Good story, Not enough for a whole film

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

French Romantic Comedies of late are inevitably more charming, but still as generic as their shrill Hollywood cousins. This is no exception with interesting issues like the absence of motherly love and the isolation of today's singles only hinted at, while the usual knee-jerk narrative devices take over up to the feel-good ending.With its likable cast, some nice little ideas and Berri's fluent if unmemorable direction, the whole slight affair is easy to swallow, but remains too bland to provoke any deeper emotions.But in French RomComs, at least, there's no Matthew McConaughey in sight.5 out of 10 grandmotherly breasts

Vaguely interesting movie about life, but I felt it was made fascinating only due to the charisma of its two leads, the wonderful Guillaume Canet and the irrepressible Audrey Tautou. Had the leads been given to any other actor with considerable less charm, the movie would have sank. The character's central conflict is not firmly established, and watching the plot develop was equivalent to swimming in an open sea: direction-less. The happy ending was completely expected but heartwarming all the same; I just wished they had brought out the narrative motive more convincingly for me to feel like there was a point to this whole movie. The pacing was also a little too slow, and the nondescript dialog emphasized the lengthy duration of the movie.On a whole, I felt the director could have done a lot better with the movie by giving it greater focus, faster pacing, wittier dialog- there were quite a few moments in the film between Tautou and Canet's characters that could have done better with wittier dialog.A must-watch only for the actors' fans.

It begins in a quite French comedy way. It's the cleaning girl who lives under the roof, the extremely nerdy young Parisian aristocrat and the young soft macho chef aspirant. They come together and it could have been both entertaining and thought inspiring.But it turns into feel-good in a manner which is worse than most Hollywood remakes. Audrey Tautou doesn't have that variation in her acting that you now can demand. Or does the take the wrong parts? Guillaume Canet as the young chef is better.But the story is too simple, looking at the big market in the West too much. You don't feel as good from this as was intended.

"Ensemble, c'est tout" (the title translates to "Together, That's All," but it looks like it will be released in English-speaking countries as "Hunting and Gathering") is, at heart, a romantic wish-fulfillment fable, and a particularly French example of the genre. If you're a depressed, anorexic girl who lives in a tiny room and works as a cleaning lady despite your artistic talents, what could be better than having your blueblooded neighbor invite you to stay in his luxe, antique-stuffed Parisian apartment? By the end of your time there, you and your new friends will form a makeshift family, and you'll even find love with a guy who rides a motorcycle and is a talented chef. Don't worry that you hated him at first sight. It's a romantic fable; these things happen.At least, they happen that way for Camille (Audrey Tautou), the heroine of "Ensemble, c'est tout." Her host in that fabulous apartment is Philibert (Laurent Stocker), a young, eccentric, and socially awkward scion of an aristocratic family. Philibert shares his apartment with Franck (Guillaume Canet) the motorcycle-chef; and eventually Franck's ailing grandmother Paulette (Françoise Bertin) moves in as well.From there, things proceed mostly how you'd expect, with the requisite mixture of comedy and drama. The scenes between Franck and Paulette are the least original; the other plot lines at least have a few amusing incidents to liven them up. And the movie is so concerned with the romance between Camille and Franck that Philibert--who also finds love during the course of the story--gets short shrift. We never see him interact with his girlfriend, which severely limits his character arc. Also, in an American movie, a character who looks and acts like Philibert (shy, bookish, wearing velvet suits and bow ties) would almost certainly be gay, so it comes as a bit of a surprise to learn that he isn't. This, however, is the only surprise that "Ensemble, c'est tout" has in store.