Bella Reviews

Bella is a movie about how one fateful day brought two people together. The following page contains reviews from various web pages. Bella was released in October 2006 and is set in New York City. The film was directed by Alejandro Gomez Monteverde, who has also directed the following films: Bocho and Waiting for Trains.

1. Rottentomatoes Rating: 45%
2. Metacritic.com: 47 out of 100
3. Release date: October 26, 2007
4. Stars: Eduardo Verástegui and Tammy Blanchard
5. Director: Alejandro Gomez Monteverde
6. Written by Gomez and Patrick Million
7. Budget: $3.3 million

"This is not a weepy, but a story about healing, forgiveness and redemption." — Susan Walker from the Toronto Star

"Bella is certainly a sweet, life-affirming picture, but it's just not authentic or captivating enough to justify its wildly concocted scenario." — Gary Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times

"It wants to answer the questions it's clearly too timid to ask, but the questions are always so much more interesting." — Erin Meister of the Boston Globe

"While Alejandro Gomez Monteverde's film has its heart in the right place, its effectiveness is ultimately hampered by its awkward and maudlin execution." — Frank Scheck of the Hollywood Reporter

• eFilmCritic.com: Bella Review
  • "Bella reaches out to the audience for compassion, displaying drama of an unwieldy mournful pitch, calculated to tug down hard on heartstrings and beat tears out of the viewer. It's an indie production marinated in manipulation, but there's just enough authentic anguish emanating from the actors to make it worth a sit."

• The New York Times: Bella Review
  • "It is not hard to see why "Bella," a saccharine trifle directed by Alejandro Monteverde, won the People's Choice Award at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival. This is a movie that wears its bleeding heart on its sleeve and loves its characters to distraction. Nothing — not even significant plot glitches and inconsistencies — is allowed to get in the way of its bear-hugging embrace of sweetness and light."

• Roger Ebert: Bella Review
  • "A heart-tugger with the confidence not to tug too hard."

• New York Post: Bella Review
  • "Cynics need not apply, but I found Bella a real heart tugger. "

• The Hollywood Reporter: Bella Review
  • "A would-be heartwarming drama that also subtly extends a pro-life message, Bella is a modest indie. While Alejandro Gomez Monteverde's film has its heart in the right place, its effectiveness is ultimately hampered by its awkward and maudlin execution."

• Washington Post: Bella Review
  • "We opted to just watch "Bella," a Mexican movie in which the outcome is never in doubt, the scenes are endless -- sorry, we meant poetic-- and the false beard on the central character's face looks as though it could use a little extra gum."

• The Onion (AV Club): Bella Review
  • "The emotions at play in Bella are no doubt heartfelt--and must have resonated with a few hundred people, anyway--but they're so cut-and-dried that the mawkish script virtually writes itself."

• The Boston Globe: Bella Review
  • "In this bilingual morality movie about love, family, and fate, however, the unpredictability turns out to be highly predictable."

• Chicago Tribune: Bella Review
  • "In his feature directorial debut, Alejandro Monteverde hits the mark as often as he misses it, but the film's problems linger longer than its successes."