It's amiable enough but there's nothing on show to make it stand out from the average rom-com.
Comment
10/26/07
Puccini for Beginners (2007)
50
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:60
Fresh:30
Rotten:30
Average Rating:5.7/10
Consensus: A Woody Allen-ish film that needs more of the caustic wit expected from the best New York rom coms.
Runtime: 90 mins
Genre: Comedies
Synopsis: Everyone is love-crazed in Maria Maggenti's delightfully quick-witted screwball comedy, Puccini for Beginners; but Allegra Castiglione–our dashing, adorable heroine–is by far the most commitment... [More]
Starring: Elizabeth Reaser, Gretchen Mol, Justin Kirk, Jennifer Dundas
Director: Maria Maggenti
Reviews for Puccini for Beginners
Top CriticRarely have I seen a film simultaneously so good and so bad.
02/01/07
Click to read the article
04/06/07
Puccini for Beginners doesn't quite make it as romantic comedy. Most of the elements are in place, but the characters seem too narcissistic to fall in love and too broad-brush to be authentic.
03/16/07
Fresh Manhattan locations prove as photogenic as the leads, and the supporting actors -- especially Tina Benko as a glacial, impeccably dressed amazon -- don't miss a beat of Maggenti's snappy dialogue.
12/17/07
A number of scenes in the film are charming and engaging, with a genuinely unforced lightheartedness, and that takes more than a little expertise on the part of Ms. Maggenti, as well as her cast and other collaborators.
02/07/07
[Director] Maggenti offers a cute variation on the classic Hollywood 'comedy of remarriage.'
02/09/07
Top CriticPuccini is the joyously refreshing romancer that it tries so hard to be. Its success has a lot to do with its casting directors who have peopled both the major and minor roles with aplomb. Even off-off-Broadway legend Helen Hanft has a cameo.
06/08/07
Proving that a movie called Puccini For Beginners actually can be as deeply pretentious as its title implies, Puccini For Beginners attempts to pick up the torch once carried by Woody Allen for the romantic comedy of ideas.
03/01/07
If you're willing to veer away from your more traditional romantic comedies, this is worth watching.
03/09/07
I felt at times I was watching a melange of 'Scrubs', 'Sex in the City', and the sensational Ethan Hawke/Julie Delpy tandem of 'Before Sunrise' and 'Before Sunset'.
02/13/07
Writer-director Maggenti knows her way around snappy, sophisticated dialogue.
01/23/06
Top CriticIt's no fun to sit through the movie's retread Woody Allenisms, including postmodern repartee among the self-absorbed or giddily neurotic and passing strangers suddenly given to ironic Greek chorus-like commentary.
03/15/07
A deliriously funny romantic roundelay.
03/10/06
Top CriticA Woody Allen devotee, writer-director Maria Maggenti hawks an insular view of New York City where poverty doesn't exist to illuminate the grotesque solipsism of her characters.
01/30/07
As offensive to New Yorkers as it is to men and lesbians
01/31/07
Light and fluffy but inconsequential, Maggenti's second feature in a decade is a pale imitation of Woody Allen's romantic comedies, except that the lead is a lesbian, no bi-sexual, no just confused (whatever, choose one).
06/26/06
One of the best lesbian-themed comedies ever made.
02/03/07
Disappoints somewhat but is still worth a look.
02/05/07
Perhaps more problematic than the film's derivative nature -- with plot points and dialogue borrowing somewhat from Sex and the City and rather heavily from Woody Allen -- is the fact that the film is just not funny.
02/02/07
Latest News for Puccini for Beginners
February 01, 2007:
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This week at the movies, we've got mother/daughter conflict ("Because I Said So," starring Diane Keaton and Mandy Moore) and dark proceedings on a North Dakota... More...
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