Kate & Leopold 2001

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: Seems like nothing so much as the product of focus-group sessions, a by-the-numbers chick flick about a woman who finds the Perfect Man and then doesn't know what to do about it. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: [W]e've seen all this stuff before where the guy from the past puts on the remote control and he's frightened by television and stereo and the wacky way of the world. We've seen all that before, done. But the romance is nice. Read more

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times: Predictably, there will be a spark between Leopold and Kate, but 80 minutes is too long to wait for it to catch fire. Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: The movie ... is pleasant but forced. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: An oppressively cute Manhattan time-travel romantic comedy that's lost in time, space and cliches. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: Essentially a Nora Ephron fairy tale with a sci-fi twist and a lot more plot than you might find in one of Ms. Ephron's cotton-candy daydreams. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: What we have in this comedy are two hoary plot conceits of ancient vintage and dubious worth. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Ryan's chirpy brittleness makes the entire movie crumble -- we have no idea why Leopold would fall in love with her. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: We're willing to suspend our disbelief, but the movie lacks its own inner logic. Read more

Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: For reactionary propaganda, the movie admittedly is fun, in a modest way. Read more

Paul Tatara, CNN.com: Cute or not, Ryan is starting to seem like a stubborn homecoming queen who refuses to surrender her tiara. Read more

Steven Rosen, Denver Post: Together, Jackman and Ryan really click. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: All play and no work makes Jackman, as Leopold, a doll of a boyfriend. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: A Hollywood formula flick with the life sucked out of it. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Delivers the kind of warm, familiar mixed brew of romance, humor, light drama, and pleasant character interaction that has made many of Ryan's similar endeavors successful box office performers. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: One of the reasons the movie works is because we like the goodness of the characters. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: The problem with Kate & Leopold is that although this is supposed to be a romantic comedy, the best scenes are the ones in which there's no Ryan. Read more

Carla Meyer, San Francisco Chronicle: It's as if the actress agreed to take another America's-sweetheart role but her spirit didn't. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: If you've seen one movie about a guy from the past encountering modern flush toilets and electric toasters, you've seen them all. Read more

Charlotte O'Sullivan, Time Out: Ironically, what jeopardises the transaction is Ryan. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Too bad director/co-writer James Mangold ... couldn't come up with anything fresher and more worthy of Jackman's suave grace. Read more

Lael Loewenstein, Variety: A time-travel romantic comedy whose best elements -- Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman -- overcome distracting plot holes, loose threads and assorted contrivances to make for a mostly charming and diverting tale. Read more

Dennis Lim, Village Voice: The shabby metaphysics and complete absence of internal logic are perhaps meant to charm, but only add to the eye-gouging irritant factor. Read more