The Chorus
Miramax Films | Release Date: January 14, 2005 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
56
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
17
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
USA TodayClaudia Puig
An enchantingly beautiful and moving film. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
A runaway hit in France last year and the country's official Oscar entry, is a well-nigh irresistible film celebrating the redemptive power of music. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Extremely goodhearted, if not exactly original or exciting. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Heartfelt, but not to the degree that it becomes cloying. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Like all good popular entertainments, the best of it sings. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
A movie you've seen many times before, but the setting is different, its characters are well drawn and it delivers its uplifting message with succinctness, sincerity and skill. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
This is a formula film with panache. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterFrank Scheck
An appealing lead performance from its leading man and a wonderfully sentimental, if overly familiar, story line are the chief virtues of this French drama, a huge success in its native country. Read full review
70
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Larded over with le fromage, which is to say, French cheese. But as these dairy products go, Christophe Barratier's movie is delectable sentiment. Audiences will crumble into itty-bitty pieces of Roquefort watching this. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderRonnie Scheib
The excellent cast in Christophe Barratier's loose remake of a 1945 Jean Dreville film ensures that the predictable, nostalgic ride remains enjoyable throughout. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
A crowd pleaser, even if it is unremarkable. Read full review
63
PremierePeter Debruge
It's basically just another watered-down version of Dead Poets Society and countless other inspirational-teacher films, but its emotional impact is undeniable. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Like "Mr. Holland's Opus," only in French, with an all-boy cast in white shirts and short pants, The Chorus is the kind of sugary, crowd-pleasing fare that only the most curmudgeonly moviegoer can frown upon. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Does it by the numbers, so efficiently this feels more like a Hollywood wannabe than a French film. Where's the quirkiness, the nuance, the deeper levels? Read full review
63
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
There's very little in The Chorus you haven't seen before, but the movie's depth of sentiment -- especially its profound humanism -- makes it worth experiencing again. Read full review
60
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Most of the film, a debut feature directed by Christophe Barratier, is quite shamelessly formulaic. The Chorus redeems itself, though, with Mr. Jugnot's astute, understated performance.
60
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Barratier has assembled an unforgettable gallery of faces both young and old, and prolific character actor Berleand plays the perfect villain. Read full review
60
EmpireAnna Smith
There’s little interest in probing characterisation, but the plot progress is steady and the performances likeable. Read full review
58
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
In the end, it's a perfectly decent, perfectly vaporous film, pretty but slight, predictable but never incompetent. Read full review
50
VarietyLisa Nesselson
No stereotype is left unheralded and no heartstring left untugged in this freely adapted remake of Jean Dreville's mostly forgotten "La cage aux rossignols" Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
The Chorus plucks desperately at the heartstrings, but fails to breathe new life into a tired old tune. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyScott Foundas
The Chorus is sham art and questionable entertainment, but at the very least it sends you whistling out of the theater. Read full review
50
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
A deeply conventional story about truculent or orphaned boys and the gentle soul who finds himself by shaping the tots into a chorus. Read full review
50
New York PostLou Lumenick
A shameless heart-tugger from France, The Chorus leaves no cliché unturned. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
The crime of The Chorus isn't that it's corny. (I like corny.) It's that its corniness seems programmed. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleWalter Addiego
The film is finally a letdown. Read full review
50
Washington PostNelson Pressley
Might have gone down as an endearing fable, if only the route to its finale had been less cliched. Read full review
50
Dallas ObserverMelissa Levine
Did nobody involved in this project notice that it was retreading a very deep groove? Read full review
50
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
Unabashedly sentimental and just as unabashedly cliched. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarrit Ingman
This kindly and spirited film doesn't exactly break the mold of the heartwarming, humanistic boarding-school dramedy. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
The movie is rotten the way that only a denatured made-for-export slice of Gallic nostalgia can be. Read full review
40
Village VoiceBen Kenigsberg
The cinematic equivalent of filtered water, The Chorus is all smooth, nutrient-free clichés. This shamelessly globalized French Oscar submission even opens with a shot of an American flag--perhaps an unconscious declaration of defeat for importable Gallic cinema. Read full review
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