Salmon Fishing in the Yemen 2012

Mary F. Pols, TIME Magazine: Salmon Fishing was a novel first and you can see how all these juggled balls could stay in the air on the page, but in movie form, many of them just seem extraneous. Read more

Amy Biancolli, San Francisco Chronicle: Makes use of pink-fleshed vertebrates as the inspiration for sweet romantic musings on love and life, faith and patience - and the courage to go against the flow. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: The film has a grand cast, with Emily Blunt, Ewan McGregor, Kristin Scott Thomas and Amr Waked at the center of this very clever tale of modern eco-issues intertwined with old-style political intrigues and New Age romance. Read more

James Rocchi, MSN Movies: [It] isn't such a shriveled runt you'd throw it back, but a little more attention in the direction and adaptation could have helped it feel a little more developed and fleshed-out than it is. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: The appeal of the film depends on the charm of Mr. McGregor and Ms. Blunt, whose polite but discreetly charged connection is the story's emotional center. Read more

David Fear, Time Out: Only Kristin Scott Thomas channeling In the Loop's Malcolm Tucker offers a spark; the rest is simply hokum designed to land overly sentimental suckers hook, line and sinker. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Only Scott Thomas, biting off all her sentences like a piranha, rescues "Salmon Fishing" from being a by-the-numbers romantic comedy; you wish the redoubtable Ms. Maxwell had her own movie. Read more

Keith Phipps, AV Club: Salmon Fishing quickly turns into exactly the sort of wet cardboard box of a movie its title suggests. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: A charming little movie. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Proudly, it has no conviction to offer, just the comforts of its genericness. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Hallstrom, the old softie, can't resist turning this into an inspirational tale, a freshwater Field of Dreams. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: There's a great romantic comedy in this material, somewhere, which is too bad, because the movie that did get made is decent if a bit bland. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: I'll say this much for Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, it's got a catchy title. But beware of films with catchy titles. The films themselves usually don't live up to them. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: [Salmon Fishing in the Yemen] takes us back to the sort of achingly civilized love story in which the only thing that really stands in the way of two people falling for each other is their own decorum Read more

John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter: Fly fishing is offered as a path to peace in rom-com whose ample charms are threatened by unnecessary buzz-kills. Read more

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: Hallstrom shores up his film with a terrific cast that can often make up for the parts that sag under the uneven weight of preciousness. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: While both Emily Blunt and Ewan McGregor are enormously appealing actors, Hallstrom has made a movie that pretends it is something it's not -- namely, an intelligent romantic comedy. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Enter forewarned. Or better yet - head upstream and don't be lured in at all. Read more

Ella Taylor, NPR: In the end Salmon Fishing reassures more than it excites, but all props are due to a commercial movie that helps demolish the stereotype of the Arab as bloodthirsty primitive. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: Hallstrom ... goes for a "Local Hero"-type feeling, but the movie has to swim upstream to get anywhere. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Trust me: These are characters with whom it's a pleasure to spend a couple of hours. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: It's a spirited, eloquent film-delightfully offbeat, deliciously different and well worth investigating. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: It is what it is, and if you find McGregor and Blunt appealing, the movie will have you feeling similarly about it. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Call me a sentimentalist, but I enjoyed myself - even during the scenes when there was a lot of talk about fish. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: This perhaps sounds like a hilarious movie. So it could be, in the hands of the masters of classic British comedy. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: McGregor and Blunt have charm to spare and the no-bull instinct to cut to the heart of a scene. In the Dead Sea of Hollywood formula, their film is a distinct delight, brimming over with spirit and surprise. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: While "Salmon Fishing" fritters away the comic momentum of its madcap opening chapters, it's like angling -- a pleasant diversion if you can look below the surface and muster the patience to appreciate it. Read more

Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: It's an engaging love story that should appeal to moviegoers with a flair for the offbeat. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Make the leap, and you'll be delighted by a movie that's sugary goodness, a guilty pleasure. Read more

Guy Lodge, Time Out: The stars are endearing enough to keep things tolerable, though you may wonder why even McGregor's Scots brogue sounds artificially sweetened here. Read more

Greg Quill, Toronto Star: The withering political pungency, the commentary on terrorism and the searing critique of nationalism and patriotism that made the book a best-seller in the U.K. are replaced by a comforting surface sheen and a lot of unconvincing nonsense... Read more

Scott Bowles, USA Today: Despite sporting the worst cinematic title since The Chumscrubber, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen hooks some charming laughs and a quaint romance by not delving too deeply into its subject matter. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: With most of the book's major themes gutted, it begs the question: Who wants to see a film about salmon fishing in the Yemen? Read more

Mark Holcomb, Village Voice: Mostly sacrifices the political satire and epistolary structure of Paul Torday's source novel in favor of cute, if strained, rom-com shenanigans. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: Somehow managing to be both twee and edgy, the absurdist but gently winning romantic comedy Salmon Fishing in the Yemen works a strange kind of wonder. Read more