Name : Joe Morgenstern / Alias : Wall Street Journal
The whole contrivance falls flat in the end.

Name : Alan Scherstuhl / Alias : Village Voice
Anne Fontaine's Flaubert-inspired meta-pleasure Gemma Bovery takes as its subject the act of watching the lives around us - and of wishing those lives were literature.

Name : Stephanie Merry / Alias : Washington Post
How is it possible that such blatant male wish fulfillment came from a female director and a graphic novel by a woman, writer-artist Posy Simmonds?

Name : J. R. Jones / Alias : Chicago Reader
This is the first Fontaine movie I've seen that qualifies as lightweight.

Name : Nathalie Atkinson / Alias : Globe and Mail
A transmogrified Flaubert, recast, upturned and rich with observational and satirical contemporary details.

Name : Sheri Linden / Alias : Los Angeles Times
Fans of "Madame Bovary" might enjoy the chance to nod knowingly at references to the novel, but that's not enough to sustain a feature .

Name : Alonso Duralde / Alias : TheWrap
Underscores the notion that what we're watching isn't merely the life of a complicated woman, but rather the actions and choices of that woman as seen through a man's eyes and a man's judgment.

Name : Bilge Ebiri / Alias : New York Magazine/Vulture
After a while, the film feels more like a cute conceit that hasn't really been developed further. It's intriguing, and very well-acted, but empty.

Name : Anthony Lane / Alias : New Yorker
We are offered a handful of sketchy observations on the extent to which art either does or does not mimic life. These are, at best, unchallenging, and would have drawn barks of laughter from the derisive Flaubert.

Name : Jordan Mintzer / Alias : Hollywood Reporter
As pure entertainment it certainly does the job, although much of the text's existential weight is lost in the process.

Name : Linda Barnard / Alias : Toronto Star
A tad too slapstick and not nearly modern enough in its social sensibilities to offer a truly updated version of Madame Bovary, Gemma Bovery still has its charms .

Name : James Berardinelli / Alias : ReelViews
A nice little gem for anyone intrigued by the concept of having fun with a giant of 19th century literature.

Name : Stephen Holden / Alias : New York Times
Think of "Gemma Bovery" as an airy puff pastry, dripping with honey.

Name : Kyle Smith / Alias : New York Post
Laden with witty ironies, the film by Anne Fontaine suggests men may not play exactly the roles they think they do in women's lives.

Name : Rafer Guzman / Alias : Newsday
The novel, of course, is one of the towering achievements in literature, and this trivial movie has no idea what to do with it.

Name : Mark Jenkins / Alias : NPR
Christophe Beaucarne shoots the countryside, the baked goods, Gemma and Martin's playful dogs, and of course Arterton with sun-dappled rapture. No 19th-century novelist saw the world like this.

Name : Jesse Hassenger / Alias : AV Club
Arterton proves again that she has starrier magnetism in movies that slow down enough to appreciate it, even if she winds up as much a symbol as her own person.

Name : Mick LaSalle / Alias : San Francisco Chronicle
Like Chabrol, Fontaine has a way of making you laugh, on an off, for 90 minutes, before leaving you feeling a little queasy from too much truth.

Name : Moira MacDonald / Alias : Seattle Times
The scenery's lovely and the bread-kneading surprisingly erotic.

Name : Rex Reed / Alias : New York Observer
A somewhat reserved but sensual and gratifying movie that finds and polishes connections between literature and the screen while further catapulting the wonderful British actress Gemma Arterton several notches up the ladder toward international stardom.

Name : Jay Weissberg / Alias : Variety
The script flattens the main characters and makes one nostalgic for Flaubert's observational acumen.

Name : Joe Neumaier / Alias : New York Daily News
Literary obsession proves to be a weak spine for this wry French drama.

Name : Lou Lumenick / Alias : New York Post
Unfortunately, this ultra-glossy romantic drama derived from a best seller twists into very dark territory - a drastic tonal shift that neither its stars nor debuting director, Thea Sharrock, a respected stage veteran, manage with dramatic credibility.

Name : Andrew Barker / Alias : Variety
These are deep, complicated issues the film wades into, and it quickly winds up out of its depth.

Name : Peter Rainer / Alias : Christian Science Monitor
The only real acting in this movie comes from Janet McTeer and Charles Dance as Will's aggrieved parents. They bring some ballast to this blubberfest.

Name : Adam Graham / Alias : Detroit News
Clarke's sparkle is similar to when Julia Roberts graced the screen in "Pretty Woman." Get used to her, she'll be around for awhile.

Name : Linda Barnard / Alias : Toronto Star
Not everyone will be rooting around for a fresh supply of tissues.

Name : Kate Lloyd / Alias : Time Out
This adaptation of Jojo Moyes's best-seller (scripted by the novelist herself) might have the structure of a comfort-food weepie, but it's a rom-com with brains.

Name : Stephen Whitty / Alias : Newark Star-Ledger
Keeping any reality out of this love story does audiences - and people with handicaps - no favors. After all, kisses do sometimes need to be flavored with a few tears.

Name : Alonso Duralde / Alias : TheWrap
Forget art, or even craft: This is the kind of movie that can't even get its shameless audience-pandering in order.

Name : Tony Hicks / Alias : San Jose Mercury News
Moyes and director Thea Sharrock kept the love story too shallow to be really intriguing. They seem to have forgotten that great romantic films don't have to be pretty, and have skimmed the story of any real human ugliness .

Name : J. R. Jones / Alias : Chicago Reader
I can't recommend this movie to anyone older than high school age.

Name : Bill Goodykoontz / Alias : Arizona Republic
The plot is filled with cliches and the attempt at the bigger picture - the value of a life - is muddy at best. You may find the film courageous, but you're more likely to find it . sad.

Name : Jesse Hassenger / Alias : AV Club
Clarke is endearing, but verges on mugging. Claflin is at his best when Will gives in to his competitive urges, which happens exactly once.

Name : Richard Roeper / Alias : Chicago Sun-Times
Me Before You is a beautifully filmed and well-intentioned weeper marred by an unfortunate performance from one of the leads, and a plot development that leaves us more angry and frustrated than moved in the final act.

Name : Kate Clark / Alias : Seattle Times
Overall, the film is sweet but often loses impact in its most serious moments by blasting a happy pop soundtrack.

Name : Brian Truitt / Alias : USA Today
Jojo Moyes adapted her own best-selling book, which helps give Me Before You a singular inviting vibe instead of feeling like The Fault in Our Stars 2.

Name : Alison Willmore / Alias : BuzzFeed News
Isn't that romantic? No, it's really not.

Name : Chris Nashawaty / Alias : Entertainment Weekly
It may not quite rise to the level of a classic three-hankie tearjerker, but it's proof that sometimes one or two hankies is more than enough to get the job done.

Name : Tom Russo / Alias : Boston Globe
It's intriguing to see the bits of ambitious ethical weightiness mingled with the movie's gloss.

Name : Peter Travers / Alias : Rolling Stone
A sob story that averts its eyes when things get uncomfortable about the tangle of sex and frustration. Still, you can't blame audiences for being seduced by two shining young stars.

Name : Mick LaSalle / Alias : San Francisco Chronicle
A sort-of romance, liberally sprinkled with moments of corniness and emotional dishonesty.

Name : David Edelstein / Alias : New York Magazine/Vulture
Fans of the best-selling novel by Jojo Moyes will be heartened to hear that she wrote the screenplay, too, and that she has preserved all the lines that - when read aloud - will provide much mirth at your next dinner party.

Name : Connie Ogle / Alias : Miami Herald
Me Before You is a juicy, ripe red apple of a romance with a razor blade embedded under its skin.

Name : A.O. Scott / Alias : New York Times
A recent screening of "Me Before You" concluded with audible sniffles and even a sob or two. Why not gales of laughter or quiet snores? These are the mysteries that trouble a critic's uneasy mind.

Name : Stephanie Zacharek / Alias : TIME Magazine
A harmless enough entry in the "adorable mite tames surly masculine beast" romantic-weeper genre, hitting all the right beats with the clink of an expertly struck cowbell.

Name : Bruce Kirkland / Alias : Toronto Sun
Me Before You will jerks some tears, maybe even from cynics.

Name : Michael Phillips / Alias : Chicago Tribune
Clarke has loads of talent, but in Me Before You she's undermined by director Sharrock's technique, and an endless slew of overeager reaction shots.

Name : Julia Cooper / Alias : Globe and Mail
This film cost $20-million to make and, at its heart, is a glossy, live-action Beauty and the Beast, with a quadriplegic in the role of non-human animal.

Name : Steven Rea / Alias : Philadelphia Inquirer
Shameless in every way imaginable, Me Before You milks the pathos for all it's worth, but milks the comedy, too.

Name : Jocelyn Noveck / Alias : Associated Press
The filmmakers seem to have missed an opportunity to deal in a sophisticated way with a thorny, important subject. Still, you'll probably cry anyway. It's that kind of film.

Name : James Berardinelli / Alias : ReelViews
It's not perfect - there are times when the pacing is off and the epilogue tries too hard to end things on a positive note - but it's effective and affecting.

Name : Rafer Guzman / Alias : Newsday
As a romantic weepie, not bad. As a drama about a disabled man, possibly offensive.

Name : Joe Dziemianowicz / Alias : New York Daily News
The film becomes a testament to the transcendent power of love - but not in the way you expect.

Name : Mara Reinstein / Alias : Us Weekly
The fault is not in our stars. In breakout performances, Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin are magnetic as soulmates doomed by a Dire Medical Prognosis.

Name : Rex Reed / Alias : New York Observer
Me Before You is not without punishment, but it's so well made that it survives every drawback.

Name : Sheri Linden / Alias : Hollywood Reporter
Far too much of this high-gloss tearjerker proceeds as a by-the-numbers romantic fantasy, nudging the viewer every step of the way.