Critic Reviews
Love in the Time of Cholera (2007) Rank 5 Reviews
Expert Review Summary
based on (84) reviews
Click on the numbers to the right of the graph to see reviews of that rating
Reviews by Score:
Leonard Maltin's Picks
I know, I know: you havenât heard much about this movie, and some of the reviews havenât been enthusiastic. All I can say is that I fell in love with the film. In fact, I was so enthralled that I now want to read Gabriel Garcia Marquezâs novel, to ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Leonard Maltin's Picks
San Diego Metropolitan (Jean Lowerison)
Love and death, passion, hope and the awful pain of waiting are on Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez's literary canvas in his classic novel "Love in the Time of Cholera," set in turn-of-the-20th-century Colombia. ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at San Diego Metropolitan (Jean Lowerison)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"A literary tale of unrequited love in 19th-century Colombia, made emotionally potent by Bardem and ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Arizona Republic
Javier Bardem is a marvel; anyone who sees his menacing turn as a psychopathic killer in No Country for Old Men will have a hard time picturing him as a meek romantic in Love in the Time of Cholera. ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at The Arizona Republic
Cinema Signals (Jules Brenner)
Artfully couched in surreal absurdity, its ironies are designed to question the contradictions and weaknesses of entrenched traditions. ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Cinema Signals (Jules Brenner)
Long Island Press (Prairie Miller)
Weirdly proposing sexual excess as the cure for unrequited love, the film has sad sack protag Bardem drowning his sorrows in an endless round of quickies with 623 faceless babes in heat. ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Long Island Press (Prairie Miller)
Filmjerk.com (Brian Orndorf)
Ever since Florentino (Javier Bardem) spied Fermina (Giovanna Mezzogiorno), he declared his everlasting love for her. Courting through love letters, the two grew quite fond of each other, pursuing their romance to the brink of marriage. When Ferminaâs ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Filmjerk.com (Brian Orndorf)
Screen International
Mike Newell delivers a respectable movie adaptation of Gabriel Garcia Marquezâs beloved 1985 novel, which because of its structural and temporal challenges has often been dubbed unfilmable. Newell and screenwriter Ronald Harwood remain faithful in a ver ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Screen International
ReelTalk (Diana Saenger)
Adapting a novel into a Hollywood film is never easy. Movie fans who havenât read the book in question may be easier to please with such a film, but die-hard readers are far more difficult to satisfy. That's the case with Love in the Time of Cholera, a ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at ReelTalk (Diana Saenger)
Wolf Entertainment Guide (William Wolf)
Fans of Gabriel Garcia Márquezâs best-selling novel, âLove in the Time of Cholera,â will be eager to see if the film adaptation does it justice. While it is almost impossible for any film to capture the stylistic flavor of a writerâs language, ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Wolf Entertainment Guide (William Wolf)
Entertainment Insiders (Eric Lurio)
Ronald Harwood is not Edith Grossman. Ms. Grossman is a translator by trade and it is her interpretation of the poetic writings of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, which have brought his works to the English-speaking world. Harwood has taken some of the poetry ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Entertainment Insiders (Eric Lurio)
San Francisco Chronicle
By following the story line of Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez's novel, "Love in the Time of Cholera," directed by Mike Newell, eventually arrives at a lovely place, but it arrives limping. Small but nagging ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at San Francisco Chronicle
ComingSoon.net (Edward Douglas)
Hopeless romantics shouldn't have problems forgiving some of the foibles and faux pas made in the telling of the story. ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at ComingSoon.net (Edward Douglas)
Compuserve (Harvey S. Karten)
Authors have a right to be wary about how their books are adapted for the screen, but in the case of the
English-language film "Love in the Time of Cholera," Nobel Prize winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez should
be honored and delighted indeed by the ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Compuserve (Harvey S. Karten)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
It's a scene as old as "Romeo and Juliet." A young man spies a pretty girl and vows his eternal devotion before they ever speak. In Shakespeare's play, they rendezvous in secret, consummate their love and die ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ColeSmithey.com (Cole Smithey)
The famed 1985 magical realist novel of Nobel Prize winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez gets an ambitious but off-key cinematic adaptation that trips up except in the casting of Javier Bardem as its romantically enthusiastic protagonist. ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at ColeSmithey.com (Cole Smithey)
Philadelphia Inquirer (Carrie Rickey)
Like an emerald with wings, a parrot flutters onto the branch of a mango tree, ruffling iridescent feathers on leaves the color of new lettuce. ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Philadelphia Inquirer (Carrie Rickey)
Combustible Celluloid (Jeffrey M. Anderson)
Love in the Time of Cholera is a film of drawbacks and distances. The 1985 novel by the Colombian-born Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez is one of the most beloved classics of the 20th century. It was originally written in Spanish, and though the English ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Combustible Celluloid (Jeffrey M. Anderson)
Hollywood.com (Robert Sims)
The literary version of Florentino Ariza is often described as a self-made man with the heart of a poet. The same holds true for the film, but Bardem also plays Florentino as though he possesses the mind of Rain ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Hollywood.com (Robert Sims)
New York Daily News
There's a little cholera in the middle and some love at the beginning and end, but Mike Newell's "Love in the Time of Cholera" is mostly about romantic obsession and ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at New York Daily News
New York Daily News
There's a little cholera in the middle and some love at the beginning and end, but Mike Newell's "Love in the Time of Cholera" is mostly about romantic obsession and ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at New York Daily News
The New Yorker (David Denby)
In âLove in the Time of Cholera,â Mike Newellâs adaptation of Gabriel GarcÃa Márquezâs great 1985 novel, Florentino Arizaâa hustling, excitable teen-age boy living in late-nineteenth-century Colombiaâcatches sight of a pretty rich girl, ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at The New Yorker (David Denby)
Philadelphia Daily News (Gary Thompson)
Film Journal International (Lewis Beale)
A decent shot at a complex work, but ultimately, the book is way more evocative than any film. ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Film Journal International (Lewis Beale)
HollywoodChicago.com (Dustin Levell)
MovieWeb (Francine Brokaw)
The popular book is brought to the big screen in a magnificent story of love starring Javier Bardem as Florentino Ariza, a telegraph clerk who's life changes the moment he sees Fermina Daza (Giovanna Mezzogiorno). They begin to communicate via letters ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at MovieWeb (Francine Brokaw)
Orlando Sentinel (Roger Moore)
Bardem, Elizondo, Bratt and Moreno bring enough to the banquet to make this feast worth sitting through, and best of all, make you want to read the book, Oprah endorsement or no. ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Orlando Sentinel (Roger Moore)
Movies for Guys (Mack Guffin)
Based on Gabriel Garcia Marquezâs distinctively-titled 1985 book, which girls I knew in college tended to have on their bookshelf right next to their Anne Rice porn, this is the story of two star-crossed lovers in Columbia that begins in 1880. ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Movies for Guys (Mack Guffin)
Boston Globe
During a moment intended as poignant in the silly new film of "Love in the Time of Cholera," 70-something Fermina Daza (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) asks her long-lost love, Florentino Ariza (Javier Bardem), to avert his eyes as she disrobes. Why, he asks. ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Boston Globe
The Baltimore Sun (Michael Sragow)
Christian Spotlight on the Movies
I'm not sure that any of the characters in the movie really understood anything about love. Florentino talks about love a lot, and he is portrayed in a positive light, but his behavior is very opposite of biblical love, which is laying your life down for ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Christian Spotlight on the Movies
KYW Newsradio (Bill Wine)
The protagonist exhibits extraordinary loyalty and patience. But you may need to borrow some. You'll need extreme stick-to-itiveness to slog through this handsome but seemingly endless romance-a-thon.
Love in the Time of Cholera is a sprawling saga of ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at KYW Newsradio (Bill Wine)
Cinema Blend
You know somethingâs wrong when the audience erupts in laughter during one of the most passionate moments of âthe greatest love story ever told.â Sadly, Mike Newellâs adaptation of the classic novel Love in the Time of Cholera, is rife with ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Cinema Blend
Lobo Howls (Judith Wolfe)
The magic and involved character development of the novel perhaps got lost in efforts to bring all 350 pages of the book to the big screen. The good news is that it is a beautiful picture to watch (cinematographer Affonso Beato). You can enjoy it if you ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Lobo Howls (Judith Wolfe)
Houston Community Newspapers (Gary Brown)
Here we go again. Along comes the cinematic translation of a popular romantic novel, an Oprah Book Club selection that sinks to the bottom like an overloaded steamboat.
Iâm referring to âLove in the Time of Cholera,â which opened the other ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Houston Community Newspapers (Gary Brown)
The Onion A.V. Club
It's never easy translating a book into a film, which is probably why so many adaptations fall into a default mode of handsome sloggery. Get the plot up on the screen, fill it with acclaimed actors and pretty production design, and the rest, the logic ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at The Onion A.V. Club
The Flick Filosopher (MaryAnn Johanson)
Oh, it seems churlish and petty not to praise this movie to the heavens. But I canât do it. I just ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at The Flick Filosopher (MaryAnn Johanson)
Reel Film Reviews (David Nusair)
Based on the novel by Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera follows hopeless romantic Florentino Ariza (Javier Bardem) as he spends a lifetime pining for lost love Fermina Urbino (Giovanna Mezzogiorno). Though the film's two stars are ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Reel Film Reviews (David Nusair)
New York Post (Kyle Smith)
Did "Gone With the Wind" have more than three characters who mattered? Did you know the name of the war everyone was fighting? Did the breathtakingly romantic love scene ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at New York Post (Kyle Smith)
Slant Magazine (Ed Gonzalez)
Would that Newell's visual panache were as robust as his understanding of the novel's romantic implications, but what the film lacks in brio it makes up for in reverence. ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Slant Magazine (Ed Gonzalez)
Associated Press (Christy Lemire)
It's the actors themselves who all too often feel out of place. ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Associated Press (Christy Lemire)
About.com (Rebecca Murray)
a surprisingly passionless love story ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at About.com (Rebecca Murray)
Chicago Tribune (Michael Phillips)
Newell has done some fine work in all sorts of genres, from Four Weddings and a Funeral to Harry Potter , but in Cholera he seems to be chronicling a half-century of events, passions and desires as a tourist, not a native. ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Chicago Tribune (Michael Phillips)
Sun Publications (Chicago, IL) (Josh Larsen)
Marquez' material is endearing when read, but it can be embarrassing to watch. ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Sun Publications (Chicago, IL) (Josh Larsen)
Variety
While seemingly impossible-to-film novels are being gracefully nurtured for the screen this season ("Atonement," "The Kite Runner," "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"), Gabriel Garcia Marquez's much-adored "Love in the Time of Cholera" has been given a ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Variety
The New York Times
âLove in the Time of Choleraâ sets itself the elusive task of translating Gabriel GarcÃa Márquezâs masterpiece of magical realism into an upscale art film with popular appeal. Faithful to the outline of the novel but emotionally and spiritually an ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at The New York Times
EmanuelLevy.com (Emanuel Levy)
Mike Newell's version of Gabriel Garcia Marquez highly acclaimed erotic novel is one of his worst films: listless, poorly mounted, badly scripted by Ronald Harwood, and weakly acted, even by such pros as Javier Bardem. ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at EmanuelLevy.com (Emanuel Levy)
The Globe and Mail
It's not surprising to learn that anyone foolish enough to try conjuring a moving picture out of feverish love letters and the 50-year journey of mending hearts made a soggy ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at The Globe and Mail
Chicago Tribune (Michael Phillips)
Some books put up one hell of a fight on the way to the multiplex, and theyâre not always the ones youâd expect. Ever since âThe Diving Bell and the Butterflyâ premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, much has been written about the difficulty of ad ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Chicago Tribune (Michael Phillips)
USA Today (Claudia Puig)
Love in the Time of Cholera lacks the lyrical grace and mesmerizing quality of Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez's classic novel.
The film version, as ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at USA Today (Claudia Puig)
Washington Post (Ann Hornaday)
Lush, extravagant, sad and touching, Love in the Time of Cholera still feels weirdly insubstantial when all the febrile passion has abated. Like a fever it breaks, passes and is forgotten. ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Washington Post (Ann Hornaday)
Los Angeles Times (Carina Chocano)
SINCE Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez first published "Love in the Time of Cholera" internationally in 1988, he is said to have declined, much like a character in one of his books, something on the order of 50 offers to turn the novel into a film. Part of his ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Los Angeles Times (Carina Chocano)
The Hollywood Reporter
"Love in the Time of Cholera," Mike Newell's handsomely appointed but disappointing adaptation of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's complicated, sprawling novel retains the essential flavor of the book. Audiences are likely to split into two camps: Fans will ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at The Hollywood Reporter
Metromix.com (Matt Pais)
Apparently cholera is the world's only disease at the time, which allows Florentino to sleep with more than 600 women and remain STD-free. ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Metromix.com (Matt Pais)
ShowBizCafe.com (Axel Flowers)
Cuánto esperaba yo que El Amor en los Tiempos del Cólera âestremeciera los cimientosâ de la sala de cine donde me senté a verla. Como cineasta colombiano de la región costera, y amante a las obras de Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez, añoraba ver un filme ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at ShowBizCafe.com (Axel Flowers)
Film Threat, Hollywood's Indie Voice
My classical education is, admittedly, a little lacking. Iâve never seen âCitizen Kaneâ on the big screen, never attended a ballgame at Wrigley Field, and Iâve never read Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Márquezâs much-lauded story o ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Film Threat, Hollywood's Indie Voice
ReelzChannel (Heather Huntington)
In Love in the Time of Cholera, director Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) attempts to bring Gabriel Garcia Marquez's popular novel about a sweeping love triangle in turn-of-the-century Columbia to the screen. ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at ReelzChannel (Heather Huntington)
New York Press (Eric Kohn)
Despite its temporal range, the biggest pratfall of the movie is its outdated aura. Newell gives us fabulous scenery and a classic narrative, but none of it becomes involving in the present. ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at New York Press (Eric Kohn)
About.com Hollywood Movies (Rebecca Murray)
Directed by Mike Newell (Mona Lisa Smile) and adapted from Gabriel Garcia Marquezâ novel by Ronald Harwood (Being Julia), Love in the Time of Cholera is a surprisingly passionless love story. Flitting back and forth between five decades and littered wit ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at About.com Hollywood Movies (Rebecca Murray)
Orlando Weekly (John Thomason)
Oh, dear. What literary giant has the unstoppable Hollywood machine gone and tarnished now? That would be Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez. The grandfather of magic realism is given a clumsy, saccharine and unsubtle treatment with a Love in the Time of Cholera ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Orlando Weekly (John Thomason)
Toronto Star (Peter Howell)
The scent of bitter almonds, so familiar and meaningful to love-struck Florentino Ariza (Javier Bardem) in Love in the Time of Cholera, has been replaced by the smell of a torched opportunity. ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Toronto Star (Peter Howell)
One Guy's Opinion (Frank Swietek)
Film School Rejects (Nate Deen)
Love in the Time of Cholera is a gorgeous disaster of a film. The movie is filled with some rich visuals and scenery, but that is about the only good quality that can be said of it. Director Mike Newell, after making one of 2005âs best films with Harry ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Film School Rejects (Nate Deen)
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Much of the great joy of reading an author like Gabriel Garcia Marquez is the fact that you're reading him -- that you're allowing yourself to become engrossed in his florid phrasing and vivid descriptions, that he's offering to take you to a ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Richmond Times-Dispatch
"Love in the Time of Cholera" is so lifeless and flat that watching it feels like a hundred years of ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Richmond Times-Dispatch
MovieMaze.de (Kiara Wellington)
Time Out New York (Ben Kenigsberg)
Truth is, thereâs a big difference between J.K. Rowling and Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez, but who better to attempt an impossible literary adaptation than the director of the fourth Harry Potter film? Mike Newellâs ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Time Out New York (Ben Kenigsberg)
PopMatters (Cynthia Fuchs)
At once florid and plodding, Mike Newellâs film of Gabriel GarcÃa Márquezâs epic romance makes the magical realism all too literal. Though the tedium is occasionally buoyed by Shakiraâs vibrant soundtrack contributions, for the most part, Love in ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at PopMatters (Cynthia Fuchs)
kids-in-mind
Adaptation of the Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez novel of unrequited love set in Columbia during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A young man falls deeply in love with a young woman, but is ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at kids-in-mind
Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)
Small wonder that One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez's best novel, has never been filmed. Watching "Love in the Time of Cholera," based on another of his great works, made me wonder if he is even translatable into cinema. Gabo's work ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)
Village Voice (Robert Wilonsky)
Easily the worst adaptation of a major novel by a Nobel Prizewinning author. ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Village Voice (Robert Wilonsky)
Newsday (Jan Stuart)
Love in the Time of Cholera suffers from a serious case of Big Movie-itis. ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Newsday (Jan Stuart)
ReelViews (James Berardinelli)
The novel Love in the Time of Cholera is a meditation on love in its many forms. It is a serious work from Nobel Prize winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The movie Love in the Time of Cholera is a misstep of nearly epic proportions. As adapted by Ron ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at ReelViews (James Berardinelli)
Entertainment Weekly (Lisa Schwarzbaum)
Literature is poorly served. ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Entertainment Weekly (Lisa Schwarzbaum)
Palo Alto Online (Susan Tavernetti)
The Colombian-born writer's sweeping narrative, evocative and sensory imagery, and spellbinding storytelling cannot be reduced to the requirements of a screenplay -- translated to what viewers can see and hear ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Palo Alto Online (Susan Tavernetti)
Movies 101 (Robert Glatzer)
One of the miracles of Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez's novels is their uncanny use of an omnicient narrator, who spins out the tale in a voice so sincere and factual that we are lulled into taking everything we hear as truth, even the most magical episodes; ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Movies 101 (Robert Glatzer)
cinemattraction (Brandon Fibbs)
Love in the Time of Cholera is based on the novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez who, in 1982, was awarded the Nobel Prize for his luxuriant body of work. After viewing this film adaptation of one of his most beloved works, you will be faced with one of two ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at cinemattraction (Brandon Fibbs)
Killer Movie Reviews (Andrea Chase)
LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA sweeps across the big screen like a stifled yawn. Adapted from Gabriel Garcia Marquezâs poetic novel by Ronald Harwood and directed by Mike Newell, the grand passion that dominates the life of its hero, Florentino (Javier ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Killer Movie Reviews (Andrea Chase)
About.com (Jurgen Fauth)
A movie of such boundless badness that it would take somebody with a Nobel Prize in literature to truly fathom the extent of its wretchedness. ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at About.com (Jurgen Fauth)
Pop Syndicate (Stefan Halley)
much too long, tediously going from one unnecessary episode to another. I ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Pop Syndicate (Stefan Halley)
Austin Chronicle (Toddy Burton)
Itâs a testament to the talents of Bardem that he can currently be seen as both one of the most romantic heroes in modern fiction (Florentino Ariza in Love in the Time of Cholera) and one of the most ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Austin Chronicle (Toddy Burton)
Killer Movie Reviews (Andrea Chase)
sweeps across the big screen like a stifled yawn ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Killer Movie Reviews (Andrea Chase)
Salon (Stephanie Zacharek)
It might be a good idea for every theater showing Mike Newell's "Love in the Time of Cholera" to install extra fire extinguishers, maybe even hire a few intimidating-looking policemen to stand around with their arms folded. Forget the exhausted argument ...read the complete Love in the Time of Cholera movie review at Salon (Stephanie Zacharek)
User Reviews
User Comments
del.icio.us
Digg
StumbleUpon
Yahoo! My Web
Facebook
Google Bookmarks
ma.gnolia
Newsvine
reddit
Windows Live
