GAMES: GameSpot | GameFAQs MUSIC: Last.fm | MP3.com MOVIES: Metacritic | Movietome TV: TV.com
Home | About Metacritic | About Metascores | What's New | Wireless Versions | Discussion Forums | Advertising Inquiries | Contact Us | RSS
Metacritic.com: We Deal With Criticism
     Help
> Switch to Advanced Search  
Film Video/DVD Music Games TV

Film

Upcoming Release Calendar
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

 

Wide Releases

sort by name sort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

 

Limited Releases

sort by name sort by score

67 $9.99
75 24 City
66 Adoration
74 Afghan Star
48 Alien Trespass
56 American Violet
82 Anvil! The Story of Anvil
57 Away We Go
81 Beaches of Agnes, The
62 Big Man Japan
28 Big Shot-Caller, The
78 Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
55 Brothers Bloom, The
82 Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
xx Call of the Wild
63 Cheri
62 Cherry Blossoms
63 Dead Snow
65 Departures
18 Downloading Nancy
58 Easy Virtue
70 End of the Line, The
77 Every Little Step
64 Examined Life
80 Food, Inc.
38 Gigantic
56 Girl from Monaco, The
67 Girlfriend Experience, The
87 Gomorrah
89 Goodbye Solo
63 Great Buck Howard, The
79 Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
xx Home
82 Hunger
91 Hurt Locker, The
16 I Hate Valentine's Day
81 Il Divo
54 Is Anybody There?
71 Jerichow
58 Julia
74 Lemon Tree
36 Life is Hot in Cracktown
40 Limits of Control, The
42 Little Ashes
64 Lymelife
50 Management
57 Merry Gentleman, The
66 Moon
35 New York
62 Not Forgotten
xx Offshore
78 O'Horten
64 Outrage
40 Paris 36
54 Pontypool
71 Pressure Cooker
52 Quiet Chaos
83 Revanche
67 Rudo y Cursi
86 Seraphine
65 Sex Positive
70 Shall We Kiss?
77 Sin Nombre
59 Sleep Dealer
74 Song of Sparrows, The
54 Stoning of Soraya M., The
82 Sugar
84 Summer Hours
61 Sunshine Cleaning
28 Surveillance
42 Tennessee
63 Tetro
64 Throw Down Your Heart
80 Tokyo Sonata
63 Tokyo!
70 Tony Manero
74 Treeless Mountain
88 Tulpan
74 Two Lovers
83 Tyson
83 U2 3D
60 Under Our Skin
69 Unmistaken Child
69 Valentino: The Last Emperor
22 What Goes Up
45 Whatever Works
57 Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

 



Printer-Friendly Version Email This Page Discuss In Our Forums

Calendar Girls
Buena Vista Pictures / Walt Disney Pictures

Calendar Girls reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 60 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
7.2 out of 10
based on 30 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 4 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for nudity, some language and drug-related material

Starring Julie Walters, Helen Mirren, Linda Bassett, Ciaran Hinds, Penelope Wilton, John Alderton, George Costigan, and Annette Crosbie

This film is based on the true story of the unconventional efforts of the Rylstone Women's Institute in North Yorkshire, England to raise money for leukemia research.


GENRE(S): Comedy  
WRITTEN BY: Tim Firth
Juliette Towhidi
 
DIRECTED BY: Nigel Cole  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: May 4, 2004 
Video: May 4, 2004 
Theatrical: December 19, 2003 
RUNNING TIME: 108 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: UK 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

83
Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
While each Yorkshire playmate-of-the-month warmly assesses her own undewy flesh, the movie gives off a happy vibe of appreciation -- for the dignity of the real Rylstone lot, the actresses who play them so lovingly, and the simple, flower-bed borders of the story.
Read Full Review
75
Miami Herald Connie Ogle
The film's appeal is universal, not just female, and, best of all, it's based on a true story.
Read Full Review
75
Chicago Tribune Mark Caro
It creates a strong sense of a living, breathing community, and you root for its affectionately drawn characters as they experience the giddiness of triumph without forgetting the project's bittersweet inspiration.
Read Full Review
75
Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
The story hooks us because stars Helen Mirren and Julie Walters look as fetching in woolens and Wellingtons as they do in the altogether. But it reels us in because it is about people who for so long have paid lip service to making a difference that they are profoundly altered when they actually do.
Read Full Review
75
San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein
Charming movie,
Read Full Review
75
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
It's the kind of sweet, good-humored comedy that used to star Margaret Rutherford, although Helen Mirren and Julie Walters, its daring top-liners, would have curled Dame Margaret's eyebrows.
Read Full Review
75
New York Daily News Jack Mathews
This is good clean fun, with or without the soap, and one of the most spirited entries of the season.
Read Full Review
75
New York Post Lou Lumenick
May be boomer-baiting formula, but this ingratiating, big-hearted holiday treat is as British as plum pudding - and the closest thing on the market to the famous Ealing comedies.
Read Full Review
70
The Hollywood Reporter Ray Bennett
It's a real-life story adapted into a grown-up comedy that is warm, winning and sexy. Call it "The Full Auntie."
Read Full Review
70
Village Voice Jessica Winter
Remains a genial lesson in how to both honor and subvert womanly expectations.
Read Full Review
70
Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
Inspired by a true story, this slight but charming and nicely balanced comedy tells the tale of a group of middle-aged women in a Yorkshire village who decide to pose nude for the dozen photographs in a fund-raising calendar.
Read Full Review
67
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak
The result is a movie that washes down without much thinking or introspection, provides some laughs and a tear or two, and dishes up a little something to mull over with its messages about friendship and loyalty in the face of naked ambition.
Read Full Review
63
USA Today Mike Clark
What the movie can't quite get over, no matter how hard the filmmakers try, is the story's built-in limitations.
Read Full Review
63
ReelViews James Berardinelli
Unfortunately, the material doesn't justify the talent. These women deserve more than Calendar Girls ultimately gives them.
Read Full Review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
Both Mirren and Walters are successfully cast against type.
Read Full Review
63
Boston Globe Wesley Morris
More like that crowd-pleasing UK fluff that requires great actresses to do wacky things. Mirren is such an easy, breezy presence that you might think she's playing the screenwriting equivalent of air.
Read Full Review
63
Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
A gently pleasing if mostly undramatic picture.
Read Full Review
63
Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
A film as clever and embracingly ribald as this shouldn't have to resort to cliche in the end; director Nigel Cole should have kept his girls in Britain and kept the mood light.
Read Full Review
60
Dallas Observer Bill Gallo
There are many winning moments here, but director Nigel Cole (Saving Grace) sometimes imparts to the thing a terrible case of the cutes and an overeagerness to please.
Read Full Review
60
Variety Derek Elley
Though the film is never dull, and playing by the cast is spirited, it's actually a surprisingly gentle movie, with no big "Full Monty"-like finale to send auds buzzing into the street.
Read Full Review
60
Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis
Closer in texture and consistency to individually wrapped American cheese than good, tangy English cheddar. But even humble plastic-wrapped cheese has its virtues and so does this film.
Read Full Review
60
Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
It's too good a story not to have been made into a movie. Yet Calendar Girls, directed by Nigel Cole ("Saving Grace"), is filled with lots of extras it doesn't need, when the bare-naked bones of the story would have been plenty.
Read Full Review
60
TV Guide Angel Cohn
The caliber of the cast, led by Mirren and Walters, elevates the material above movie-of-the-week level, and viewers can relish seeing these fine actresses play against type.
Read Full Review
58
Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
The result is an overly long, overly cute film that is far too tickled with its own naughtiness. It truly is an instance of if you've seen the trailer, you've seen the film.
Read Full Review
50
Premiere Glenn Kenny
Everyone involved figured that sentiment trumps sloppiness. Original Soundtrack
Read Full Review
50
Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
Very funny and surprisingly likable until it goes Hollywood.
50
The New York Times A.O. Scott
When the biggest compliment you can pay a picture is that it is professional and not smug, there's a little something missing, like invention.
Read Full Review
50
LA Weekly Scott Foundas
The real-life calendar girls were actual human beings, and here they're merely comic patsies, lacking the distinctive personalities that made the men of "The Full Monty" so endearing, their final act of revelation so peculiarly dignified.
Read Full Review
50
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Don't race to see it unless a female "Full Monty" is just what you've been waiting for.
Read Full Review
40
Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
The actresses are terrific together, and it’s nice to see Helen Mirren smiling onscreen for a change. And although Calendar Girls is resolutely pleasant, the movie never really goes much beyond that.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 7.2 (out of 10) based on 4 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Dr J. gave it a10:
A wonderful, insightful, delicate comedy which touches the heart and brings out the one thing we all hate to talk about...CANCER. Older women do have wonderful charm and to age with grace is a virtue. BRAVO to their courage.

Kristin D. gave it a 7:
Calendar Girls was a cute movie. No, not the best movie, but not the worst movie. Do I recommend it? Yes, but it's not a movie you see over and over again because it's not that good. you really don't have a happy feeling after the movie either.

WAKO JAKO gave it a 7:
Not as funny as the trailier, but still better than expected dramedy that lays the punches a little heavy in the last third and titillates less than it immitates other well-known films... I'm giving it points for sure-footed performances from a rather shaky script.

Cuervo gave it a 5:
The conflicts that show up in the last half of the movie seem artificial, as if the director were looking around for things to extend the length of the film. Some good heart-warming parts, but overall a disappointment.

Discuss this movie in our forums

Return to top of page
Home | FILM | DVD/VIDEO | MUSIC | GAMES | TV | Forums | About Metacritic metacritic.com

Popular on CBS sites: iPhone 3G | Fantasy Football | Moneywatch | Antivirus Software | Recipes | E3 2009

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use