Chinese Puzzle(Casse-Tête Chinois)

Time Out by

There are sweet moments and callbacks to "L’Auberge," including a neat trick in which we see snippets from all three films in the credits, but ultimately Puzzle lacks the magic of its predecessors.

New York Daily News by Elizabeth Weitzman

It’s nice to see these characters again. But there’s an uncomfortable strain of bitterness running through the nostalgia. Klapisch is, for example, much kinder to his good-natured leading man than any of the ladies, who are by turns cruel, flaky and dishonest.

Village Voice by Heather Baysa

With each of these movies, Klapisch reiterates a core sentiment behind all the romantic comedy: that lives are continuously pieced together, broken, and rearranged in different settings. All that screwing and screwing up in between? Totally necessary.

New York Post by Kyle Smith

Cédric Klapisch’s film is meandering and cutesy, but his characters are endearing and every so often he comes up with a deft insight, such as how this city’s streets are like a flayed zombie.

The Hollywood Reporter by Leslie Felperin

A pleasing walk in the park for all involved, not exactly profound, but appealing to both long term fans of the franchise and accessible to newcomers.

The A.V. Club by Mike D'Angelo

It’s the best of the trilogy, though that’s not saying much; Xavier and his gal pals have mellowed somewhat with age, and Klapisch seems much more energized by New York than he was by his previous locales.

The Dissolve by Noel Murray

What saves Chinese Puzzle—making it not just tolerable, but likable—is how well Klapisch uses New York. The movie embraces the whole city.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service by Roger Moore

What holds our interest and holds the story together is this winning cast in these familiar, lovable (somewhat) roles. A dozen years on and this exercise in globe-trotting, in “We’re growing older, but not up” reminds us that what’s true in life is just as true in casting movies — pick your friends carefully enough and they’ll entertain you for a lifetime.