All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Average User Score: 9 (7 sources)

Submit Movie Review

Review this film

Tell the world what you think of The Namesake

Your Score:

reset score

Write Your Review:
When writing your review, remember to keep the language clean.

Submit Review Cancel

home2839

-1

Agree (0)

Disagree (0)

We see a movie about a family history of immigrants and the generation gap through the naming of Gogol.

The weakness of the film comes from having too much story at times and nothing happening to advance the story at other times, thus...
[+] Read Full Review

We see a movie about a family history of immigrants and the generation gap through the naming of Gogol.

The weakness of the film comes from having too much story at times and nothing happening to advance the story at other times, thus making the film feel uneven.

In spite of that, I really loved the dealings between the generations. What I mostly enjoyed were the performances from Irfan Kahn and Tabu, where we can see falling in love with each other.

[-] Minimize Review

Report Abuse

Posted dec 21, 2007 9:51 am pt

Army-Of-On3

-1

Agree (0)

Disagree (0)

lowly indian family discovering american style

Report Abuse

Posted apr 12, 2007 10:35 am pt

• [+] Chicago Tribune
  
  100
  Brims with intelligence, compassion and sensuous delight in the textures, sights and sounds of life--all the way from the Taj Mahal to Pearl Jam.

  by Michael Wilmington | Read Full Review »
• [+] Portland Oregonian
  
  100
  Nair takes mostly low-key material about a traditional Indian family raising kids in America and turns it into something sensual, funny and quietly devastating.

  by M. E. Russell | Read Full Review »
• [+] Seattle Post-Intelligencer
  
  91
  The actors are all well-cast, thoughtful and sometimes funny. Tabu was apparently not Nair's first choice, but after watching her in the role it's hard to imagine anyone else -- she's heartbreakingly good.

  by Paula Nechak | Read Full Review »
• [+] Entertainment Weekly
  
  91
  Moving and marvelous new cross-cultural family saga.

  by Owen Gleiberman | Read Full Review »
• [+] Christian Science Monitor
  
  91
  The Namesake takes in a lot of territory, and at times is too diffuse, too attenuated. But the actors are so expressive that they provide their own continuity. They transport us to a realm of pure feeling.

  by Peter Rainer | Read Full Review »
• [+] Los Angeles Times
  
  90
  Despite being rooted in knotty issues of identity, Lahiri's novel forgoes didacticism in favor of vivid portraiture. Nair and her uniformly superb cast take the same tack: The characters are individuals before they are emblems.

  by Dennis Lim | Read Full Review »
• [+] The New York Times
  
  90
  The Namesake, adapted from Jhumpa Lahiri's popular novel, conveys a palpable sense of people as living, breathing creatures who are far more complex than their words might indicate.

  by Stephen Holden | Read Full Review »
• [+] Austin Chronicle
  
  89
  Reminiscent of Jim Sheridan's masterly "In America," The Namesake delivers such a tactile presence that it's difficult not to leave feeling as if you've just struggled through a New York winter, attended an Indian wedding, and returned from a Calcutta holiday.

  by Toddy Burton | Read Full Review »
• [+] Chicago Sun-Times
  
  88
  It has been said that all modern Russian literature came out of Gogol's "Overcoat." In the same way, all of us came out of the overcoat of this same immigrant experience.

  by Roger Ebert | Read Full Review »
• [+] Miami Herald
  
  88
  A rarity, a film that preserves the depth and integrity of its source while bringing the story to life in an indelible way.

  by Connie Ogle | Read Full Review »
• [+] Boston Globe
  
  88
  The Namesake has a deep, alluvial poetry to it, like a mighty river reaching the sea. It's mysterious and ordinary, insightful and banal, rambling and precise, and it is altogether unexpected.

  by Ty Burr | Read Full Review »
• [+] Philadelphia Inquirer
  
  88
  It's a tearjerker, sometimes, and sweetly funny at other moments. It's near perfect.

  by Steven Rea | Read Full Review »
• [+] USA Today
  
  88
  An engaging and moving film with a universal story about the bonds of family as told through two generations of a Bengali family.

  by Claudia Puig | Read Full Review »
• [+] ReelViews
  
  88
  The acting is uniformly excellent. For the roles of Ashoke and Ashima, Nair has employed prolific Bollywood stars Tabu and Irfan Khan, both of whom give performances of great range and empathy.

  by James Berardinelli | Read Full Review »
• [+] New York Post
  
  88
  Overall, this gorgeously designed and photographed movie artfully depicts the immigrant experience in ways that transcend its setting, melding Hollywood and Bollywood storytelling techniques to weave a tale a large audience will relate to.

  by Lou Lumenick | Read Full Review »