We Have a Pope(Habemus Papam)

Variety by

The results veer between occasional smiles and outright pretension, with only Piccoli's mastery transcending the material.

Slant Magazine by Andrew Schenker

Nanni Moretti's latest is a mixed bag that too often settles for easy, superficial laughs.

The New Yorker by Anthony Lane

What really grips the new movie, for all its amused glances at Swiss Guards and ceremonial pomp, is the prospect of a single soul in crisis. [9 April 2012, p.85]

New York Daily News by Elizabeth Weitzman

Meticulous staging and Piccoli's world-weary presence balance any silliness, making the issues here feel relevant and real. The method is not pointed political satire but gentle enlightenment.

Time Out by Keith Uhlich

The satire becomes more scattershot and strangely cuddlesome (didja know sequestered holy men enjoy socializing and playing sports, just like us?), while the usually great Piccoli-saddled with a ridiculously contrived failed-actor backstory-comes off like an unholy mix of Gérard Depardieu and Robin Williams at their sad-puppiest. That's some cinematic blasphemy, Moretti.

Village Voice by Melissa Anderson

Until the potent concluding scene, the humor and shallow profundities of We Have a Pope pivot on the cuteness of geriatrics, especially when they're spiking a volleyball in slo-mo.

The A.V. Club by Noel Murray

It's a shame that a movie about the pope as a man shows such scant fascination with the actual papacy - or with humanity, for that matter.

The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw

Nanni Moretti's new film is occasionally amusing, but is also a frustrating and directionless experience.

Boxoffice Magazine by Richard Mowe

Piccoli in a role that relies on looks, gestures and very few words, does not hit an off note, making him into a silent, everyman figure.