L'auberge espagnole 2002

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: There's a reason this warm, stylish human comedy was a big hit all across the Continent: It conveys a new generation's conviction that borders no longer matter. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: As he did in When the Cat's Away, Klapisch demonstrates an understanding for the way young people caught between the demands of adulthood and their lingering adolescence behave. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: ... a lot of nice touches. Read more

Allison Benedikt, Chicago Tribune: [Klapisch] forces us to notice the ordinary details we ordinarily sleepwalk through. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Presents an appealing and persuasive picture of European integration, in which national differences, which once sparked military and political conflict, are preserved because they make life sexier and more interesting. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Whether you're a frat guy from the '50s or live in a 21st-century coed dorm, L'Auberge Espagnole's celebration of a certain time, a certain place, a certain community is engagingly recognizable. Read more

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times: L'auberge espagnole is so full and nourishing that even with a two-hour-plus running time, it's sad to see it end. Read more

Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: Despite the movie's lack of narrative discipline, it grows on you, in part because it's so easy to identify with these characters. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Now and again, L'Auberge makes a leap. The light catches it just right, and up flashes a pleasing insight about the state of the European union. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: [Klapisch] lets Xavier's year abroad unfold with the right wandering touch of pleasure, nostalgia, and wistful exploration. Read more

Gary Dowell, Dallas Morning News: With such a large cast there's not a whole heck of a lot for everybody to do, but the characters are fleshed out well enough by the writing and the talented ensemble cast. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: The film snaps, crackles and pops with visual ingenuity. Read more

Bob Campbell, Newark Star-Ledger: Klapisch and smug narrator-hero Xavier (Romain Duris) seem certain that we requested a picture of international student life at its most superficial and eventless. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: It's a situation looking for comedy, which Klapisch and his young cast only occasionally deliver. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: It features four of the most erotically and emotionally delectable female performances I have seen in one film this year. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: A lighthearted, good-natured motion picture that contains enough humor to leaven the tone and keep the drama from becoming too serious. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Imagine the American students in The Real Cancun as if they were literate, cosmopolitan and not substance abusers, and you've got it. Read more

Charles Taylor, Salon.com: Watching L'Auberge Espagnole is like seeing the young Maoist revolutionaries of Jean-Luc Godard's 1967 La Chinoise body-snatched by the international touring company of Up With People. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: It's the last year of free time. The last year of hanging out. The last year to spend on simply living. Few movies have ever conveyed that sense so well. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: A film whose limitations are the same as its appeal: It's a bauble. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Yet another example of writer/director Klapisch's way of finding fresh new insights within the most mundane of circumstances. Read more

Time Out: Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: It energetically captures the frenzied pace of contemporary existence, the complexities of life in a multicultural world, the rootless joys of living in a foreign city and the heady world of possibilities one envisions while in college. Read more

David Rooney, Variety: Read more

Jessica Winter, Village Voice: Cedric Klapisch has been compared to Truffaut, but the new-waver's weakness for glib sentimentalism seems to have left the biggest impression on L'Auberge Espagnole. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: Funny, smart and sexy, not to mention the best advertisement for the euro I've ever seen. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: It's an exhilarating, funny, very sweet movie. Read more