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Say It Isn't So

EMAILPRINT20th Century Fox

Say It Isn't So reviews
21
6.0 User Score:

Generally unfavorable reviews

Based on 29 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 14 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Romance

Written by: Peter Gaulke
Gerry Swallow

Directed by: James B. Rogers

Release Date:
Theatrical: March 23, 2001
DVD: August 21, 2001

Running Time: 95 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: R for strong sexual content, crude humor and language

Starring Heather Graham, Chris Klein, Sally Field, Orlando Jones, Richard Jenkins, Eddie Cibrian, John Rothman, and Jack Plotnick

The Farrelly brothers put a comically depraved spin on a classic love story: Boy (Klein) meets girl (Graham); Boy falls in love (and has wild, non-stop sex) with girl; Boy loses girl...when they learn they are brother and sister! Or are they? (20th Century Fox)

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...

60

Slate David Edelstein

I must admit that I find those motifs -- and the Farrellys' universe in general -- more sweet than offensive, and I liked Say It Isn't So just so. So there.

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50

Boston Globe Jay Carr

There are laughs here and there, and Graham and Klein aren't nearly as grating as what surrounds them. But there's no getting around the fact that far from seeming a labor of love, Say It Isn't So seems merely labored.

50

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

It has incest, sweaty armpits, nipple rings, drool, an amputee, a stroke victim and an engagement ring stuck in a sticky place. And Heather Graham. All that, and it's not very funny.

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50

Los Angeles Times John Anderson

Ultimately a sweet movie, but one made by people who can't stoop to conquer without an almost audible strain on their own intelligence.

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42

Mr. Showbiz Michael Atkinson

A thoroughgoing mediocrity that musters up just enough low-down chuckles to remind you that you're not watching another Freddie Prinze Jr. yawner.

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38

USA Today Susan Wloszczyna

It's so-so. As in mediocre. Even gross-out comedies need the stink of genius.

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38

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Most of the film is one big blooper reel. There's not enough of a gap between the rejects and the finished movie.

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38

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

Unfortunately, this version of the familiar formula lacks the inspiration, genuine wit and raunchy charm of 1998's outrageous "There's Something About Mary."

38

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

It's getting tiresome, this stuff.

30

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

The movie is like a well-intentioned designer knockoff that doesn't know when to quit.

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30

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

A few clumps of very funny stuff (including a quick tonsorial reference to "Mary") can't hide all the spots that are bald instead of bold.

30

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Maybe gross-out romantic comedy is a shallow well, and it was simply Rogers's misfortune to find himself with a bucket full of sludge.

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25

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The movie doesn't understand that embarrassment comes in a sudden painful flush of realization; drag it out, and it's not embarrassment anymore, but public humiliation, which is a different condition, and not funny.

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25

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

In the same genre as the Farrellys' "There's Something About Mary" and "Dumb and Dumber," only lousy.

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25

Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan

Simply something you don't want to touch.

25

Chicago Tribune Mark Caro

Aside from providing a lesson about movies with titles that provide their own bad review, Say It Isn't So gives low humor a bad name.

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25

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

The brothers (Farrelly) produced Say It Isn't So, which bears their stamp in every frame and features all of the elements their movies are known for, except one: laughter.

25

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

A one-joke, one-note turkey.

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20

The New York Times Stephen Holden

All you really need to know about Say It Isn't So,the latest flatulent noisemaker from the Farrelly Brothers' gross-out comedy factory, is that late in the movie, Chris Klein punches a cow from behind and finds his arm stuck inside.

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20

LA Weekly F. X. Feeney

The humor stays on one low level throughout, and thus fades fast.

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20

Village Voice Jessica Winter

Elicits not the voluptuous discomfort stirred by the boys' (Peter and Bobby Farrelly) best corporeal shenanigans but creeping embarrassment for everyone on screen.

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20

Variety Robert Koehler

Even dumb farce has to be built on logic, but that crumbles in the face of a set of tired routines playing off of stock types.

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20

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

It's a dull, unremarkable comedy.

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20

Film.com Tom Keogh

I don't like Say It Isn't So, but I understand its karmic inevitability.

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20

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

What a jolly comedy theme: incest.

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10

Washington Post Desson Thomson

This time, the jokes about dead animals, gunk in the hair, incest and all other taboos are flatter than the road kill Gilly finds himself picking up for a living.

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10

Chicago Reader Reece Pendleton

A cringe-inducing flop.

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10

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

A script by Peter Gaulke and Gerry Swallow that is minus a shred of Farrelly wit.

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0

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

A black comedy in the form of vicarious serial punishment.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 6.0 (out of 10) based on 14 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Dave S gave it a10:
Outstanding - if you cannot laugh, you carrot laarrrgghhh...pardon me for enjoying this to the core of my soul. We should have sacred solemn days of homage to the Farelly Bros for making movies like this - brilliant!

Lanie M. gave it a0:
Not even bad enough to be funny. Don't see it.

Captain Craig gave it a7:
A typical Farrly Bros. comedy. I thought Shallow Hall was better...classier, but this had some great gags it, but I found some of the dialogue unnecessarly gross and offensive. Sill, for the more liberal minded, it is very entertaining.

Dave C. gave it a 10:
W/Heather graham 10x10...this will have a cult statis in time. heather will be more and more beautiful -more gorgeous over time...men have to love this flic ...infintile yet heather makes it---

Pat C. gave it a 0:
It isn't so.

Tiger wu gave it a 10:
it's one of the greatest movies i ever saw!

Jim L. gave it a 9:
This movie proves how out of touch and totally humorless professional critics are. I laughed aloud at every other line and Sally Field is adorably out of character. Very clever.

Read more user comments >

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