Metascore
59 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 33 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 33
  2. Negative: 1 out of 33
  1. Reviewed by: Sam Toy
    80
    Sweet, funny, simple, entertaining -- everything a good rom-com should be. Definitely...
  2. Keeps you interested in its characters and isn't afraid of complicating your sympathies a little. In these dog-day months for romantic comedy, that means a lot.
  3. Definitely, Maybe gets too coy in spots, and Brooks is a sharper writer at this point in his career than he is a director. But for a film with a half-dozen fully-formed characters that spans 15 years and works in a swell detail about a 1943 edition of "Jane Eyre" - well, it definitely works. No maybes about it.
  4. A sophisticated story of disappointment and accommodation.
  5. Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    75
    A lot fresher and bit more sophisticated than the ordinary run of maudlin chick flicks and crude gross-out sex farces that now pass for romantic comedies.
  6. 75
    Brooks' take on the ups and downs of modern romance and the unexpected turns it takes is smart, funny, and (above all) uncommon. It's not hard to recommend this on Valentine's Day or at any other time.
  7. Absolutely, probably more comfortable with human romantic complication than the usual stuff released on Valentine's Day.
  8. All three actresses are appealing, but Fisher, proving her scene-stealing turn in Wedding Crashers was no fluke, shines brightest.
  9. 75
    Put simply, the film excels most at not being awful.
  10. Reviewed by: Robert Wilonsky
    70
    A surprisingly rewarding romantic comedy.
  11. 70
    A nimble and winning little romance
  12. Reviewed by: Dennis Harvey
    70
    A pleasingly non-formulaic romantic seriocomedy, Definitely, Maybe has charm and some depth.
  13. 70
    In serious roles, Weisz can be stiff-backed and righteous, but here, doing comedy, she appears to be a major actress eager to reveal everything she's been holding inside.
  14. The flashback itself is a romantic dramedy that's far smarter than junk like "27 Dresses." Unfortunately, to enjoy that flashback, you have to ignore two gargantuan idiocies: No sane father would twist his daughter into knots by telling this story. It's full of booze, cigarettes, infidelity and sex with women who aren't Mom.
  15. 63
    Maybe it's a measure of the numbing awfulness of romantic comedies in general lately, but Definitely, Maybe isn't nearly so bad as you might fear; it's actually fairly pleasant, a bit too off-color to be a family film but enjoyable just the same.
  16. It's a decent Valentine's date-night flick, and should earn Reynolds the attention he'll need to snare stronger leading roles.
  17. 63
    On the plus side, Definitely, Maybe has an appealing cast, some amusing scenes and at least tries to do something different.
  18. Reviewed by: Claudia Puig
    63
    It's generally enjoyable, amusing and more sophisticated than most films in this genre.
  19. Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    63
    Maybe writer-director Adam Brooks has made a fluffy Woody Allen pastiche here, but it's arguably more pleasing than anything Allen himself has done lately.
  20. One thing the movie does well is skewer Bill Clinton. Though Hayes works for him and nominally defends him to detractors, we see old sins rehashed: Gennifer Flowers, Monica Lewinsky, his impeachment.
  21. Reviewed by: Stephen Farber
    60
    The film is far from a complete washout, and this is chiefly a tribute to its immensely attractive and appealing cast. Ryan Reynolds proves to have the stuff of a true leading. man.
  22. This is a film bound and determined to do whatever it takes to be your Valentine. If it had trusted itself more, it might even have succeeded.
  23. Reviewed by: Richard Schickel
    60
    Reynolds can't help looking rather shifty as he relates his story and Breslin, who was so wonderful in Little Miss Sunshine, is obliged to play a standard-issue wise child.
  24. Abigail Breslin, the preteen Oscar nominee for "Little Miss Sunshine" and the most effortless actress of her generation, plays the precocious little girl part without overdoing the precociousness.
  25. 50
    To sum up, Definitely, Maybe is crap with compensations.
  26. Our mission, should we choose to accept it, is to guess which gal became the wife, which gal should have become the wife and which gal is there just to play with our heads. It's exactly like that old shell game – mildly diverting, pea-sized and otherwise hollow.
  27. Reviewed by: Michael Ferraro
    50
    As a romantic comedy, Definitely, Maybe is an explosion of sweetness and hugs that might cause your stomach to churn if you don't like your sentimentality too strong.
  28. There's a surprising – and truthful – melancholic undercurrent to Definitely, Maybe – the one commonality between the three women is the heartbreak they induce – but Brooks undermines that truthfulness with a dogmatic insistence upon romantic mythologizing. No maybes about it: The reality is far darker, and more interesting.
  29. May be the first midlife crisis movie for Generation X.
  30. Reviewed by: John Anderson
    50
    Definitely an overlong exercise in the concept of kismet, and maybe it's just what you want, in lieu of chocolates.
  31. This highly uneven comedy by writer-director Adam Brooks might be easier to take if it were less infatuated with its own cuteness.
  32. Isn't terrible exactly, but it's bland, and in some ways that's worse. It's a romance posing as a detective story in which the solution is obvious and not worth the fuss.
  33. There's no maybe about its standing as romantic comedy -- definitely bad.
User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 59 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 30
  2. Negative: 5 out of 30
  1. This romantic comedy actually kept me guessing at what the outcome would be. It was pretty funny, and Ryan Reynolds was surprisingly good, which is a shocker. If you are looking for a romantic comedy this is a pretty decent one. Full Review »
  2. ALF
    10
    Joe Morgenstern what a joke. This film is cleverly put together and worth many viewings. It does something original for a romantic story, it shows a man telling his daughter about his dating history and gets his daughter to guess who is her mother. This all happens during the daughters visits to her father as like many real life families, the daughters parents are divorcing. Abigail Breslin as the daughter is excellent and so is the cast. The way the passage of years is depicted is well done. Some of it is very funny but it is not the run of the mill romantic comedy, it is romantic, it has comedy but most of all it is a well told story with a beginning, middle and, well that is for you to find out. Full Review »
  3. I am a sucker for the romantic comedy, but there is nothing I hate worse than a cheesy one. Ok, so maybe they are all a bit cheesy, but I have fallen victim to the formula of watching two souls destined to be together and the story it takes to get them there. Wow...I just realized. I AM cheesy! And, thus, I have fallen hard for Definitely, Maybe. Unlike most romantic comedies, this one is centered primarily around the adorable young actress Abigail Breslin from Little Miss Sunshine, another one of my favorites. Abigail plays the precious young Maya, daughter of underrated hunky actor Ryan Reynolds (yes, I said it), who plays former Clinton-campaign worker-turned-ad-man Will Hayes, who wants desperately to make sense of her parents' divorce and to see her father happy. As with any little girl, the fantasy romance plays heavily in her belief-system about love, thus she begs her father to explain how she came to be, and how he came to marry the woman from whom he is obtaining a divorce. The movie weaves an intricate and pretty realistic set of scenarios (although all of them together seems a bit far-fetched) on how men and women decide to enter and eventually exit relationships. As the story moves its way through the film, the viewer is introduced to a myriad of attractive and unique female supporting cast members, played by Elizabeth Banks (Emily/Sarah), Rachel Weisz (Summer/Natasha) and the eventual owner of Will's heart, the immensely sexy Isla Fisher (April). The writing and directing of Adam Brooks sucks the viewer into the narration just as much as young Maya. I found myself trying to figure out where the story was going and making openly verbal guesses as to what would happen next. At no point did the story get old or boring. And, by the end, I found myself tearing up. Having come from a divorced family myself, and at times, nearing divorce in my own marriage, it's movies like this that do a very REAL job of expressing what questions and emotions children go through as their life changes through no fault of their own. It's heartbreaking. And Maya's quest to make sense of it all through this story is as much part of her own healing as it is Will's. And, in the end, they both do everything they can to find the happy ending. Like any good romantic comedy, the predictable happy ending does indeed come. Supporting cast members Elizabeth Banks, Rachel Weisz and her lover, the perfectly-cast Kevin Kline, do a tremendous job giving depth to the story and providing a realistic view of how all of us migrate through our 20s and early-to-mid 30s beginning as enthusiastic, yet naive, adults to realistic and somewhat cynical thirtysomethings. Being one myself, I was taken aback by the transformation of each character as they become more mature, having gone down their own individual paths, eventually leading Will and April back together. I have been waiting for the rest of the world to realize just how great Ryan is since the first episode I saw of Two Guys, A Girl and a Pizza Place. I was convinced he was Jim Carrey's younger brother. Now, I realize he is not only good looking on screen, but also deadpan funny (see Waiting, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle and Just Friends)and superbly believable in dramatic (or non-funny) roles, as evidenced in Definitely, Amityville Horror and Blade:Trinity. When I saw the trailers for Definitely, Maybe, I thought (pardon the pun), maybe Ryan had finally found the vehicle, the writer/director and the supporting cast to show the rest of the world just what a phenomenal talent he is. Alas, the movie did ok, but this wonderful movie didn't receive the accolades it so richly deserves. While there is no need for a sequel, I encourage you to rent or buy this film on DVD to not only see a great film, but financially support future films like this. Full Review »