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A Christmas Tale Review

Movies.com Critics

5.0

Dave White Profile

...sprawling, complex Read full review

Other Critics provided by Metacritic.com

Critics scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 5.0
    84

    out of 100

    Metascore®
    Universal acclaim
    based on a weighted average of all
    critic review scores.

  • 100

    out of 100

    Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

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

    Read Full Review

  • 100

    out of 100

    The New York Times A.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.

    Read Full Review

  • 100

    out of 100

    Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

    The movie is enchanting.

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  • 60

    out of 100

    Variety Derek 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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  • 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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  • 75

    out of 100

    USA Today Claudia 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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  • 88

    out of 100

    Chicago Sun-Times Roger 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.

    Read Full Review

  • See all A Christmas Tale reviews at Metacritic.com

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Fan Reviews provided by

Average Rating: 2.938
Read all reviews Write a review at Fandango
2

Long, dark and hard to follow. by Ethrdg
I walked into this movie thinking it would be a dark comedy about a dysfunctional family. Although darkness and dysfunction abounded, it was neither funny nor particularly interesting. That, combined with long moments spent trying to sort out things that weren't made apparent by the badly written dialogue (or maybe things get lost in translation?) shattered the high expectations I had for this film. "A Christmas Tale" is the type of movie where you sit through all two (yes, well over TWO!) painful hours of it because you know in your heart that because the actors are so brilliant that it must be a really good movie. If I'm really patient, you keep telling yourself, it will start to get better and things are going to all connect in a brilliant way--just as soon as the movie really gets going. Alas, it never really got going...and finally, mercifully, it was over.

Read all A Christmas Tale reviews at Fandango
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