Review of Broken Embraces (2009) by John C — 28 Apr 2010

A powerful film with an amazing performance from penelope cruz.

This review of Broken Embraces (2009) was written by John C on 28 Apr 2010.

Broken Embraces has generally received positive reviews.

Was this review helpful?

Yes

More reviews of this movie:

Broken Embraces (2009) Movie Reviews (658)
Broken Embraces (2009) Critic Reviews (126)
Broken Embraces (2009) User Reviews (532)

More Reviews of Broken Embraces

Review of Broken Embraces (2009)

By Martin Tsai (390) for Critic's Notebook (199) on 06 Oct 2015

The entire third act is anticlimactic and forgettable, and one has to wonder why Mr…

Read Review

Review of Broken Embraces (2009)

By Anthony A (656) on 27 Jul 2012

Doesn't grab you as hard as some of his other work, but it's still a decent Almodovar…

Read Review

Review of Broken Embraces (2009)

By Matt B (1,998) on 01 Jun 2015

Broken Embraces is up there with one of my favorite of Pedro Almodóvar melodramas…

Read Review

Review of Broken Embraces (2009)

By Dawdlingpoet (1,123) on 16 Jan 2022

This is a fairly typical Almodovar drama film, featuring Penelope Cruz (but of course)…

Read Review

Review of Broken Embraces (2009)

By Lisa Schwarzbaum (1,672) for Entertainment Weekly (6,953) on 05 Feb 2016

Many of the characters go by two different names. So best advice for optimum viewing is, see Broken Embraces...twice…

Read Review

Review of Broken Embraces (2009)

By Matt H (2,287) on 26 Sep 2013

After having watched the good Talk to Her and the masterpiece The Skin I Live In, I was really expecting a lot from my 3rd Almodovar movie,…

Read Review

Review of Broken Embraces (2009)

By Kirk Honeycutt (1,481) for The Hollywood Reporter (7,050) on 10 Aug 2017

This is a pretty minor film from the filmmaker. It feels like more of an exercise in plotting and movie nostalgia than a story about real people…

Read Review

Review of Broken Embraces (2009)

By Dan Dinicola (36) for The Daily Gazette (Schenectady, NY) (36) on 02 Jan 2018

Cruz delivers a role with wit and elegance, but there's a vacuum sapping the energy she tries to offer…

Read Review

Review of Broken Embraces (2009)

By J.r. Jones (1,066) for Chicago Reader (7,190) on 03 Oct 2016

This melancholy romance is the first Almodovar feature I’ve ever really liked, an expertly fashioned melodrama that steers mercifully clear…

Read Review

Review of Broken Embraces (2009)

By Kim Newman (791) for Empire (3,446) on 04 Apr 2014

Gorgeous and seductive, if pitched at Almodóvar fans and perhaps a touch long…

Read Review

More reviews of this movie

Reviews of Similar Movies

Review of Notes on a Scandal (2006)

By Reidf. (17) on 27 Jan 2007

Well-acted, this is a nasty, nonsensical film about vile, cartoonish people whom you never care about…

Read Review

Review of Hollywoodland (2006)

By Jocastat. (1) on 12 Sep 2006

Absolutely atrocious. The script was banal and general, and really told no particular story whatsoever. A two hour meander…

Read Review

Review of Secret Window (2004)

By Martin Scribbs (122) for Mixed Reviews (171) on 05 Aug 2004

Another lousy movie adapted from Stephen King's writing; another slander against the mentally ill; another energetic Depp performance in a…

Read Review

Review of The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

By Mikel. (18) on 17 Jul 2009

This is the all-time worst movie I've ever seen (all the way through). Too long, too boring, too uninteresting…

Read Review

Review of The Illusionist (2006)

By Prabhath (1) on 15 Nov 2014

Could have build up the character of Crown Prince establishing him as a cruel person.....there isn't even one scene at least to establish that....He…

Read Review

Review of Stranger Than Fiction (2006)

By Joshua Rothkopf (1,058) for Time Out (7,510) on 03 Feb 2007

An uncommonly plastic bit of Hallmark sentiment-mongering, with exactly the kind of New Age psychobabble ending youâ(TM)d expect…

Read Review

Review of 3-Iron (2004)

By Monica W (88) on 15 Aug 2008

At first I was intrigued, but then it just got sillier and sillier…

Read Review

Review of Gloomy Sunday (1999)

By Artur K (16) on 10 Mar 2009

I couldn't grasp the theme or for that matter even the message the director was trying to pass on…

Read Review

Review of Princesses (2005)

By Marzena K (33) on 16 Feb 2008

Interesting attempt to go beyond the prostitute-sexual object cliche. Too bad it became a sweet-girl-cliche-hell…

Read Review

Review of Sex and Lucía (2001)

By Troy A (232) on 24 Feb 2012

This movie just grabbed me. I actually watched it a few times to catch all the details…

Read Review

More Reviews

Popular Movies Right Now

Nope

2022

68%181 Reviews

Spider-Man: No Way Home

2021

79%458 Reviews

Dark Waters

2019

76%68 Reviews

Dune

2021

77%276 Reviews

Past Lives

2023

84%62 Reviews

A Simple Favor

2018

69%617 Reviews

Godzilla vs. Kong

2021

66%184 Reviews

Barbie

2023

68%382 Reviews

Top Gun: Maverick

2022

82%272 Reviews

Babylon

2022

68%144 Reviews

Movies You Viewed Recently

Broken Embraces

2009

73%658 Reviews

Be Kind Rewind

2008

60%731 Reviews

The Candidate

1972

68%131 Reviews

Grease 2

1982

48%521 Reviews

SLC Punk

1998

73%596 Reviews

Maiden

2019

79%34 Reviews

Her

2013

83%1,190 Reviews

American Hardcore

2006

73%340 Reviews

Gone Fishin'

1997

44%156 Reviews

Shadow of the Vampire

2000

71%569 Reviews