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Chaos Theory
Metascore
44 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 18 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 18
  3. Negative: 3 out of 18
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  1. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Phillips
    75
    The performances and Marcos Siega's direction put a pleasing sheen on the material.
  2. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Ruthe Stein
    75
    By creating likable characters and putting them in situations that seem plausible, if a bit of a stretch, the film succeeds where others of its genre fail.
  3. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    63
    "Maybe" was watchable and blandly pleasant; "Theory" is a smidgen better than that, if not the cruelly funny farce the movie's best impulses and its own trailer would have you believe.
  4. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Liam Lacey
    63
    When you watch Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds, there's often a sense that you're not just watching him perform in a movie, you're watching the next stage of his unfolding career plan.
  5. Variety
    Reviewed by: Dennis Harvey
    60
    The lead performers, the brighter fillips in Daniel Taplitz's screenplay and Marcos Siega's ("Pretty Persuasion") assured direction make this a pleasing item overall.
  6. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Michael Rechtshaffen
    50
    The picture continuously shuffles moods like tunes on an iPod without ever making any lasting commitments.
  7. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    50
    Atonal romantic comedy.
  8. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Gregory Kirschling
    50
    Peddles the usual carpe diem movie bunk.
  9. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Sean Axmaker
    50
    With a title like Chaos Theory, one might expect a little runaway energy or a dash of wild spirit under the antics, but there's little punchy anarchy in this controlled experiment.
  10. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Nick Pinkerton
    50
    Reynolds, called to 180 from anal nebbish to feral beast, is beautifully committed, but he gets no help on the other side of the camera.
  11. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Mark Olsen
    50
    Not exactly bad, but it disappointingly never really discovers the movie that it wants to be.
  12. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Andrea Gronvall
    50
    The comic scenes can be arch or shrill, but director Marcos Siega (Pretty Persuasion) does better when the story turns somber and the emotions feel genuine.
  13. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Scott Tobias
    42
    The big reason Chaos Theory doesn't work is that the gears are visibly grinding away, cranking out neat little ironies and life lessons without any liberating surprises.
  14. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Elizabeth Weitzman
    40
    The kind of movie designed more for a has-been than a potential leading man, this slapdash dramatic comedy fits the now-established pattern perfectly: Your (Ryan Reynolds) committed performance is the sole reason to see it.
  15. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Laura Kern
    40
    A predictable romantic dramedy that isn't particularly tender, moving or amusing, Chaos Theory suffers first and foremost from featuring the least engaging couple to headline a movie in some time.
  16. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    38
    Chaos Theory stumbles from one contrived circumstance to the next, and there's not a moment in this entire mess that conveys any sort of genuine human emotion or reaction.
  17. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Desson Thomson
    30
    In Chaos Theory, Reynolds's performance is taut, crabby and tense. And his beard and glasses, which intensify those already narrow eyes, suggest a mad bomb-builder rather than a hapless soul with whom we can identify.
  18. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Kyle Smith
    25
    The audience, if any, for Chaos Theory is going to be hit with a little puff of celluloid flatulence. The movie won't linger in the air, but that doesn't make it any less embarrassing.
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