63
Slant Magazine by Andrew Schenker
Chockfull of ideas in a way that's both scattershot and more than a little exciting.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
40
The question of whether the couple can overcome respective traumas and inbred social attitudes is essentially moot; the real query is how much insufferable Gallic tweeness you can stand before simply shouting "no, merci!"
70
Wall Street Journal by Joe Morgenstern
Sharp-witted, sometimes surreal and largely autobiographical French-language comedy.
20
New York Daily News by Joe Neumaier
Director Michel Leclerc's comedy plays like one of those foreign-movie spoofs Jerry and the gang would go to see on a "Seinfeld" episode. Only here, there's no "young girl's journey from Milan to Minsk" - just from madcap to moronic.
75
The American romantic comedy has grown distressingly moribund lately, but anyone looking to freshen up the genre a bit need look no further than Michel Leclerc's The Names Of Love.
83
Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum
For those who wish to decode The Names of Love, there's a sharp commentary on French prejudices, character types, history, and culture embedded in Michel Leclerc's droll autobiographical French comedy.
40
Village Voice by Melissa Anderson
The pathetic attempts at outré, taboo-busting humor as sociopolitical commentary can't disguise what this film really is: a mawkish, MOR comedy of manners that even its straw man Nicolas Sarkozy would find suitable for date night.
58
Christian Science Monitor by Peter Rainer
Too much of The Names of Love is a joke book posing as a movie.
70
The New York Times by Stephen Holden
For all the potentially dangerous subjects it glosses, above all the tangled legacies of the Holocaust and the Algerian war, The Names of Love dances away from any uncomfortable provocation. Even when sticking out its tongue, it is finally just an airy comedy riding on one cheeky, incandescent performance.
50
Strained and mildly amusing. The real reason to see the movie is the delightful performance by Sara Forestier, who rightly won the French version of the Oscar for her portrayal of the carefree Baya.