40 Days and 40 Nights

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

It's very funny, terrifically lively and, considering how awful it might have been, surprisingly tender in its portrait of a young guy who learns sensitivity the hard way.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

Can be taken as a mildly risque frothy date movie, but there's serious subtext for those who choose to look beneath surface sheen.

LA Weekly Paul Malcolm

Hartnett's pitch-perfect sexual panic can be hilariously funny.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

It's funny! It's not Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" or anything, but it's pretty darned good!

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

This is smooth and at times even sensual -- a well-oiled machine.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Hartnett shows here a breezy command of his charming, likable character. It is a reminder of his talent and versatility.

Miami Herald Charles Savage

The quality writing, delivered by likable Hartnett and his talented co-stars, makes up for the sometimes flat production. A richly humorous background is provided by well-played eccentric minor characters.

Variety Todd McCarthy

A self-described abstinence comedy that is funny, sexy and silly in equal measure.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

The movie is both exhilarating and depressing. The trouble is, I can't figure out which is more important.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Ellen A. Kim

Mostly fun to watch, buoyed by some strong dialogue and performances by the supporting cast.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

A kinder, gentler teensploitation comedy, but Hartnett's Matt, at least, invites the audience to graduate to something better.

USA Today Mike Clark

Within a certain narrow range, Hartnett shows some comic flair -- though not enough to carry the picture over its considerable rough spots.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

A curious entry in the current wave of raunchy youth comedies. It's refreshingly free of scatological humor, but even while aiming higher, it can't raise its focus above the belt.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

Runs more smoothly and stylishly than the average teen comedy.

Film Threat Tim Merrill

Any romantic comedy that lacks Meg Ryan can’t be faulted too hard.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Yup, director Michael Lehmann, far from the glory days of "Heathers," has made a movie about a hard-on, in which he relentlessly pounds a flaccid premise.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Eventually becomes cliched, predictable and crude. And that's a real sin.

TV Guide Steve Simels

This is a smart and witty romantic farce that mixes sweet and sexy with surprising aplomb.

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

Sets out to demonstrate that life is about more than having sex. Inadvertently -- I think -- it ends up showing us just the opposite. As if we didn't already know.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

This pretty but witless movie is well-produced, slickly directed -- full of jokes about hot dudes and hot babes pitched right at the "American Pie" crowd.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

All this holding back is a bad idea, especially as the subject of an entire movie.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

It's rare that a movie is so graceful and so gross.

San Francisco Chronicle Carla Meyer

Builds up comic force in its first half. But then it blows it, leaving the audience feeling unsatisfied.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

The film's biggest problem, however, is its naive inability to understand that sex comedies, to amuse, must be about more than sex.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Strictly for boys -- grown-up boys -- the more boyish and less grown-up the better.

New Times (L.A.) Luke Y. Thompson

Even Hartnett, designated Next Big Thing last year, seems like he's barely trying.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

If you're desperate to give something up for Lent, make it movies like this one.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

Mildly amusing but wholly unnecessary comedy.

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

Doesn't do much to further distinguish Lehmann's career. As for those of us waiting for the year's first worthwhile date movie, the wait continues.

Village Voice Dennis Lim

Roughly splits the difference between "Six Days, Seven Nights" and "9 1/2 Weeks." Which is something like the nth-order derivative of an infinite regression.

The New Yorker David Denby

The sensibility of the movie is naggingly adolescent -- less erotic than squeamish and giggly. [11 Mar 2002, p. 92]

Salon.com Charles Taylor

It's too mild to be crass; it's clumsy. Lehmann has made what amounts to an anti-sex sex comedy, the first youth sex comedy made to be enjoyed by those creepy abstinence teens.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

So eyeball-gougingly awful that you're tempted to give up movies for Lent.