The Namesake
Fox Searchlight Pictures | Release Date: March 9, 2007 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
82
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
32
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Brims with intelligence, compassion and sensuous delight in the textures, sights and sounds of life--all the way from the Taj Mahal to Pearl Jam. Read full review
100
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
Nair takes mostly low-key material about a traditional Indian family raising kids in America and turns it into something sensual, funny and quietly devastating. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Moving and marvelous new cross-cultural family saga. Read full review
91
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
The Namesake takes in a lot of territory, and at times is too diffuse, too attenuated. But the actors are so expressive that they provide their own continuity. They transport us to a realm of pure feeling. Read full review
91
Seattle Post-IntelligencerPaula Nechak
The actors are all well-cast, thoughtful and sometimes funny. Tabu was apparently not Nair's first choice, but after watching her in the role it's hard to imagine anyone else -- she's heartbreakingly good. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesDennis Lim
Despite being rooted in knotty issues of identity, Lahiri's novel forgoes didacticism in favor of vivid portraiture. Nair and her uniformly superb cast take the same tack: The characters are individuals before they are emblems. Read full review
90
The New York TimesStephen Holden
The Namesake, adapted from Jhumpa Lahiri’s popular novel, conveys a palpable sense of people as living, breathing creatures who are far more complex than their words might indicate. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleToddy Burton
Reminiscent of Jim Sheridan’s masterly "In America," The Namesake delivers such a tactile presence that it's difficult not to leave feeling as if you've just struggled through a New York winter, attended an Indian wedding, and returned from a Calcutta holiday. Read full review
88
PremiereGlenn Kenny
A thoroughly engaging, terrifically moving family story that's rich in beautifully observed and lovingly conveyed human detail. Read full review
88
USA TodayClaudia Puig
An engaging and moving film with a universal story about the bonds of family as told through two generations of a Bengali family. Read full review
88
New York PostLou Lumenick
Overall, this gorgeously designed and photographed movie artfully depicts the immigrant experience in ways that transcend its setting, melding Hollywood and Bollywood storytelling techniques to weave a tale a large audience will relate to. Read full review
88
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
A funny and touching adaptation of Pulitzer Prize-winner Jhumpa Lahiri's novel about two generations of Bengali-Americans attempting to reconcile the world of their collective past with that of their individual futures. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The acting is uniformly excellent. For the roles of Ashoke and Ashima, Nair has employed prolific Bollywood stars Tabu and Irfan Khan, both of whom give performances of great range and empathy. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy Burr
The Namesake has a deep, alluvial poetry to it, like a mighty river reaching the sea. It's mysterious and ordinary, insightful and banal, rambling and precise, and it is altogether unexpected. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
It's a tearjerker, sometimes, and sweetly funny at other moments. It's near perfect. Read full review
88
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
A rarity, a film that preserves the depth and integrity of its source while bringing the story to life in an indelible way. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
It has been said that all modern Russian literature came out of Gogol’s “Overcoat.” In the same way, all of us came out of the overcoat of this same immigrant experience. Read full review
80
VarietyScott Foundas
A richly compelling story of family and self-discovery. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
This immensely pleasurable film is anything but dry. It's a saga of the immigrant experience that captures the snap, crackle and pop of American life, along with the pounding pulse, emotional reticence, volcanic colors and cherished rituals of Indian culture.
80
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Although we miss some of the finer details that made Jhumpa Lahiri's 2003 book so meaningful, we're moved by the movie's themes of cultural displacement and the power of chance. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
After trying her hand at Thackeray with "Vanity Fair," director Mira Nair has found a literary property much closer to her heart: Jhumpa Lahiri's best-selling novel about a Bengali couple and their children trying to find their place in American culture. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
This is a generational family saga everyone can relate to, and Nair gives it her special magic. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
The Namesake is suffused with radiant grace, and manages to be old-fashioned yet immediate, epic and intimate. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
Showing the intricate dynamics of family relationships is something Mira Nair does as well as any director working today. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
It's well-acted and filled with striking compositions, but director Mira Nair has trouble with a different kind of balance. Read full review
75
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Making you feel the presence of absences - of the distant and the departed, of dreams that never quite come true - is the key thing that this uneven film gets exactly right. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
It is hard to imagine a better cast or production values so the film should find audiences among sophisticated urban adults. Read full review
70
Village VoiceElla Taylor
The Namesake carries faint echoes of the carnal physicality that makes Nair's more lightweight movies so much fun to look at--"Monsoon Wedding" was a dandy piece of froth, and "Vanity Fair" survives only on its looks--but it's a quieter, more mature work. Read full review
70
SalonStephanie Zacharek
In her adaptation of The Namesake, Mira Nair hits it right at least half the time. In places, the movie feels aimless and misshapen; it doesn't have the gentle but focused energy of Lahiri's book. And sometimes Nair goes overboard in heightening the cultural contrasts -- the inevitable incongruities between East and West -- that Lahiri navigates so subtly. Read full review
70
SlateDana Stevens
It's so courteously deferential to its source that it never really comes alive as a movie...Even so, Nair has a gift for directing actors and a feeling for the immigrant milieu of the novel that make The Namesake a rich, if not completely satisfying, pleasure. Read full review
70
NewsweekDavid Ansen
There are times when you wish the movie was a mini-series. This is meant both as a tribute, for the Ganguli family is so engaging you'd be happy spending much more time with them, and an acknowledgment that a tale this expansive doesn't always fit comfortably within the constraints of a feature-length frame. Read full review
70
Film ThreatStina Chyn
When The Namesake ends, one feels as though one has lived with the characters instead of just watching them. Read full review
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