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Reviews Counted:116
Fresh:63
Rotten:53
Average Rating:5.7/10
Consensus: A too-short script and a romance lacking in heat detracts from an otherwise haughty charmer.
Theatrical Release:08-05-2009
Synopsis: Stephen Frears, director of THE QUEEN and HIGH FIDELITY, continues to demonstrate his genre-defying talent with this adaptation of a Colette novel. Set in Paris in the years before World War I,... [More]
Starring: Michelle Pfeiffer, Kathy Bates, Rupert Friend, Felicity Jones
Director: Stephen Frears
It’s not a film of any great pungency. In the title role, Rupert Friend is perhaps even more callow than the part requires, and the wry narration, read by Frears, is wrongly pitched. The main drawback, however, is the not terribly exciting source material
The film is well enough acted, even if much of the underlying erotic turbulence is carried by Alexandre Desplat's insistent music, and it has a ravishing look. But it remains curiously blank.
The film works best when it's being a comedy of bad manners. Hampton has honed some glittering, dartlike lines of dialogue, and they're tossed around with poised aplomb by the immaculately dressed cast.
Technically, the film is spotless, with gorgeous cinematography, colourful costumes, detailed sets and a marvellous Alexandre Desplat score.
This glimpse into a decadent era has its charms, but they’re mostly visual. While Pfeiffer and Friend perform well, the script is tonally confused and lacks edge.
Top CriticThe multi-talented and adaptable director Stephen Frears has produced one of his most dull, airless and conventional films.
Top CriticMichelle Pfeiffer's performance helps to cover the flaws of this period satire.
Top Criticwe’re treated to a group of dull-witted doyennes of the oldest profession, languishing on silk cushions, lazily point-scoring and carping.
Top CriticMichelle Pfeiffer deserved the finest vehicle for her comeback. This is the film-equivalent of a knackered Trabant with four bald tyres and a farting exhaust.
Top CriticFull of trinket-sized pleasures that never add up to more.
Top CriticSharp, droll script but Chéri himself goes missing.
Chéri is a very enjoyable and fascinating cinematic experience. Despite being set almost a century ago, the movie's central themes are very relevant to our age-obsessed contemporary society.
While too picture postcard and toothless, Cheri is an enjoyable, undemanding bouquet of period drama.
This reunion of Dangerous Liaisons talent is a lighter, less demanding confection than its blistering predecessor. Languid delights come in the shape of Pfeiffer, Bates and some extraordinary hats, but the title character is a wash-out.
Cheri radiates quality in every department, and - whether it's popular or not - this splendid achievement establishes him as one of Britain's very best film producers.
There's little in this period piffle to engage or entertain.
Beautifully directed by Stephen Frears, Cheri is funny, stylish - and made with class.
Only a fine performance from Pfeiffer and a couple of decent lines from Bates made it bearable.
Dazzlingly designed, the film salvages recognisable humanity in Rupert Friend’s Chéri, aka the unromantic (to Anglo-Saxon ears) Fred. Elsewhere the movie is as insubstantial as a soufflé, and less intellectually challenging.
Intrusive narration from Frears doesn’t help and the fact that Cheri is such a drip makes the all-consuming nature of the romance hard to swallow. The film just can’t match the elegance and wit that come so effortlessly to Pfeiffer.
June 25, 2009:
Critics Consensus: Transformers 2 Is Less Than Meets The Eye
This week at the movies, we've got robots in disguise (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, starring Megan Fox and Shia LaBeouf) and a family in disrepair (My Sister's Keeper,... More...
April 19, 2009:
Trailer & Poster review 
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