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Something's Gotta Give
Metascore
66 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 41 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 32 out of 41
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 41
  3. Negative: 1 out of 41
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  1. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Mick LaSalle
    100
    The moments between the characters are absolutely full. It's a pleasure to watch such consummate professionals.
  2. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    88
    [Keaton and Nicholson] bring so much experience, knowledge and humor to their characters that the film works in ways the screenplay might not have even hoped for.
  3. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Mike Clark
    88
    But let's not mislead about acting gold: Without Nicholson and Keaton, the movie would be fair. With them, it's one of the few good romantic comedies this year. What we gotta give is thanks.
  4. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Staff [Not Credited]
    88
    But let's not mislead about acting gold: Without Nicholson and Keaton, the movie would be fair. With them, it's one of the few good romantic comedies this year. What we gotta give is thanks.
  5. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    83
    Every moment spent in the company of Keaton... is such a joy that the whole is more delightful than the sum of the formulaic ingredients. Keaton makes Nicholson bounce the way Shirley MacLaine once did in ''Terms of Endearment.''
  6. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: William Arnold
    83
    Its script is sharp, its dialogue is acerbic, its stars could hardly be better and, in its more sparkling moments, it exudes some of the flavor and charm of the later Hepburn-Tracy comedies.
  7. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Dana Stevens
    80
    Nobody else working in movies today can make her (Keaton) own misery such a source of delight or make the spectacle of utter embarrassment look like a higher form of dignity.
  8. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Joe Morgenstern
    80
    Diane Keaton has the crucial role, and she makes the most of it.
    All this critic's reviews
  9. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Stephen Hunter
    80
    Generally quite amusing, with a brilliant cast.
  10. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    75
    In an era of dumb farce, Something's Gotta Give is something special.
  11. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Wilmington
    75
    Doesn't always sizzle, but its stars do.
  12. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: David Sterritt
    75
    Movies like this are meant to amuse and entertain, though, not instruct. Meyers's latest is worth seeing for its offbeat story, its tantalizing settings, and most of all, its spot-on acting, especially by Keaton and Nicholson.
  13. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Steven Rea
    75
    With the likes of Nicholson, Keaton, Reeves and Peet -- and a fleeting, funny few minutes with McDormand -- Something's Gotta Give is never less than entertaining. And once in a while it's sweetly, and extremely, funny.
  14. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Chris Kaltenbach
    75
    Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton are so good in Something's Gotta Give, it's a shame writer-director Nancy Meyers couldn't rein herself in a little more.
  15. Charlotte Observer
    Reviewed by: Lawrence Toppman
    75
    It's wise, funny, honest right up to its last sadly dishonest scene, doesn't mock us more than we deserve and offers attractive women in various stages of undress.
  16. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Kirk Honeycutt
    70
    The film also does something quite remarkable for an American film: It makes middle-age love look sexy and hugely satisfying.
  17. Film Threat
    70
    A sweet and fresh comedy that was a joy to watch.
  18. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Keith Phipps
    70
    Mostly, it's just a pleasure to watch Keaton and Nicholson learning new steps in an old dance, stumbling to grab at happiness before it's too late.
  19. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kenneth Turan
    70
    Stumbles in miscalculating how far it needs to go to make this particular romance convincing when, as another romantic comedy character put it, it had us from hello.
  20. Newsweek
    Reviewed by: David Ansen
    70
    The movie, which ricochets between farce and poignancy, casts just enough romantic pixie dust to leave you smiling. It's certainly not the last word on the subject, but it's an amiable start.
  21. Slate
    Reviewed by: David Edelstein
    70
    I love Nicholson here because he lets Keaton take the movie--and his relative reticence is very attractive.
  22. Variety
    Reviewed by: Scott Foundas
    70
    Jokes about impotence, menopause and other middle-aged maladies reside where a screenplay ought to live.
  23. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Desson Thomson
    70
    It is a well written, nicely acted and smoothly directed battle of the sexes.
  24. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: J.R. Jones
    70
    In the end I didn't believe in their relationship, but I was pleased to see Keaton tearing it up for two hours.
  25. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Kimberley Jones
    67
    [Keaton's] lost none of the spunk, sass, and ditzbomb charm of her "Annie Hall" days. She, quite simply, is marvelous. Too bad her similarly iconic co-star is such a toad. Jack never stops being Jack, to great distraction.
  26. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Shawn Levy
    67
    As cinema, it's polenta, but it's made palatable by the piquant sauce with which these two great stars season it.
  27. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Rene Rodriguez
    63
    It's a glossy, somewhat condescending comedy, with all the substance of a cone of soft vanilla ice cream.
  28. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jami Bernard
    63
    It's hard to imagine anyone other than Keaton pulling this off.
  29. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Megan Lehmann
    63
    Keaton's overamped girlishness, and the adolescent shenanigans she engages in, make a mockery of this overlong romantic comedy's stance as a celebration of mature love.
  30. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Wesley Morris
    63
    Doesn't America's 50-and-fabulous set deserve better than a movie this superficial and pandering?
  31. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    63
    Despite the weak dialogue, there are still some laughs to be had. At the end of this long journey, we're rooting for Harry and Erica to be together. For the movie to get us to that point, regardless of its motives and methods, it can't be all bad.
  32. Premiere
    Reviewed by: Sara Brady
    63
    Frances McDormand, as Erica’s younger sister, flourishes in her few minutes of screen time. She’s flinty, ferocious, and purely hysterical.
  33. Empire
    Reviewed by: Alan Morrison
    60
    It also takes too long in the final act to write itself out of its plot entanglements, and ends up looking rather too pleased with itself.
  34. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: Peter Rainer
    60
    Even in a piffle like Something’s Gotta Give, Keaton reminds us of her uncanny ability to inhabit her characters' knockabout emotions.
  35. Dallas Observer
    Reviewed by: Luke Y. Thompson
    60
    As a date-night movie for women of 50 or thereabouts, chances are it'll do the trick.
  36. The New Yorker
    Reviewed by: David Denby
    60
    Harmless, but it gave me a pain. Why make such a fuss over middle-aged bodies anyway? [22 & 29 December 2003, p. 166]
    All this critic's reviews
  37. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Rick Groen
    50
    If the lines in the script were as keenly etched as the ones in her face, Keaton would have had something to work with. Instead, during an especially lovelorn sequence, she's asked to indulge in a crying montage so painfully extended that it has us in tears too -- weeping from embarrassment for her.
  38. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Ethan Alter
    50
    A whiz at crafting conventional Hollywood screenplays, Meyers's direction is overreliant on close-ups and medium shots; there's no life to any of the images. Still, the film coasts along smoothly on the charisma of its stars.
  39. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Charles Taylor
    50
    Irritatingly moralistic romantic comedy.
  40. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Ella Taylor
    50
    Jack, the actor, smiles obligingly, but you can practically feel him rolling his eyes.
  41. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Michael Atkinson
    30
    Something does have to give, and that's the nine-figure public patronage of this kind of anemic, wit-free entertainment. Meyers's shakin' moneymaker isn't the worst film of 2003 -- no cat suits, for one thing -- but something scarier: a standard-issue bog of glossy idiocy and audience disrespect.
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User Reviews

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User Score
6.5 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 43 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 25 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 31
  3. Negative: 4 out of 31
  1. Sam
    10
    Fantastic, hilarious, and moving, it's quite simply a great movie.
  2. [Anonymous]
    7
    A movie for older people, but me, a teen, found it entertaining from time to time, thanks to good performances.
  3. MaddieS.
    8
    I thought this was a pretty cool movie (plus Keanu Reeves is so HOT!) and also very funny at times.
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