Caramel is a bittersweet treat.
Comment
04/11/08
Caramel (2008)
92
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:25
Fresh:23
Rotten:2
Average Rating:7.2/10
Consensus: Caramel is both an astute cultural study, and a charming comedic drama from a talented newcomer.
Theatrical Release:Feb 1, 2008 Limited
Box Office: $781,954
Synopsis: Warm and sweet, this Lebanese film lives up to its titular substance without ever being too sugary. Actress Nadine Labaki cowrote and directed CARAMEL, an ensemble comedy set in and around a Beirut... [More]
Starring: Nadine Labaki, Yasmine Al Masri, Joanna Moukarzel, Gisele Aouad
Director: Nadine Labaki
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Reviews for Caramel
Top CriticLabaki elicits expressive performances from a cast of amateurs, aided by Khalad Mouzanar's entrancing score and Yves Sehnaoui's lush cinematography.
03/28/08
Top CriticPerceptive and poignant, Caramel observes the love lives of the establishment's owner, her employees and their customers.
03/28/08
Top CriticThere's a pleasant, easygoing charm to Caramel, largely stemming from Labaki's rare determination to depict Beirut as something other than a war-torn, slowly recovering battleground.
03/27/08
Top CriticIts chief focus is the bonding between women who rely on each for support, and who really appreciate a place where they can let down their hair.
03/07/08
Top CriticFilmgoers expecting My Big Fat Lebanese Waxing are in for a bigger treat: Nadine Labaki, who wrote and directed the film, possesses an astute instinct for restraint that makes Caramel smarter ans more poignantthan the average chick flick.
02/28/08
Top Critic[Writer-Director] Labaki writes and directs with a sure hand for capturing universal truths.
02/22/08
Top CriticAs sugary as it may be, Caramel has a likeable edge to it, both in the natural performances of the mostly non-professional cast and the script's sardonic bluntness about social hypocrisies and the women's self-deception.
02/22/08
Top CriticOne of those small films that give a glimpse into a culture that's both foreign and familiar. It's filled with real-life touches and small insights and wonderfully human characters, and the whole thing feels as real as crossing the street.
02/08/08
Top CriticIn a culture where female sexuality is problematic at best, how is a woman supposed to feed both body and heart? Through makeovers, support, and necessary lies, Caramel curtly answers.
02/08/08
Top CriticIn the Beirut beauty salon where most of Caramel takes place, women of various shapes, sizes, ages and backgrounds gather to bond and gossip.
02/04/08
Top CriticDon't expect an elegant, fully realized production. Do expect, though, to be touched and surprised by a string of intimate, urgent vignettes.
02/01/08
Top CriticA sweeter and more believable version of Steel Magnolias, Middle Eastern style.
02/01/08
Top CriticJust another good-looking, gently humorous, pleasantly romanticized little comedy, which ends with everyone a little wiser than they began.
02/01/08
Top CriticWell-made and modestly enjoyable seriocomedy.
02/01/08
Top CriticAs tart, and tantalizing, as that little pot of caramel already bubbling on the stove, just waiting to bring delight -- or quick stabbing pain.
02/01/08
Top CriticIt is sweet but not saccharine, an intimate film that doesn't stint on the desperation and anxiety that go along with the search for love.
02/01/08
Top CriticUneven, fluctuating between poignancy...and fluff.
02/01/08
Top CriticSet in a culture caught between East and West, between male chauvinism and female empowerment, Labaki's movie isn't about to revolutionize a genre -- its charms are modest, but many.
01/31/08
Top CriticIt's refreshing for a romantic comedy not to follow the formula by rote. I only wish I could be as enthusiastic about the amount of screen time accorded to certain characters who are more tedious than endearing.
01/31/08
Top CriticLatest News for Caramel
June 22, 2008:
Ritual and rebellion collide in this bittersweet confection casting a rare gaze upon the pleasures, sorrows, dreams and sexual desires of Arab women in the Middle East. 
More...
January 31, 2008:
Critics Consensus: Over Her Dead Body is DOA, Guess The Eye's & Strange Wilderness' Tomatometer!
This week at the movies, we've got creepy visions (The Eye, starring Jessica Alba), haunted romances (Over Her Dead Body, starring Paul Rudd and Eva Longoria Parker), woodland... More...
January 27, 2008:
Ritual and rebellion collide in this bittersweet confection casting a rare gaze upon the pleasures, sorrows, dreams and sexual desires of Arab women in the Middle East.
More...
January 19, 2008:
Trailer & Poster review
More...
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