Caramel Reviews
August 23, 2018
Caramel is sweet, but it's never sickly, and it never shies away from how these women have to work round what society has planned for them.
September 26, 2008
It's one of the best films about women you're likely to see this year.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
September 19, 2008
Labaki, who co-wrote the film and also stars, maintains a knowing comic tone throughout.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/4
April 4, 2008
Wistful tale of friendship and solidarity.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
April 4, 2008
Delightful.
March 28, 2008
Labaki elicits expressive performances from a cast of amateurs, aided by Khalad Mouzanar's entrancing score and Yves Sehnaoui's lush cinematography.
March 28, 2008
Perceptive and poignant, Caramel observes the love lives of the establishment's owner, her employees and their customers.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
March 27, 2008
There'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.
Original Score: 2.5/4
March 7, 2008
Its 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.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.5/4
February 28, 2008
Filmgoers 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.
February 22, 2008
[Writer-Director] Labaki writes and directs with a sure hand for capturing universal truths.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
February 22, 2008
As 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.
Original Score: 2.5/4
February 22, 2008
A delectable slice of life whose flavors are rarely available on these Western shores.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
February 8, 2008
One 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.
Full Review
| Original Score: B-
February 8, 2008
In 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.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
February 4, 2008
In the Beirut beauty salon where most of Caramel takes place, women of various shapes, sizes, ages and backgrounds gather to bond and gossip.
Original Score: 4/5
February 3, 2008
Consider it 'Fried Green Falafel.'
Full Review
| Original Score: B
February 1, 2008
Don't expect an elegant, fully realized production. Do expect, though, to be touched and surprised by a string of intimate, urgent vignettes.
February 1, 2008
A sweeter and more believable version of Steel Magnolias, Middle Eastern style.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
February 1, 2008
Just another good-looking, gently humorous, pleasantly romanticized little comedy, which ends with everyone a little wiser than they began.