Now Playing
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search

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

sort by name

sort by score

38 12 Rounds
48 17 Again
76 Adventureland
48 Angels & Demons
54 Battle for Terra
xx Bruno
80 Coraline
40 Dance Flick
83 Drag Me to Hell
72 Earth
45 Fast & Furious
61 Fighting
34 Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
72 Gran Torino
73 Hangover, The
47 Hannah Montana: The Movie
51 Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
54 Imagine That
41 Knowing
32 Land of the Lost
56 Monsters vs. Aliens
34 My Life in Ruins
51 My Sister's Keeper
46 Next Day Air
42 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
54 Observe and Report
25 Obsessed
48 Proposal, The
70 Public Enemies
61 Soloist, The
83 Star Trek
64 State of Play
55 Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, The
52 Terminator Salvation
35 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
77 Under the Sea 3D
88 Up
43 X-Men Origins: Wolverine
34 Year One

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

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.

What's the Worst That Could Happen?
MGM

What's the Worst That Could Happen? reviews


4.8

based on 28 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 8 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for language and sexual content

Starring Martin Lawrence, Danny DeVito, John Leguizamo, Glenne Headly, Nora Dunn, and Richard Schiff

The story of two seemingly very different men, caught up in a stupendous battle of egos. Max Fairbanks (DeVito) is a very wealthy, powerful man who has built an incredibly successful business empire by being ruthless. Kevin Caffrey (Lawrence) is a sophisticated procurer of other people's possessions. An accidental meeting brings the two men together, and in a simple moment their fates are sealed. (MGM)

GENRE(S):	Crime
WRITTEN BY:	Donald E. Westlake (novel) Matthew Chapman
DIRECTED BY:	Sam Weisman
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: January 2, 2002 Video: January 2, 2002 Theatrical: June 1, 2001
RUNNING TIME:	97 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

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...

Slate David Edelstein

The movie made me laugh a lot anyway. It has a big, inventive cast of loons and a great premise.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Mostly a lazy string of setups and sight gags, of tongue-in-cheek confrontations between the two stars that barely amount to sketches.

USA Today Mike Clark

This dispensable comedy has a few unexpectedly loopy surprises, including an outlandishly gay detective (played by versatile actor William Fichtner), who loves the Ice Capades but loathes insurance fraud.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Best when DeVito plays off the supporting cast surrounding him.

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

Actually boasts a decent script with character development, a sense of pace and some well-drawn supporting roles.

San Francisco Chronicle Carla Meyer

This sometimes funny but ultimately convoluted movie would have benefited enormously from letting Lawrence loose.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Filmmakers run out of ideas long before the final.

Austin Chronicle Marrit Ingman

This frothy little crime comedy isn't half bad, bubbling with caper-farce energy supplied by a game ensemble cast and a source novel by prolific pulp writer Donald E. Westlake.

Salon.com Charles Taylor

I don't know when a bad movie has made me laugh as much as this one. Most of the gags are vintage silliness: foreign double talk, characters donning funny costumes, well-timed profanities.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

Supposed to be a cheeky little lark but instead runs a narrow gamut from labored to aimless.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

It simply isn't that funny or clever. For a comedy, that's about the worst that could happen

Variety Robert Koehler

The star in this case is Martin Lawrence, who is not only thoroughly upstaged by nemesis Danny DeVito but is completely boxed out of his comfort zone for broad physical comedy.

TV Guide Tanya L. Edwards

Among the disconnected scenes are a few that are downright hilarious, and the actors do their best to rise above disjointed material.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

The movie turns into a cobweb of tricky spins and twists that seems like a hip-hop version of "Ruthless People."

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

Laborious in the unfolding of its plot, and under Sam Weisman's brash direction the unabashed amorality of the material is crass rather than sly in tone.

Mr. Showbiz Larry Terenzi

Struggles for any kind of movement and cohesion -- and most of all for any kind of humor.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Lawrence forgoes his knack for verbal comedy and replaces it with crude nonstop mugging.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Certainly grows in its own right, into a coarse-grained summer vaudeville that could have been much smarter and sharper without losing its target audience.

Chicago Tribune Mark Caro

Packed with gratuitous dumb moments -- which is too bad, given that the premise has promise.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Dumbed down to the point where it's barely recognizable as coming from one of Donald Westlake's John Dortmunder novels.

Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan

A film with almost zero redeeming value.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Dull, plodding comedy.

Film.com Robert Horton

The movie is a mess.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

Now and then sputters to comic life but more usually wheezes along.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Too many characters, not enough plot, and a disconnect between the two stars' acting styles.

Village Voice Michael Atkinson

I'd rather watch a forgotten houseplant dehydrate and die.

LA Weekly Paul Malcolm

Comes off as a desperate attempt to breathe life into dull proceedings.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Maybe the worst thing that can happen is that every other movie at the multiplex will be sold out this weekend.

The average user rating for this movie is 4.8 (out of 10) based on 8 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Ellie E. gave it a 10:
It was hevay! I couldn't stop laughin, i was watchin it wiv my mum n sister, i think those others are idiots for giving it less then 7.

Gilbert M. gave it a 2:
You're asking for it with a title like that. I mean, what with the amount of imagination critics have these days, a title like that is exactly what they need! They'll jump on it like a pack of hungry flesh-eating antelopes, they will, viz: "What's the Worst That Could Happen? This. Film. Is." And they'd have a point.

Pero P. gave it an 8:
Martin Lawrence is great, and Danny de Vito isn't as bad as he can be.

Robert B. gave it a 5:
Even though it had a moment or two that made me laugh, it mostly just feels too disjointed. I like comedies, but I was just staring silently for most of the movie.

Maria W. gave it a 2:
Martin Lawrence, in my opinion, is going downhill in the comedy department. This movie held some laughs but not enough to make me want to see it again. Somebody, wake up Martin!!

Maxine gave it a 4:
I thought it was a pretty stupid movie and a waste of money. Even though there were good jokes this movie was pointless.

What's the Worst That Could Happen? MGM

What's the Worst That Could Happen?
MGM