valentine" and "Under the Tuscan Sun." But, a few charming scenes aside, A Good Year is in the hands of the wrong star and wrong director. Read full review
67
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Apart from the movie's moments of flesh and fantasy, it lacks the lyric impulse that would make the swank fantasy take flight. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Scott embraces the lightness of the material instead of trying to give it unnecessary weight, and even if he's far from the ideal filmmaker to choreograph bits of slapstick, A Good Year is never less than visually ravishing. Read full review
63
New York PostLou Lumenick
May not be vintage stuff, but it goes down fairly smoothly. Read full review
63
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Broad, hackneyed and stultifyingly predictable. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter Travers
The scenery is glorious; you can almost feel the sunshine and smell the wine. But Crowe and Scott are bulls in Mayle's china shop. Like an assertive Burgundy served with a delicate fish, they're a classic wrong pairing. Read full review
50
VarietyTodd McCarthy
A simple repast consisting of sometimes strained slapsticky comedy, a sweet romance and a life lesson learned, this little picnic doesn't amount to much but goes down easily enough. Read full review
50
The New YorkerDavid Denby
Even judged by the not excessively demanding standards of middle-aged renovation fantasies, A Good Year isn’t much. Read full review
50
TimeRichard Corliss
Crowe, despite his loutish rep, is forever surprising viewers by slipping snugly into the disparate characters he plays. This time he surprises by failing. Oh, he can do engaging as smartly as he does stalwart or tortured, but he gets sabotaged by the cloying script. Read full review
50
Village VoiceNathan Lee
Scott can do mayhem, dystopia, and the rampaging alien (extraterrestrial, android, Somali, Demi Moore) with the best of them, but the breezy touch is not his forte. Read full review
50
PremiereScott Warren
Finney, only seen in these flashbacks, is pitch perfect. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneJessica Reaves
The film, for all its pretensions of revelatory, life-altering enlightenment, is actually about as deep as a wading pool, as substantive as cotton candy. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Though he invests every ounce of his considerable charisma in the lead role, Russell Crowe still comes across as a man unworthy of the paradise offered to him. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Russell Crowe is invariably involving on screen, and Ridley Scott is a splendid director when the material is right. No film they collaborate on will be devoid of interest, but A Good Year almost is. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
There's a lot of self-conscious talk about the importance of timing, but the tony sense of entitlement tends to dampen any laughs. The movie functions best as a middle-class Euro-postcard along the lines of "Chocolat" or "Under the Tuscan Sun." Read full review
50
The New York TimesStephen Holden
A Good Year is a three-P movie: pleasant, pretty and predictable. One might add piddling. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
The overall effect is one of a sumptuously laid table where the main course is overcooked. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
The plot is like a sudoku puzzle with all but one square filled in. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Hartlaub
It's difficult to ignore the fact that they've created a romantic comedy that has almost no romance and even less comedy. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Stephen Cole
Fans of both Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe should not be too bummed with the mild sedative that is A Good Year. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Nothing more than a bad harvest. Read full review
40
EmpireDan Jolin
The Merlot to "Sideways" Pinot, this is one of those middling movies that, while never terrible, also never really impresses. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
You sense in every frame the strain to be lighthearted. Consequently, A Good Year is at times downright clumsy. You know what the filmmakers are trying to achieve and see the labor going into the attempt, but for them to fall so short is unsettling. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
If nothing else, this adaptation of Peter Mayle's umpteenth ode to livin' la vie en Provence will make you wonder about Ridley Scott and the directorial aging process. Read full review
40
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Falls as flat as a bottle of corked Bordeaux. Read full review
38
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Russell Crowe may find himself discovering the simple joys of life in A Good Year, but audiences will be checking their watches during this joyless attempt at comedy. Read full review
38
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Like a fragile Provence wine left too long in the sun, Ridley Scott's romantic comedy A Good Year spoiled somewhere between the publication of Peter Mayle's novel and this cockamamie adaptation. Read full review
38
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe attempt light romantic comedy in A Good Year, and the results are as grindingly discordant as a punk band writing a suite of waltzes. Read full review
20
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
There isn't a milliliter of honest feeling from start to finish, and precious little comedy or romance.
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