Movie Review for Angel-A

Summary: A moralistic tale about a man, Andre, who gets a second chance in life when he meets Angela, a tall, femme fatale whom he saves from a suicide bid in the Seine River. The two spend a memorable summer night in nearly deserted Paris where Angela exposes herself as a true angel, sent down to save Andre from himself.

                         Reviews of Angel-A
By Jurgen Fauth of About.com (7/0)
            Begins as playful comedy about a crook who meets a beautiful woman and ends as dreadfully dumbed-...

By Marc Savlov of Austin Chronicle (7/0)
            An ultimately dull nonaffair.

By Matthew Leyland of BBC (7/0)
            The whole film's easy on the eye thanks to the Parisian summer setting, photographed in creamy bl...

By Wesley Morris of Boston Globe (7/0)
            ...fantasy, but not a pleasure.

By Michael Wilmington of Chicago Tribune (7/0)
            ...it works even if you don't pay attention to the story. Maybe it works better that way.

By Jeffrey M. Anderson of Combustible Celluloid (7/0)
            Besson conjures up some astoundingly gorgeous visuals, mainly a dreamy, neon-drenched, throbbing ...

                         Reviews of Angel-A
By Edward Douglas of ComingSoon.net (7/0)
            Clearly Besson's most personal film, a gorgeous and romantic travelogue of Paris locations. Rie ...

By Harvey S. Karten of Compuserve (7/0)
            Black-and-white looks good; romance is colorless, that's bad.

By David Edwards of Daily Mirror [UK] (7/0)
            Good looking but tedious.

By David Parkinson of Empire Magazine (7/0)
            Genial performances and a pleasing plot are elevated to the stuff of cinematic majesty by Thierry...

By Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly (7/0)
            Quel ick. And très tedious.

By Eric D. Snider of EricDSnider.com (7/0)
            It's a wisp of a film, recommendable for a lark, but not nearly as ambitious or entertaining as y...

                         Reviews of Angel-A
By Michael Rechtshaffen of Hollywood Reporter (7/0)
            This odd-couple romance looks divine, but the overall picture is far from heaven-sent.

By Bruce Westbrook of Houston Chronicle (7/0)
            [The] plot is warmed-over Capra, and it's no wonderful-life yarn.

By Stax of IGN Movies (7/0)
            Besson excels at stories about rough characters who are saved through their relationship with a m...

By Steve Rhodes of Internet Reviews (7/0)
            Not an especially surprising or eventful story, it is, nevertheless, a reasonably satisfying litt...

By Liz Braun of Jam! Movies (7/0)
            If you'd like a look at Paris in all its splendour, look no further than Angel-A. Just be sure th...

By Kevin N. Laforest of Montreal Film Journal (7/0)
            A visually arresting odd-couple comedy that reveals itself to be, quite literally, It's a Wonderf...

                         Reviews of Angel-A
By Moira Sullivan of Movie Magazine International (7/0)
            The film is slickly constructed with a hip soundtrack and art direction, but its empty, a glowing...

By Ted Murphy of Murphy's Movie Reviews (7/0)
            While ultimately there's a repetitive quality to the film's dialogue (the couple appear to be hav...

By Kyle Smith of New York Post (7/0)
            ...it has potential to be a cult hit on its dreamy-hipster look alone.

By Stephen Holden of New York Times (7/0)
            ...this sugary trifle (stays) afloat longer than you'd expect.

By Philip French of Observer [UK] (7/0)
            A soggy affair, short on laughs and lacking chemistry between hero and heroine.

By Brian Orndorf of OhmyNews.com (7/0)
            Angel-A is a dear, surprising film - one of the best Besson has put out into the world.

                         Reviews of Angel-A
By Nathan Rabin of Onion AV Club (7/0)
            Even though it looks like art, it plays like schlock.

By John Thomason of Orlando Weekly (7/0)
            It’s compelling largely due to its appealing cast.

By David Nusair of Reel Film Reviews (7/0)
            Beautifully shot and superbly acted...

By James Berardinelli of ReelViews (7/0)
            There are problems, and these are what keep the picture from attaining the status of an unqualifi...

By Peter Travers of Rolling Stone (7/0)
            Angel-A never finds the heart in a promising It¿s a Wonderful Life premise.

By Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com (7/0)
            As I watched it, I found myself wishing it were just a little loopier. But the picture is still s...

                         Reviews of Angel-A
By Sean Means of Salt Lake Tribune (7/0)
            Besson... cribs heavily from Wings of Desire and Heaven Can Wait. If he had thought of it, he wou...

By David Elliott of San Diego Union-Tribune (7/0)
            This Parisian fable is a talkathon, affecting a silly toughness, but the sights are good to see a...

By Mick LaSalle of San Francisco Chronicle (7/0)
            Seems fresh.

By Sean Axmaker of Seattle Post-Intelligencer (7/0)
            ...the sleek style and sassy attitude gets mired in a vague, soft-headed psychology of self-affir...

By Rich Cline of Shadows on the Wall (7/0)
            A witty, edgy cross between Amélie and It's a Wonderful Life.

By Nick Schager of Slant Magazine (7/0)
            Besson's first behind-the-camera outing since 1999's The Messenger is as skeletal as his model-tu...

                         Reviews of Angel-A
By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat of Spirituality and Practice (7/0)
            An intriguing drama about a quirky leggy blonde angel who comes to Paris on a mission of mercy to...

By Wally Hammond of Time Out (5/2)
            The script is such a showman’s bag of self-mocking clichés, empty tricks and metaphysical baloney...

By Joshua Rothkopf of Time Out New York (7/0)
            Shot in chilly b&w to no real dramatic effect except to unintentionally remind you of the far-sup...

By Claudia Puig of USA Today (7/0)
            ...a visually arresting but flawed film...

By Matthew Turner of ViewLondon (7/0)
            The film looks terrific - Besson shoots his beloved Paris in gorgeous black and white photography...

By Jim Ridley of Village Voice (7/0)
            There's little beyond the surface-deep pleasures of this talky distaff riff on Wings of Desire.

                         Reviews of Angel-A
By Brian Gibson of Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada) (7/0)
            Angela's Oprah-ish effort to change Andre's lying ways becomes a tedious mix of self-help and pop...

By Desson Thomson of Washington Post (7/0)
            Counterfeit art-house chic writ large -- a French film that fails to produce the ineffable charms...

By Steven Snyder of Zertinet Movies (7/0)
            What’s at once refreshing and disorienting about the way Luc Besson -- one of the most interestin...

By Jonathan Rosenbaum of Chicago Reader (3/4) No reference
            [Besson's] attractive black-and-white 'Scope compositions, strong Paris locations, and effective ...

By Jeff Vice of Deseret News, Salt Lake City (3/4) No reference
            ...the characters here are so unlikable that it's hard to care what happens to them.

By Josh Bell of Las Vegas Weekly (6/1) No reference
            A gorgeous-looking film whose crisp, black-and-white photography is unfortunately much more thril...

                         Reviews of Angel-A
By Rene Rodriguez of Miami Herald (3/4) No reference
            This lighter-than-air bauble proves a pleasurable diversion indeed -- as long as that heart beati...

By Stephen Whitty of Newark Star-Ledger (3/4) No reference
            Nice as this quietly philosophical mood may be for Besson, it's a little wan for moviegoers, and ...

By Stan Hall of Oregonian (3/4) No reference
            It's not flashy or bold, and it might not do much for cinephiles who prefer inveterate risk-takin...

By Brian Tallerico of UGO (6/1) No reference
            For many people, including me, the visual virtuosity behind Angel-A will be more than enough to g...

Movie Distributors
Sony Pictures Classics

Production Companies
TF1 Films Productions
EuropaCorp
Apipoulai

Movie Studios