The Hundred-Foot Journey 2014

Wesley Morris, Grantland: If the movie is high on gastronomy, it also redefines cooking with gas. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: A mouth-watering and charming - if overlong - romantic comedy-drama about an immigrant family opening an Indian restaurant in a most unlikely location: the South of France. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: The folk-wisdom level is tolerable, just as the cliches and manipulations are palatable, because the story is full of life, and free of ironic additives. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Like a tasty comfort-food meal you've eaten countless times before, Lasse Hallstrom's "The Hundred-Foot Journey" is utterly predictable yet thoroughly pleasant. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: It contrasts the heat and intensity of Indian cooking with the elegance and refinement of French haute cuisine, then balances the two with a feel-good lesson in ethnic harmony. Read more

A.A. Dowd, AV Club: For a film that champions the transcendent power of spice, The Hundred-Foot Journey is awfully bland. Read more

Randy Cordova, Arizona Republic: There's comfort food and there are comfort movies. In Lasse Hallstrom's "The Hundred-Foot Journey," you get a full helping of both. And guess what? It's all very comforting. Read more

Peter Keough, Boston Globe: One of the characters, no doubt alluding to Proust, says, "Food is memories." Unfortunately, this is one movie about food that I'm forgetting already. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: I'll spare you my usual rant about the decadence of foodies, but it should be obvious by now that, despite their discerning tastes, the movies catering to them are the artistic equivalent of dinner at the Olive Garden. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Hallstrom, who also directed Chocolat, follows the foodie-cinema aesthetic by filming the dishes in a gleaming sumptuousness designed to make you famished. Read more

Adam Graham, Detroit News: Awards material it's not, but the movie knows its intentions and audience, and cooks everything up into a satisfying meal. Read more

Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly: It's soothing, easily digested comfort food. Which is to say it's the perfect recipe for a filmmaker like Hallstrom. Read more

Sheri Linden, Hollywood Reporter: Colorful locales and exotic spices can't hide its essential blandness. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: If there is room for romantic fantasy in your life, this cinematic equivalent of comfort food goes down easy enough, and it's hard to begrudge it that. Read more

Randy Myers, San Jose Mercury News: This feel-good tale about an Indian family setting up a restaurant across the road from one with a Michelin star celebrates things all cultures can get behind: family, food and transformation. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: Overall, it's tough to grumble about such a sturdy and crowd-pleasing souffle. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: It's the movie version of comfort food. Except even in comfort food there's a difference between something made from scratch, and something that comes out of a box. And "The Hundred-Foot Journey" still tastes of powdered cheese. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: "The Hundred-Foot Journey" manages to be a full meal, using all the ingredients at its disposal. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: "The Hundred-Foot Journey" is likely neither to pique your appetite nor to sate it, leaving you in a dyspeptic limbo, stuffed with false sentiment and forced whimsy and starved for real delight. Read more

Michael Sragow, Orange County Register: It's a rare delight to watch Puri and Mirren play off each other. Read more

Jocelyn Noveck, Associated Press: Given all these lovely ingredients ... why is the final product so bland - and, not to lay on too many cooking metaphors, reductive? Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: It would be curmudgeonly to count all the ways in which The Hundred-Foot Journey is unsurprising, unrealistic, unnecessary. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: The Hundred-Foot Journey is vintage Hallstrom - genial and meditative, focusing more on characters and emotions than an overcooked plot. The story is simple; the people inhabiting the movie make this worth seeing. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: Food porn with a sweet albeit predictable menu. Read more

Christy Lemire, RogerEbert.com: Despite being handsomely crafted, well acted and even sufficiently enjoyable, "The Hundred-Foot Journey" is also conventional and predictable. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Linus Sandgren's camera caresses the cuisine like an ecstatic lover. It brought out the foodie in me. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: By the time "The Hundred-Foot Journey" ends, it has achieved an unexpected and rather powerful cumulative impact. I felt like I knew the people and wouldn't mind staying there. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Although the outcome is as predetermined as a prix-fixe menu, the storytelling is as smooth as goose-liver pate through a pastry nozzle. Read more

Bill Zwecker, Chicago Sun-Times: Mirren's Madame Mallory unctuously oozes her dedication to perfection from every pore -- and it's truly delicious to watch her work her magic up on the screen. Read more

Sean Tepper, Globe and Mail: At its core, The Hundred-Foot Journey is a movie about good food, and one man's passion for cooking. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: It must be said that it goes down rather well, although full enjoyment requires that all cynicism be left simmering on the back burner. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: It delivers the kind of sentimental sledgehammering I found myself willing to forgive, but once the story goes off on a pointless tangent, the whole souffle collapses. Read more

Christina Izzo, Time Out: The film should have taken a cue from its spice-loving subjects and jacked up the heat. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Apart from the scenic location of Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val and the equally enthralling shots of Indian and French cuisine, what remains is a pleasant if rather syrupy tale of clashing cultures. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Village Voice: Almost embarrassingly enjoyable, despite the fact that - or maybe because - it's ridiculous in a shiny, Hollywood way. Read more

Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture: A moving piece of food porn, The Hundred-Foot Journey is a familiar tale enlivened by some sensitive, sincere touches. Read more

Mark Jenkins, Washington Post: Basically a promo reel for small-town France and Gallo-Indian food fusion. Anyone who requires a more substantial meal should eat before heading to the theater. Read more