Metacritic Movie Ratings
A Christmas Tale Reviews

A sample of reviews from critics across the country.

• 100

  out of 100

  Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan

  What results is a captivating portrait of the most gorgeously fractious dysfunctional family.

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• 100

  out of 100

  The New York TimesA.O. Scott

  A movie that is almost indecently satisfying and at the same time elusive, at once intellectually lofty -- marked by allusions to Emerson, Shakespeare and Seamus Heaney as well as Nietzsche -- and as earthy as the passionate provincial family that is its heart and cosmos and reason for being.

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• 100

  out of 100

  Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum

  The movie is enchanting.

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• 88

  out of 100

  Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert

  For long stretches A Christmas Tale seems to be going nowhere in particular and using a lot of dialogue to do so. These are not boring stretches. The movie is 151 minutes long and doesn't feel especially lengthy. The actors are individually good. They work together to feel like a family.

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• 75

  out of 100

  USA TodayClaudia Puig

  If feuds, drunken outbursts and thoughtless bed-hopping sound like fun, then A Christmas Tale is a hoot. Some wry humor runs through the course of the overly long saga. But there's not enough dark wit to mitigate the tedium and pretentiousness.

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• 70

  out of 100

  The Hollywood Reporter

  Despite the name recognition of such actors as Catherine Deneuve and Mathieu Amalric, foreign audiences might be deterred by the movie's 143-minute length and the profusion of characters and interwoven story lines.

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• 60

  out of 100

  VarietyDerek Elley

  Largely thanks to the snappy editing, short scenes and a strong cast led by a matronly Deveuve and Amalric's enjoyable perf as the black sheep of the family, A Christmas Tale never devolves into a tedious two-and-a-half hours of self-examination. But it also never goes very far, either.

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See all A Christmas Tale movie reviews at Metacritic.com