CNET Networks Entertainment GameSpot | GameFAQs | SportsGamer | Metacritic | MP3.com | 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 Books TV
Printer-Friendly Version Email This Page Discuss In Our Forums

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

97 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
83 Alexandra
43 Anamorph
35 Babysitters, The
32 Backseat
80 Band's Visit, The
62 Battle for Haditha
47 Bella
63 Blind Mountain
71 Blindsight
47 Boarding Gate
63 Body of War
58 Bra Boys
70 Caramel
54 Cashback
44 Chaos Theory
32 Chapter 27
69 Chicago 10
82 Chop Shop
46 CJ7
78 Counterfeiters, The
30 Cover
48 Dark Matter
35 Deal
61 Dhamma Brothers, The
92 Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The
74 Duchess of Langeais, The
20 Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
58 Fall, The
43 Favor, The
58 First Saturday in May, The
57 Flawless
87 Flight of the Red Balloon, The
xx From Within
44 Frontier(s)
58 Fugitive Pieces
41 Funny Games
66 George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead
61 Girls Rock!
55 Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts
57 Grand, The
58 Hats Off
68 Honeydripper
xx Jack and Jill vs. the World
67 Jellyfish
xx Kiss the Bride
37 Life Before Her Eyes, The
72 Life of Reilly, The
50 Look
65 Married Life
35 Meet Bill
63 Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
52 Mister Lonely
52 My Blueberry Nights
71 My Brother Is an Only Child
49 Noise
60 OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies
83 Paranoid Park
55 Pathology
48 Penelope
90 Persepolis
62 Planet B-Boy
xx Plumm Summer, A
67 Praying with Lior
44 Previous Engagement, A
72 Priceless
17 Prom Night
69 Redbelt
72 Roman de gare
48 Run, Fat Boy, Run
85 Savages, The
24 Sex and Death 101
66 Shelter
75 Shotgun Stories
40 Sleepwalking
67 Snow Angels
62 Son of Rambow
71 Standard Operating Procedure
76 Stuff and Dough
64 Surfwise
xx Tashan
82 Taxi to the Dark Side
57 Teeth
56 Then She Found Me
55 Tracey Fragments, The
56 Turn the River
72 Tuya's Marriage
83 U2 3D
59 Under the Same Moon
76 Unforeseen, The
xx Unsettled
91 Up the Yangtze
55 Vice
79 Visitor, The
64 Water Lilies
45 Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?
57 Without the King
74 Witnesses, The
63 XXY
67 Year My Parents Went on Vacation, The
75 Young@Heart
45 Zombie Strippers

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.



Evolution
DreamWorks Distribution L.L.C.

Evolution reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 40 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
6.4 out of 10
based on 32 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 23 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for crude and sexual humor, and for sci-fi action

Starring David Duchovny, Julianne Moore, Orlando Jones, Seann William Scott, Ty Burrell, Ted Levine, and Dan Aykroyd

This comedy follows the chaos that ensues when a meteor hits the Earth carrying alien life forms that give new meaning to the term "survival of the fittest." (Dreamworks SKG)


GENRE(S): Sci-fi  
WRITTEN BY: Don Jakoby (also story)
David Diamond
David Weissman
 
DIRECTED BY: Ivan Reitman  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: December 26, 2001 
Video: December 26, 2001 
Theatrical: June 8, 2001 
RUNNING TIME: 105 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

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...

75
Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Visually witty and even marvelous when it comes to depicting the spectacular creatures evolving at a speed previously known only in the Bible.
Read Full Review
75
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
This unevenly paced comedy is an amusing parody of monster movies from "Them!" to "Alien."
Read Full Review
70
Variety Todd McCarthy
A consistently amusing action romp.
Read Full Review
63
New York Post Lou Lumenick
Somewhat refreshingly aspiring to be nothing more than a disposable summer popcorn movie, this is a flick that delivers more smiles than laughs and has some wonderful special effects.
Read Full Review
63
USA Today Susan Wloszczyna
Instead of scoring belly laughs, there's a run on randy guy banter between Duchovny and Jones.
Read Full Review
63
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
It's not good, but it's nowhere near as bad as most recent comedies; it has real laughs, but it misses real opportunities.
Read Full Review
63
Chicago Tribune Mark Caro
This is "Ghostbusters" meets "Men in Black" meets a whole lot of butt humor.
63
Boston Globe Jay Carr
It's a ponderous but not unenjoyable comedy.
63
New York Daily News Jami Bernard
Half a barrel of laughs. The other half is made of slime.
Read Full Review
58
Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
There are a handful of funny moments, and the top end of the cast comes off rather well. Duchovny has some of that same easygoing likability that made Glenn Ford one of the biggest stars of the '50s.
Read Full Review
50
The New York Times Dana Stevens
The movie itself evolves in reverse, starting life as a moderately clever grab bag of high-concept noodling and half-witty badinage before descending into the primordial ooze of explosions and elaborate lower- intestinal gags.
Read Full Review
50
Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
The special effects are variable, but even when they're good they don't have much impact because Evolution, with its self-trashing spirit, turns moviegoers into bemused bysitters.
50
LA Weekly Manohla Dargis
Amiably goofy, but it isn't especially funny.
Read Full Review
50
Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector
Demands to be treated with conviction as parody if not as science fiction.
Read Full Review
50
Slate David Edelstein
I laughed -- but mostly to keep from getting depressed about the devolution of mainstream movies.
Read Full Review
50
TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
The story isn't much -- the ever-evolving aliens are better served by the cute-but-icky effects than the simplistic script -- but it skims along on the cast's chemistry.
Read Full Review
42
Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
Tired, clumsy and appallingly ugly to look at.
Read Full Review
40
Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
Proceeds at such an amiable pace and features enough creepy-crawly effects that many viewers won't quite notice or care how rickety and second-rate it is.
Read Full Review
40
New Times (L.A.) Robert Wilonsky
Evolution is merely stale, sterile and, worst of all, safe.
Read Full Review
40
Los Angeles Times John Anderson
Reitman's attempt to show he can re-create the success of his biggest comedy ever. What he proves instead is that, given time and money, a comedy director can devolve into a lower life form.
Read Full Review
40
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
It's refried comic beans that smell stale and smack of desperation.
Read Full Review
40
Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard
Reitman has truly lost his gift for comic rhythms, cluttering up the film with running yuks that aren't that funny the first time and certainly don't improve with repetition.
38
Baltimore Sun Athima Chansanchai
Tries to rock our world, but it regresses to a single-celled B-movie.
38
Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
Evolution devolves to the sight of a colossal alien expelling flatus over Arizona. So that's why this movie stinks. Play that flatulent music, white boy.
30
Film.com Tom Keogh
An excruciating misfire.
Read Full Review
30
Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones
The jokes just aren't there, which makes it very hard for the stars -- who are trying very, very hard -- to really make a dent.
Read Full Review
30
Washington Post Rita Kempley
The insane casting: When was the last time Julianne Moore cracked you up?
Read Full Review
25
Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
Director Ivan Reitman used to know how to tell a silly story, back around the time of "Stripes" and "Ghostbusters."
Read Full Review
25
San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann
In a movie as hackneyed and as dull as Evolution, the small favors of Duchovny's performance stand out.
Read Full Review
20
Washington Post Desson Thomson
Evolution is bad. How bad? Who cares? Do you ask how hot the fire is before running out of a burning building? No, you just run for safety.
Read Full Review
20
Village Voice J. Hoberman
Sodden mess, a mutation-invasion movie that passes "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!" going south.
Read Full Review
20
New York Magazine Peter Rainer
Began life as a standard sci-fi horror script before mutating into the unfunny mess it now is.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 6.4 (out of 10) based on 23 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Angel K. gave it a 10:
It was funny yukky.

raVen gave it a 4:
For those of you not familiar with his work on X-Files: David Duchovny really can be funny. But then, the writing's better for X-Files. Watch this movie if you are renting a bunch of them--by itself it'll leave you empty. PS: If the VCR eats the last five minutes of the tape don't worry, it's for the best.

Adam L. gave it a 9:
Ace film if you love stifler out of american pie 2 you will love this, all round funny film with david duchovny and orlando jones.

Toml L. gave it a 10:
This is Ivan Reitman's best film since Ghostbusters! The movie had everything a good solid comedy needs.

Aeon M. gave it a 10:
Very, very funny.

Alex K. gave it a 9:
Okay, it's no "Ghostbusters," but it's the best new comedy I've seen in a really long time, and amidst the Joe Dirts and Fingered Freddies, this one really stands out with some clever Reitman-isms, hilarious creatures, and really satisfying performances from Duchovny, Jones, and (surprisingly) Scott.

Ryan M. gave it a 7:
It's not funny, but it definitely has a couple good laughs, and the special effects are amazing. I admit Reitman could have been a lot more original. But it wasn't a terrible movie.

Read more user comments...

Discuss this movie in our forums

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

About CNET Networks | Jobs | Advertise | Partnerships                                Visit other CNET Networks sites:

Copyright ©2007 CNET Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Use