Metacritic Movie Ratings
Volver Reviews

A sample of reviews from critics across the country.

• 100

  out of 100

  USA TodayClaudia Puig

  With this, possibly his most subdued film, Almodovar reinforces his status as one of the most distinctive and talented filmmakers working today.

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• 100

  out of 100

  Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert

  It is refreshing to see Cruz acting in the culture and language that is her own. As it did with Sophia Loren in the 1950s, Hollywood has tried to force Cruz into a series of show-biz categories, when she is obviously most at home playing a woman like the ones she knew, grew up with, could have become.

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• 90

  out of 100

  VarietyJonathan Holland

  Peopled with superbly drawn, attractive characters smoothly integrated into a well-turned, low-tricks plotline, Volver may rep Almodovar's most conventional piece to date, but it is also his most reflective, a subdued, sometimes intense and often comic homecoming that celebrates the pueblo and people that shaped his imagination.

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• 90

  out of 100

  The New York TimesA.O. Scott

  Volver, full of surprises and reversals, unfolds with breathtaking ease and self-confidence. It is in some ways a smaller, simpler film than either "Talk to Her" or "Bad Education," choosing to tell its story without flashbacks or intricate parallel plots, but it is no less the work of a master.

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• 90

  out of 100

  The Hollywood ReporterRay Bennett

  It's very difficult to mesh fantasy with reality, but with great charm and a light touch, Almodovar shows exactly how it should be done.

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• 80

  out of 100

  Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano

  Volver is just as funny as "What Have I Done," but it's also more sanguine and complex. Its humor is brighter and loopier, more a function of the characters' indomitable spirit than of their terminal despair.

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• 75

  out of 100

  Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman

  The movie opens as borderline Hitchcock, echoing the tone of the filmmaker's bravura "Bad Education" (2004), and then turns into a kind of overly conceptualized Tennessee Williams.

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