Most critics agree that there's not much substance to Woman on Top, starring Spanish actress Penélope Cruz.
"A self-inflating soufflé" is the way Joe Morgenstern describes the movie in the Wall Street Journal.
"A feather-light romantic fable" is the way Jonathan Foreman describes it in the New York Post.
Still, Cruz gets high marks even from critics who find the goings-on in this movie about a woman who becomes a celebrity chef - er, distasteful. "If one test of star power is the ability to shine even in dim surroundings," writes Rick Groen in the Toronto Globe & Mail, "then Cruz... passes with flying colors."
But Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times suggests that Cruz' performance has a great deal to overcome. "If Penélope Cruz were any less attractive," he writes, "maybe someone would have noticed how dull this mild, would-be romantic fairy tale has turned out."
And Elvis Mitchell concludes in the New York Times: "Despite its adorable star and likability, this is a fable with little flavor."
