TV Guide Magazine by Ken Fox

A brisk dramatic comedy that combines melodrama, humor and social critique in equal measure.

Film Threat by Jeff Beresford-Howe

Caramel will likely be the Lebanese selection for Academy Award for “Best Foreign Film;” it’s inconceivable to me that it won’t win, but it’ll still be an injustice if it does. Caramel deserves to be in the categories with the big boys, so to speak, and whoever wins for Best Actress will be the second most deserving actress of 2007.

Time by Richard Schickel

It may be a first film, but Labaki, employing a cast that is full of non-professional actresses, is a slick and knowing filmmaker. Her multiple plot lines are neatly braided and though her characters are conventionalized they are also charming and capable of surprising us.

Empire by Angie Errigo

An effective look at women's lives in a decidedly non-Hollywood setting.

USA Today by Claudia Puig

Caramel is a sweeter and more believable version of "Steel Magnolias," Middle Eastern style.

The A.V. Club by Nathan Rabin

At its best, Caramel boasts a quietly engaging slice-of-slice casualness.

Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum

A Lebanese variation on sweetly soapy dramas about Women Who Bond With Wet Hair.

San Francisco Chronicle by Walter Addiego

Well-made and modestly enjoyable.

Christian Science Monitor by Peter Rainer

In some ways, this glossily enjoyable movie is a lot closer to Hollywood than Beirut. At times, I thought I was watching some oddball Lebanese variant on "Barbershop."

Philadelphia Inquirer by Steven Rea

Labaki, who studied filmmaking in Lebanon and France, has a deft touch and nice instincts.

Variety

Fresh from commercials and musicvids, novice helmer (and star) Nadine Labaki gathers five women around a Beirut beauty salon to address a range of issues facing Lebanese women -- from extramarital affairs to religious dictates. Low on calories and not especially original but always diverting.

The Hollywood Reporter

Warm-hearted and accessible, it could benefit from good word of mouth in a limited art house run, particularly among audiences who like their rom-coms laced with foreign ingredients.

Wall Street Journal by Joe Morgenstern

All but one of the actresses in Caramel are nonprofessionals -- not unprofessional, just untrained in the craft -- and they are, to a woman, enchanting. So is this Lebanese comedy.

Salon by Andrew O'Hehir

It's a reassuring and delicious film, but in no sense an adventurous one.

Village Voice

Beauty-parlor romantic comedy has been done to death and beyond, but what Caramel lacks in originality is redeemed by its exuberant sensuality and astute commentary on the way Lebanese women sit uncomfortably in the crosshairs of their country’s clash between patriarchal tradition and Westernized modernity.

ReelViews by James Berardinelli

It's refreshing for a romantic comedy not to follow the formula by rote. I only wish I could be as enthusiastic about the amount of screen time accorded to certain characters who are more tedious than endearing.

New York Post by V.A. Musetto

Caramel, by the way, gets its name from a blend of sugar, lemon juice and water that is boiled until it turns into a paste used to remove unwanted hair in the Middle East.