Alex & Emma
Metascore
32 out of 100

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 35 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 35
  2. Mixed: 17 out of 35
  3. Negative: 17 out of 35
view
per page
  1. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    38
    Emma writes everything down and then offers helpful suggestions, although she fails to supply the most useful observation of all, which would be to observe that the entire novel is complete crap.
  2. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Wesley Morris
    38
    The lack of sexual tension is astounding.
  3. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Roger Moore
    38
    Alex & Emma is a literary-minded romantic comedy that barely passes English, and flunks chemistry.
  4. Charlotte Observer
    Reviewed by: Lawrence Toppman
    38
    Wilson brings low-wattage amiability to his part, as always. Hudson's mismatched with him but tries to set him afire.
  5. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    33
    It's hard to say what's more excruciating: Alex's novel, which is like ''The Great Gatsby'' rewritten by Lizzie McGuire, or his quarrelsome flirtation with Emma, who has no existence as a character apart from her drive to reshape Alex into a specimen of respectable tamed manhood.
  6. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Kim Morgan
    33
    You can't help but think how much better this film would be had Woody Allen directed it...How much more acerbic fun would it be to see Judy Davis playing stenographer to a neurotic, writer's-blocked Woody?
  7. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Scott Foundas
    30
    It's like a three-times-too-long sitcom pilot missing the laugh track.
  8. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kenneth Turan
    30
    A painfully contrived and artificial exercise in futility.
  9. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Ann Hornaday
    30
    A stunningly inert piece of cinema, a movie that basically boils down to serial shots of people talking to each other.
  10. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Desson Thomson
    30
    The inside story is weak, dull and head-poundingly boring, and the outside story is only slightly better, thanks to the lukewarm likability of its two stars.
  11. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Connie Ogle
    25
    Watching Wilson and Hudson toil thanklessly through this mess is more laborious than writing the Great American Novel. And a lot less lucrative.
  12. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Karen Heller
    25
    Reiner, who made "This is Spinal Tap," "The Sure Thing," "When Harry Met Sally" -- memorable movies all -- has made this silly slice of Lean Cuisine. And that, in the end, makes Alex and Emma an utter tragedy.
  13. Dallas Observer
    Reviewed by: Jean Oppenheimer
    20
    It's like an amateur theater production. Reiner rushes through the setup in such a mad dash that it feels like a cartoon.
  14. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: A.O. Scott
    20
    There's so little chemistry between Mr. Wilson and Ms. Hudson that you begin to look back on what now seems like the halcyon time of "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days."
  15. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Laura Sinagra
    10
    This isn't one for the time capsule--just bury it.
  16. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Joe Morgenstern
    10
    How could a movie with such likable actors be so deeply dislikable?
    All this critic's reviews
  17. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Kimberley Jones
    0
    Astonishingly dull. The leads have zero chemistry, the supporting actors are even worse, and the script is a lifeless, draggy thing.

User Reviews

All reviews »

There are no user reviews yet.