[The Namesake] understands that identity is not something one chooses definitively, but something fluid—reshaped by time, by experience, by the stories we inherit and the ones we create.

| Feb 16, 2025

The scene is filmed with such a light touch, but is bursting with such complete understanding that the deepest loves are often expressed with a small glance or a meaningful gesture, rather than anything showy or grand.

| Aug 9, 2024

Indian director Mira Nair's film has noble intentions that become noticeable from the preamble, but to me it seems as a flat and very dull drama about family, immigration, and cultural traditionalism. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 4/10 | Jan 6, 2021

One of those films that easily wins your respect, but struggles to hold your attention.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | May 12, 2020

[Nair's] film covers so much ground that it's hard to sustain emotional investment in its characters.

| Feb 3, 2020

Mira Nair turns Jhumpa Lahiri's gentle, evocative novel The Namesake, into a gentle, evocative film.

| Jun 19, 2019

There are bound to be quibbles about whether they get their Bengali right or whether Nair captures the culture and ethos. But it still can't take much away from this humane, warm and elegantly crafted film.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jan 24, 2019

The Namesake is an unhurried, insightful and deeply moving generational drama that cannot be recommended highly enough.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 3, 2018

The Namesake captures the interior struggle between centuries of history and the appeal of living only in the now, and it's grippingly beautiful and overwhelmingly moving.

| Aug 23, 2018

Since Nair made such a stir with her fresh approach to William Thackeray's Vanity Fair, the fact that she simply translated The Namesake from page to screen proves to be a bit of a letdown.

| Aug 7, 2018

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 16, 2011

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 16, 2011

Sprawling, uneven, heartfelt

| Aug 27, 2009

Buoyed by terrific performances from Irrfan Kahn and the tremendous Tabu, the film is a bit homogenized but does a good job of exploring the dynamics of blending foreign cultures with American ways of life.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Sep 30, 2008

lacks focus and never quite finds its footing

| Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 17, 2008

This movie is not bad, I just couldn't connect with it. The Namesake is poignant (I cried once) and spans many years with grace and great acting, but it may be beyond my ken to truly appreciate as it deserves.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Feb 16, 2008

What holds it together are the subtle loving performances by Tabu and Khan, both Bollywoood stars. They never overplay, never spell out what can be said in a glance or a shrug, communicate great passion very quietly.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 7, 2007

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Dec 7, 2007

Mira Nair's film is called The Namesake which immediately focuses our attention toward the value of names and naming (and that theme is explored occasionally within the film), but to slip even further down the rabbit hole, the more intriguing area of disc

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 6, 2007

Kal Penn, who got kooky for 'Harold and Kumer Go To White Castle,' shows his impressive serious side here as Gogol Ganguli, a guy who suspects that his given name may be a fatal turnoff with females.

| Nov 25, 2007