Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

GazerRise Fantastic!

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

SnoopyStyle Allegra (Elizabeth Reaser) gets caught dating both Grace (Gretchen Mol) and Philip (Justin Kirk). The movie flashes back to the time when she's dating Samantha (Julianne Nicholson). She's a Puccini opera loving New York writer. Her ex Nell (Tina Benko) and Vivian (Kate Simses) are advancing in their relationship. Samantha hates opera, questions her lesbianism, and breaks up with Allegra to go back to her former boyfriend Jeff. As Allegra resigns herself to be alone, she meets first Philip and then Grace. She sleeps with Philip. Then she sleeps with Grace without knowing that they're actually in a stale long-term relationship together.It's a quirky little rom-com. I love all the actors although Reaser may not be up to being a manic comedic lead. She's not quite big enough to fill the character's shoes. There are some light humorous moments that are kinda funny. The laughs are never big enough to rise up to hilarious. There is a little bit of an interesting take on lesbian relationship struggles. The irreverent tone adds up to a cute but strictly small little indie.

DQGladstone I liked this film from the outset because of the screwball/Woody Allenish style of it but it really kicked in for me with the following paraphrased quote: Allegra: Phillip Roth is a misogynist...I'll buy the first round if you don't tell anyone about Martha Stewart.Philip: I'll buy the second round if you can think of something more original to say about Phillip Roth.The word "misogynist" is overused and misused by some women and it was nice to hear it dealt with so easily.This film has a potential to be misandrist/women-empowering but it never really goes there which is GREAT. Quoting Allegra: "Just because I love women doesn't mean I hate men." "Puccini" points out a lot of irritating female behavior by having Allegra play the man-stereotype (who happens to be a woman), thereby vindicating men of some of their "flaws". Reaser WAS "like a man" but an interesting, good, CHARMing man with some of his more understandable flaws, like fear of commitment and romantic curiosity. I've never seen Elizabeth Reaser before but I loved her choices and acting style in this film. She was cool, understated and charming and she made nice underwear choices. She was the constantly-criticized man with women and the irritatingly instructive but inconsistent woman with a man. Following are two quotes from her character to Philip: "When a woman runs out of a restaurant that's your cue to run after her." "Phillip, when a woman says she has to leave a restaurant you have to let her leave." I liked the sushi commentators and the lonely lesbians drinking their coffee in unison. When Allegra vomits on Philip's shoes, the sound-effect is masterful. Gretchen Mol is charming and I liked the absurdity of the battling men in the background while she is mouthing the usual, boring, general complaints about men. I appreciate that Allegra gently disagrees with her. At the closing party, while Allegra is talking to Philip and looking for her coat, a mating couple wanders in. Samantha's fiancée was entertainingly stupid. Nell, the ex-girlfriend, was magnifico. "Puccini" had a lot of nice comic touches.Allegra's character arc follows Redford's in "Out Of Africa", without the lions, but Reaser has the humor that Redford needed. She is unwilling to commit for reasons that are less idealistic and more vague but, in the end, comes around to the idea that commitment has it's charms when it's the right person. She IS a commitment-phobe but, like Redford's character, for most of the right reasons. She's not stupid enough to LOOK for commitment but she's not inhuman enough to live without romance and passion.Maria Maggenti has created something fresh, classic and modern here. (She seems to know a few things about women). "Puccini For Beginners" does away with a lot of feminist cliché and propaganda which is refreshing as hell.

Roland E. Zwick Written and directed by Maria Maggenti, "Puccini For Beginners" is a tres chic romantic comedy set in a movie-spawned Manhattan where virtually everyone we meet is Caucasian, trendily upscale and sexually conflicted.The strained setup lands somewhere between a labored screwball sex farce and a recycled Woody Allen angst-fest: Allegra (Elizabeth Reaser) is an opera-loving, afraid-of-commitment lesbian who finds herself inadvertently and simultaneously dating both a man (Justin Kirk) and his longtime girlfriend (winningly played by Gretchen Mol). As Allegra bounces back and forth between her two oblivious paramours, the characters talk out the issues of their relationships as if they were channeling left-over bits from "Annie Hall" or "Manhattan." "Puccini for Beginners" is one of those small-scale independent features that thinks it's being smarter and more insightful about romantic relationships than it really is. Actually, after all those really sharp Woody Allen exposes on the same subject, very little in this film feels like fresh observation. To be truthful, with the exception of Mol's winsome Grace, most of the characters here are more annoying than they are appealing. Not only are the plotting and much of the writing too cutesy by half, but so is Maggenti's directorial style, which relies heavily on smart-alecky narration, freeze-framing, and dopey fantasy sequences to generate laughs."Puccini for Beginners" offers a few genuinely funny moments within its blessedly short 81-minute running time, but throughout we're plagued by the nagging and irreverent suspicion that the film might have been more accurately entitled "Puccini for Idiots."

freddiebean I saw this film at Sundance and can't wait for it to get distribution so that I can see it again and again! This is the kind of film that doesn't really get made anymore: witty, fun, intelligent, truly entertaining, reminiscent of classic Hollywood screwball comedy. Wonderful use of New York City as a set, sparkling script, winning performances. Even the smaller roles are wonderfully cast and written. Every detail of the film is beautifully executed. This is how film-making should be, and as an audience member, how experiencing a film should be. The late-night audience at Sundance LOVED this film, gave a standing ovation for the director. I am hoping nationwide audiences will soon have the same opportunity to enjoy this delightful film.