The story arc is so familiar...that the main emotional response is hollow relief as every beat is, indeed, hit just as expected.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
Los Angeles Times by Amy Nicholson
All that's missing from Just Like a Woman, Rachid Bouchareb's salute to "Thelma & Louise," is the quality.
Bouchareb gives his actors room to roam, but you still get only skin-deep sketches instead of flesh-and-blood women.
New York Daily News by Elizabeth Weitzman
Just like its meaningless title, Rachid Bouchareb’s disappointing drama evokes better works without developing any distinct identity of its own.
New York Post by Farran Smith Nehme
It’s a wispy movie that does not end so much as peter out, and it could have benefited from a little more humor and a little less heinous male behavior. Miller and Farahani, though — both sometimes used previously as decoration — give strong performances as women bonding over their delight in both movement and their own beauty.
Although fronted by solid performances from Sienna Miller and Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani as two desperate souls who bond over their shared love of belly dancing, this tale of friendship and rebellion on the open road reps a thin, obvious reworking of a well-worn template.
Arizona Republic by Kerry Lengel
This well-intentioned buddy-road-trip flick lacks the danger, the drama and the sex appeal that most moviegoers will be looking for.
Portland Oregonian by Marc Mohan
Miller, who's still trying to find her way as an actress, isn't bad, and the Iranian-born Farahani is convincing, but their characters are blandly angelic, in stark contrast to the vast majority of men they encounter.
A multicultural mini–Thelma and Louise but far duller than that description implies, Just Like a Woman peddles feminist empowerment with one-note didacticism.
What might have proven an illuminating perspective on familiar issues disappoints as Bouchareb fails to turn his outsider’s point of view into new insights, and instead takes the easy route, falling back on familiar stereotypes in his tour of US misogyny and xenophobia.