Dressed in a gold Gucci gown, Aishwarya Rai wowed the US audience at the premiere of Gurinder Chadha's "Bride & Prejudice" but the same can't be said about the film. Here are some of the reviews Ash got for her first crossover flick:

Beautiful as she is, Rai is not enough of a presence to redirect the movie's energy or its troubling points of view. In attempting to show us a love blind to class, culture, and color, Chadha's also has made it bland. —Boston Globe

Think "My Big Fat Sari Wedding" tricked out and delivered with much finger wagging about cultural tolerance.

The kicker here being that the wagging finger belongs to the story's heroine, Lalita (Rai), and the object of her high-mindedness is none other than a wealthy American hotel heir, Will Darcy (Henderson, just inert).... Chadha also manages to make hash of a classic of literature and one of the world's leading film genres.
— The New York Times

So where's the story? But Chadha camouflages the film's flaws with the dual attractions of Bollywood musical numbers and Rai, the Indian superstar. Rai's bio in the press notes includes the tidbit that Julia Roberts anointed her "the most beautiful woman in the world.'' It's hard to say whether this is true.

But it's a safe bet that Rai would make the top 20. (We're eventually) asked to root for Lalita to end up with the lesser dud of two duds, a concept Austen might have found old-fashioned.
— San Francisco Chronicle

A predictable romantic comedy so focused on the idea of getting hitched that it's only one marriage short of Four Weddings and a Funeral... one longs for the lively vivacity and tenderness of Monsoon Wedding. Chadha's Bend It Like Beckham was a far better movie.
— USA Today

A pretty movie, but also a pretty crazy one. The movie has its flaws, but they're mostly forgivable. Bride and Prejudice is an intellectuals' excursion into a mad pop genre; what ultimately limits it is the fact that Chadha, in making a crazy film, isn't quite nutty enough to turn it into a classic
— Chicago Tribune