70
Metascore
34 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 88Rolling StonePeter TraversRolling StonePeter TraversIt's a feast of smart, sexy, glorious talk. The Oscar for best foreign film belongs right here.
- 88ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliAlthough the specter of death hovers over the entire film, it is neither a grim nor a depressing experience. Arcand has injected a great deal of wit into the movie, and it meshes perfectly with the anticipated pathos.
- 80VarietyLisa NesselsonVarietyLisa NesselsonA full-bodied, funny and gloriously unpretentious ode to family, friendship and the meaning of life, The Barbarian Invasions is solidly entertaining, sharply written and genuinely touching.
- 80The New YorkerDavid DenbyThe New YorkerDavid DenbyThe Barbarian Invasions might be called an idyll of death. Without excessive sentiment (but without slighting sentiment, either). [24 November 2003, p. 113]
- 80L.A. WeeklyElla TaylorL.A. WeeklyElla TaylorA reunion movie, and while it's often very funny, it has none of the self-satisfied piety or strenuous jokiness of "The Big Chill." Its mood shifts between defiant exuberance and wistful contemplation, but it's never mawkish.
- 80Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranLos Angeles TimesKenneth TuranBristling but finally surprisingly moving film.
- 67Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanI kept wondering how Arcand could have chosen as his generational representative a man not just flawed in his hedonism but one so fundamentally lacking in tenderness for others.
- 63PremierePremiereGirard gives feisty life to the battle-weary professor, but Rousseau just follows the drill--he is glass-eyed to the point of distraction. And for all its intellectual maneuvering, the film never regains the simple power of its opening salvo.
- 50Christian Science MonitorDavid SterrittChristian Science MonitorDavid SterrittA bit too neat and calculated to make the emotions ring really true.
- 20Village VoiceMichael AtkinsonVillage VoiceMichael AtkinsonShear away the film's pretensions, and it's a soap opera of assholes.