Critic Reviews

• Tom Long, Detroit News

  You don't see that many supernatural serial-killer romantic comedies.

• Andy Webster, New York Times

  It's a Wonderful Afterlife may be a busy trifle, but it has its good-natured charms and agreeable gross-outs.

• Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times

  Its comic premise seems too silly, and at times, too tedious, to hope for much cross-cultural appeal, despite a fine, committed cast.

• Justin Chang, Variety

  Broad enough to drive a truckload of samosas through, yet achieving the miracle of genuine silliness only through Sally Hawkins' turn as a daffy psychic, this gluttonous ghost story should appeal to Chadha's loyal customers.

• John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter

  Chadha and her team, with their TV-sitcom color palette and quick comic pacing, clearly aren't shooting for plausibility, and audiences in search of a few easy laughs won't be disappointed.

• Jason Best, Movie Talk

  Chadha's recipe for the film appears to be: kooky comic supporting characters, crime, romance and essence of Ealing, together with big chunks of other films. Shame, then, that the result is a bit of a hash; more of a lumpy mish-mash than a tasty masala.

• Mike Edwards, What Culture

  I found myself laughing more at badly composed scenes, lame make-up, and poor performances than at the humour.

• Wade Major, Boxoffice Magazine

  A refreshingly spry romantic comedy that never loses sight of the fact that levity and love, even against the darkest and most unlikely of backdrops, always prevail.

• Diego Costa, Slant Magazine

  A magical realist comedy about the idealization of state-sanctioned heterosexual coupledom.

• Brian Orndorf, BrianOrndorf.com

  The feature doesn’t strive hard enough to remain delightfully insane. Instead, Chadha would rather play with broken hearts than entrails. A shame.

• Nick Pinkerton, L.A. Weekly

  Every gag is smothered by the prevailing tone of labored zaniness and generic, plucky "mischief music" alerting discerning viewers to abandon all hope of laughter.

• Matt Glasby, Flicks.co.nz

  This stodgy supernatural farce is riven with insoluble problems.

• Damon Wise, Empire Magazine

  With jokes that routinely miss the mark and cringeworthy slapstick, this black comedy farce shouldn't work. Somehow, though, it does.

• Jennie Kermode, Eye for Film

  It is still probably best appreciated by 12-year-olds, many of whom will love the toilet humour and bursts of extreme silliness that will distract and annoy older viewers.

• Edward Porter, Times [UK]

  These spirits are just gory enough to be out of place in a film that is otherwise designed for fans of bland, creakingly old-fashioned humour.

• Tim Robey, Daily Telegraph

  A train wreck romcom.

• Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall

  This film is so scattershot that it's more exhausting than endearing.

• Matthew Turner, ViewLondon

  Disappointing comedy that fails to find the right tone and is let down by a messy script and a lack of decent laughs, though it does have at least one great moment.

• Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]

  All the potential for drama and comedy is sacrificed to this totteringly high concept.

Read all 19 critic reviews