The Look of Love 2013

Stephen Holden, New York Times: A keenly observed period piece that keeps a celebrity journalist's distance from its subject. Read more

Sam Adams, AV Club: Not only is Coogan not pushing himself, he often seems barely engaged, playing Raymond as a man of less than life size. Read more

Peter Keough, Boston Globe: Frankly, the guy just isn't very interesting. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Director Michael Winterbottom and screenwriter Matt Greenhalgh provide the essential outline of Raymond's story, but they're a little too preoccupied with its glitzy aspects. Read more

David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter: Steve Coogan's performance is consistently amusing, but the poignant dimensions the director appears to be seeking don't quite come together. Read more

Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times: A curiously uninvolving affair. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: [Winterbottom] never really illuminates the man - or helps explain the fixed, intensely probing gaze of that title. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Compelling entertainment, as any biopic about Paul Raymond ought to be. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Ultimately more compelling as a long, colorful look at Swinging London in the 1960s than as autobiographical drama. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: A puzzlingly misconceived biopic: a tasteful, subdued movie about a man who was as tasteless and unsubdued as they come. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Groovy period soundtrack aside, "The Look of Love" has almost nothing to say of any interest, importance or humor. Read more

Bill Stamets, Chicago Sun-Times: Double-billing comic and tragic tones, the biopic "The Look of Love" follows a father and a daughter over three decades in London's swinging Soho. Read more

Cath Clarke, Time Out: There's something a bit over-familiar here - in a solidly entertaining, made-for-telly, nothing-we-haven't-seen-before, way. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: Zippy and saturated with soft-core nudity, The Look of Love isn't hard to watch ... Read more

Dennis Harvey, Variety: Though all the performances are very good, much of Look's entertainment value comes from an impressive tech package that captures the shifting fashions of swinger-favored pop-culture garishness over the pic's roughly 25-year period. Read more

Nick Schager, Village Voice: Coogan's portrayal is heartfelt, but The Look of Love rarely exploits its star's comedic dexterity. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: Coogan turns in a fine dramatic performance in a role that calls for as much actual acting as wisecracking. Read more