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Definitely, Maybe
Universal Pictures

Definitely, Maybe reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 59 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
7.1 out of 10
based on 33 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 25 votes
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Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for sexual content, including some frank dialogue, language and smoking

Starring Ryan Reynolds, Isla Fisher, Derek Luke, Abigail Breslin, Elizabeth Banks, and Rachel Weisz

Will is a 30-something Manhattan dad in the midst of a divorce whose 10-year-old daughter, Maya, starts to question him about his life before marriage. Maya wants to know absolutely everything about how her parents met and fell in love. Will's story begins in 1992 as a young, starry-eyed aspiring politician who moves to New York from Wisconsin to work on the Clinton campaign. For Maya, Will relives his past as an idealistic young man learning the ins and outs of big-city politics. He also recounts the history of his romantic relationships with three very different women. Will hopelessly attempts a "PG" version of his story for his daughter and changes the names so Maya has to guess which woman her father finally married. Is her mother Will's college sweetheart, the dependable girl-next-door Emily (Elizabeth Banks)? Is she his longtime best friend and confidante, the apolitical April (Isla Fisher)? Or is she the free-spirited but ambitious journalist Summer? As Maya puts together the pieces of her dad's romantic puzzle, she begins to understand that love is not so simple or easy. And as Will tells her his tale, Maya helps him to understand that it's definitely never too late to go back...maybe even to find a happy ending. (Universal Studios)


GENRE(S): Comedy  |  Romance  
WRITTEN BY: Adam Brooks  
DIRECTED BY: Adam Brooks  
RELEASE DATE: Theatrical: February 14, 2008 
RUNNING TIME: 105 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...

80
Empire Sam Toy
Sweet, funny, simple, entertaining -- everything a good rom-com should be. Definitely...
Read Full Review
75
Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
Keeps you interested in its characters and isn?t afraid of complicating your sympathies a little. In these dog-day months for romantic comedy, that means a lot.
Read Full Review
75
Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Absolutely, probably more comfortable with human romantic complication than the usual stuff released on Valentine's Day.
Read Full Review
75
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
A sophisticated story of disappointment and accommodation.
Read Full Review
75
ReelViews James Berardinelli
Brooks' take on the ups and downs of modern romance and the unexpected turns it takes is smart, funny, and (above all) uncommon. It's not hard to recommend this on Valentine's Day or at any other time.
Read Full Review
75
TV Guide Ken Fox
A lot fresher and bit more sophisticated than the ordinary run of maudlin chick flicks and crude gross-out sex farces that now pass for romantic comedies.
Read Full Review
75
Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
All three actresses are appealing, but Fisher, proving her scene-stealing turn in Wedding Crashers was no fluke, shines brightest.
Read Full Review
75
Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Definitely, Maybe gets too coy in spots, and Brooks is a sharper writer at this point in his career than he is a director. But for a film with a half-dozen fully-formed characters that spans 15 years and works in a swell detail about a 1943 edition of "Jane Eyre" - well, it definitely works. No maybes about it.
Read Full Review
75
The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
Put simply, the film excels most at not being awful.
Read Full Review
70
The New Yorker David Denby
In serious roles, Weisz can be stiff-backed and righteous, but here, doing comedy, she appears to be a major actress eager to reveal everything she?s been holding inside.
Read Full Review
70
The New York Times A.O. Scott
A nimble and winning little romance
Read Full Review
70
Village Voice Robert Wilonsky
A surprisingly rewarding romantic comedy.
Read Full Review
70
Variety Dennis Harvey
A pleasingly non-formulaic romantic seriocomedy, Definitely, Maybe has charm and some depth.
Read Full Review
67
Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell
The flashback itself is a romantic dramedy that's far smarter than junk like "27 Dresses." Unfortunately, to enjoy that flashback, you have to ignore two gargantuan idiocies: No sane father would twist his daughter into knots by telling this story. It's full of booze, cigarettes, infidelity and sex with women who aren't Mom.
Read Full Review
63
Miami Herald Connie Ogle
Maybe it's a measure of the numbing awfulness of romantic comedies in general lately, but Definitely, Maybe isn't nearly so bad as you might fear; it's actually fairly pleasant, a bit too off-color to be a family film but enjoyable just the same.
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63
Boston Globe Ty Burr
Maybe writer-director Adam Brooks has made a fluffy Woody Allen pastiche here, but it's arguably more pleasing than anything Allen himself has done lately.
Read Full Review
63
New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
It's a decent Valentine's date-night flick, and should earn Reynolds the attention he'll need to snare stronger leading roles.
Read Full Review
63
New York Post Lou Lumenick
On the plus side, Definitely, Maybe has an appealing cast, some amusing scenes and at least tries to do something different.
Read Full Review
63
USA Today Claudia Puig
It's generally enjoyable, amusing and more sophisticated than most films in this genre.
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63
Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
One thing the movie does well is skewer Bill Clinton. Though Hayes works for him and nominally defends him to detractors, we see old sins rehashed: Gennifer Flowers, Monica Lewinsky, his impeachment.
Read Full Review
60
Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
This is a film bound and determined to do whatever it takes to be your Valentine. If it had trusted itself more, it might even have succeeded.
Read Full Review
60
The Hollywood Reporter Stephen Farber
The film is far from a complete washout, and this is chiefly a tribute to its immensely attractive and appealing cast. Ryan Reynolds proves to have the stuff of a true leading. man.
Read Full Review
60
Time Richard Schickel
Reynolds can't help looking rather shifty as he relates his story and Breslin, who was so wonderful in Little Miss Sunshine, is obliged to play a standard-issue wise child.
Read Full Review
58
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
Abigail Breslin, the preteen Oscar nominee for "Little Miss Sunshine" and the most effortless actress of her generation, plays the precocious little girl part without overdoing the precociousness.
Read Full Review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
Our mission, should we choose to accept it, is to guess which gal became the wife, which gal should have become the wife and which gal is there just to play with our heads. It's exactly like that old shell game ? mildly diverting, pea-sized and otherwise hollow.
Read Full Review
50
Salon.com Mary Elizabeth Williams
May be the first midlife crisis movie for Generation X.
Read Full Review
50
Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones
There?s a surprising ? and truthful ? melancholic undercurrent to Definitely, Maybe ? the one commonality between the three women is the heartbreak they induce ? but Brooks undermines that truthfulness with a dogmatic insistence upon romantic mythologizing. No maybes about it: The reality is far darker, and more interesting.
Read Full Review
50
Film Threat Michael Ferraro
As a romantic comedy, Definitely, Maybe is an explosion of sweetness and hugs that might cause your stomach to churn if you don't like your sentimentality too strong.
Read Full Review
50
Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
Isn't terrible exactly, but it's bland, and in some ways that's worse. It's a romance posing as a detective story in which the solution is obvious and not worth the fuss.
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50
Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
This highly uneven comedy by writer-director Adam Brooks might be easier to take if it were less infatuated with its own cuteness.
Read Full Review
50
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
To sum up, Definitely, Maybe is crap with compensations.
Read Full Review
50
Washington Post John Anderson
Definitely an overlong exercise in the concept of kismet, and maybe it's just what you want, in lieu of chocolates.
Read Full Review
30
Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
There's no maybe about its standing as romantic comedy -- definitely bad.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 7.1 (out of 10) based on 25 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Jennifer C gave it a5:
The Reel Geezers, two old-school, extremely knowledgeable film veterans, give a funny and insightful review of DEFINITELY, MAYBE. They always leave you with something to think about.

George K. gave it a10:
Ryan Reynolds is typically plays the roll of a funny character, but in this movie he was more than that. While including his funny one-liners, he was able to make an audience cry with his ability to be serious and romantic. Overall, this movie. compared to the other junk that comes out about romantic comedies, is the best one of its kind of the year by far. It would be stupid not to see this movie, but be aware that you will most likely leave the theater in tears it's that touching.

De L. gave it a5:
Glib movie...ok to spend and evening when you've pretty much exhausted the others on the marquee.

Alex P. gave it a0:
This movie gave me the feeling that a pregnant woman gets on a roller-coaster.

Josh gave it an8:
Is this Citizen Kane? No. But I thought it was a nice and happy movie, funny and endearing.

Mike P. gave it a6:
Good touching movie... Saw it with my girlfriend on v-day.

Michael M. gave it an8:
An entertaining flick with some witty yet unforced dialogue that helped moved the story along.

Read more user comments...

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