Catholic News Service
What Catholic viewers make of the gently satiric seriocomedy “We Have a Pope” (“Habemus Papam”) (Sundance Selects) will largely depend on their reaction to the sight of teams of cardinals from the world’s various continents competing against each other in a volleyball tournament.
In addition to typifying the pitch of humor in this Italian import, the series of scenes devoted to that elaborate visual gag also are indicative of the film’s overall strengths and flaws: Harmlessly humorous — if undeniably silly — to start off with, they carry on far too long, signaling the artistic exhaustion which eventually causes the proceedings as a whole to sputter and stall.