Bella 2006

Tasha Robinson, Chicago Tribune: In his feature directorial debut, Alejandro Monteverde hits the mark as often as he misses it, but the film's problems linger longer than its successes. Read more

New York Magazine/Vulture: The film creates characters who are so relentlessly thoughtful and attractive that it's hard to worry about their problems, even at the outset. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: Alejandro Gomez Monteverde's first feature may have more heart than head, but it's also just as interesting for what it leaves out of its romantic story as for what it retains. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: The emotions at play in Bella are no doubt heartfelt, but they're so cut-and-dried that the mawkish script virtually writes itself. Read more

Richard Nilsen, Arizona Republic: It ends like a TV show, and everyone has learned a neat little lesson. Phooey. Read more

Erin Meister, Boston Globe: It wants to answer the questions it's clearly too timid to ask, but the questions are always so much more interesting. Read more

Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times: Bella is certainly a sweet, life-affirming picture, but it's just not authentic or captivating enough to justify its wildly concocted scenario. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: Writer-director Alejandro Gomez Monteverde brings to his feature debut a warmth and charity that offsets some of the script's more obvious devices. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: A barely disguised anti-abortion tract, Bella is simple-minded, heavy-handed and as subtle as a gorilla in a tutu. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: [A] defiantly unsubtle, structurally clunky specimen. Read more

John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press: Confessional moments and life lessons pop up around every corner as the movie swaps reality for old-fashioned melodrama. The movie defies logic. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: From the quiet performances to the sensitive direction, everything about this movie is convincing except the very story that drives it. Read more

Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly: Corn smothered in queso, this sentimental hokum sticks in your throat. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: It's better when the earthy Nina and the dreamy, Christlike Jose are more or less floating through the city. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Cynics need not apply, but I found Bella a real heart tugger. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: An engaging failure, an inversion of some New York movie cliches, a sweet if incomplete movie about love with the proper stranger in the city that never sleeps. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: What are you going to do when your lead actress offers a performance that's as unlikable as the woman she's portraying? Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: A heart-tugger with the confidence not to tug too hard. Read more

Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle: A tearjerker that earns its sobs with heartfelt emotions. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Rarely are crowd-pleasers so effortlessly artful. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Susan Walker, Toronto Star: This is not a weepy, but a story about healing, forgiveness and redemption. Read more

Hank Sartin, Time Out: Read more

Robert Koehler, Variety: The warm stars can do only so much to humanize a mucky narrative that unavoidably lessens the film's emotional thrust. Read more

Julia Wallace, Village Voice: I won't spoil it, except to say that it manages to be utterly predictable without making any sense at all. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: A Mexican movie in which the outcome is never in doubt, the scenes are endless -- sorry, we meant poetic-- and the false beard on the central character's face looks as though it could use a little extra gum. Read more