The French critics are not amused:
"The romantic comedy series starring Lily Collins is causing quite a stir amongst Parisians unimpressed by the cliches and stereotypes found in the show.
For many French critics and viewers, the "proud cultural ignorance" was a little too much and the show has been roundly criticized, mocked and dismissed for perpetuating stereotypes of the French, glorifying an unrealistic theme park version of Paris and absurdist plotlines.
In his review for Premiere, Charles Martin wrote, "[In Emily in Paris] we learn that the French are "all bad" (yes, yes), that they are lazy and never arrive at the office before the end of the morning, that they are flirtatious and not really attached to the concept of loyalty, that they are sexist and backward, and of course, that they have a questionable relationship with showering. Yes, no cliché is spared, not even the weakest."
On the entertainment site Sens Critique, one reviewer wrote that Emily in Paris projects the same twee, unrealistic image of Paris that the film Amelie does and that you "have to strongly love science fiction to watch this series, knowing that Parisians are mostly friendly, speak irreproachable English, make love for hours and that going to work remains an option. The writers may have hesitated for two or three minutes to stick a baguette under each Frenchman, or even a beret to clearly distinguish them, on the other hand, they all smoke cigarettes and flirt to death."
RTL's take was similarly dismissive, "Rarely had we seen so many clichés on the French capital since the Parisian episodes of Gossip Girl or the end of the Devil wears Prada." Cultural magazine Les Inrocks described the Paris in the show as the unrealistic city of "the Moulin Rouge, Coco Chanel, baguettes, and Ratatouille."
On the popular film and TV user review site AlloCiné, Emily in Paris has garnered a middling 2.9/5 rating but the negative reviews are uniformly scathing. "Embarrassing series, completely wrong image of Paris. It's ridiculous, badly acted. As if Paris was all about fashion, romance, and croissants. No," wrote one reviewer. Another wrote, "A series that could have been great if it hadn't caricatured the French. In this series, the French are described as arrogant, dirty, lazy, mean, bitter ... but luckily this young American arrives to explain to us how life works. It's just deplorable, I wonder why French actors agreed to star in this series."
