In the end, only the veteran actors playing Elsa and Fred make the movie watchable.
Comment
08/01/08
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Elsa & Fred (2008)
52 %
Reviews Counted: 25 Fresh: 13 Rotten:12 Average Rating: 5.4/10
Consensus:
Boosted by charming performances by the octogenarian leads, Elsa and Fred overcomes its schmaltzy premise to make for a satisfying romantic tale.
Rated: PG [See Full Rating]
Theatrical Release: Jun 27, 2008 Limited
Synopsis: Elsa & Fred is a romantic comedy about the irresistible power and total madness of love when two people who, at the end of the road, discover that it’s never too late to love… or to dream. Elsa has dreamt for the past 60 years of the moment that Fellini had already envisaged: the scene in La Dolce... [More]
Genre: Foreign Films
Starring: China Zorrilla, Manuel Alexandre, Blanca Portillo, Robert Carnaghl, Jose Angel Egid
Reviews
Who would have guessed that, in this age of excess and one-upmanship, when bigger is always better, the year's most romantic screen kiss would last a mere two seconds.
08/01/08
The dream fulfillment seems more silly than romantic, and it brings the movie to an abrupt end that is wholly unsatisfying.
08/01/08
This starts to get interesting in the homestretch, as the woman's chronic deception begins to catch up with her, but for the most part it's an extended Geritol commercial.
08/01/08
Top Critic
Elsa & Fred feels not substantial enough to bear the weight of its themes. It dissolves like cotton candy, making proper digestion impossible.
07/31/08
Top Critic
For some, the movie will be an emotional paean to love at the twilight of life; to others, though, it's a contrived, manipulative film calculatedly sentimental and -- except for poor Alfredo -- totally false to life.
07/24/08
Top Critic
When one thinks of on-screen chemistry, rarely, if ever, do you think of characters in their seventies.
07/22/08
This little gem will have the mature moviegoer completely under its spell.
07/22/08
Elsa & Fred is worth seeing just to admire how Argentine writer-director Marcos Carnevale avoids so much as a whiff of condescension.
07/18/08
Top Critic
Top Critic
Elsa is obsessed with the "Fontana di Trevi" sequence from La Dolce Vita, but that's only a reminder that the aging Fellini once accomplished far more effective films about old age and second chances.
07/17/08
Love is said to be blind, but this sweet Spanish romance suggests it may also be ageless.
07/01/08
Convincingly proves even to teens (not likely to be in the audience, unfortunately), that you're never too old for romance.
06/28/08
Credit director Marcos Carnevale with beautifully pulling off this schmaltzy premise, as well as restaging the famous scene at Rome's Trevi Fountain from La Dolce Vita with his elderly lovers in place of Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg.
06/27/08
Top Critic
Top Critic
Marcos Carnevale’s patronizing take on the relationship between an elderly widow and widower in Madrid unspools like the vision of a middle-aged person intent on propagating stereotypes about youthfulness and the golden years.
06/27/08
The absence of bite prevents the movie from leaving any kind of impression.
06/26/08
Yes, it’s formulaic and shamelessly manipulative. But Zorrilla and Alexandre have chemistry to burn; only a hard heart could resist their bittersweet romance.
06/26/08
The transformation of a fear-based man by a Zorba-the-Greek-like woman with a zest for life, enthusiasm, and creative daring.
06/26/08
It's hard in good conscience to recommend a sappy flick with a heroine this shallow, her spunkiness in the face of a dire prognosis notwithstanding.
06/25/08
Related Forums
(2008 USA release)-"Elsa & Fred" gets a National rollout beginning June 27th!!!
by: ReelReviewer.com 7/9
by: ReelReviewer.com 7/9
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