The Do-Deca-Pentathlon
Metascore
60 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 15 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 15
  3. Negative: 2 out of 15
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  1. Arizona Republic
    Reviewed by: Bill Goodykoontz
    Jul 7, 2012
    80
    The Do-Deca-Pentathlon is an odd little movie about an odd family who reacts to situations in odd ways.
  2. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marjorie Baumgarten
    Jul 4, 2012
    40
    The problem, ultimately, is that little of this is of any real interest. The brothers' bickering can be amusing at times but even at 76 minutes, the movie feels repetitive and overly long.
  3. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    Jul 4, 2012
    75
    It shares one annoying practice with their other early films: They like to use distracting little zooms in and out for no reason at all, except possibly to remind us the film is being shot with a camera.
  4. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    Jul 4, 2012
    83
    These movie guys specialize in snapping vignettes of human inconsistency - no fancy lighting required.
  5. Movieline
    Reviewed by: Michelle Orange
    Jul 5, 2012
    55
    The latest from brothers Mark and Jay Duplass (who co-wrote and directed) seems to expose the limits of a certain kind of realism by stretching them one man-child too far.
  6. New Orleans Times-Picayune
    Reviewed by: Mike Scott
    Jul 28, 2012
    40
    What the Duplasses end up with is a film that is amusing at times, a touch repetitive at others, but one that never quite shakes the feeling that it is something of an unfinished thought. And perhaps something they've also grown beyond.
  7. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Kyle Smith
    Jul 6, 2012
    25
    A decent idea for an episode of "Everybody Loves Raymond," The Do-Deca-Pentathlon falls short as a movie.
  8. Slant Magazine
    Reviewed by: Andrew Schenker
    Jul 2, 2012
    25
    In Jay and Mark Duplass's film, the fragile middle-aged male ego is indulged, massaged, and, finally, critiqued.
  9. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Scott Tobias
    Jul 4, 2012
    67
    Its insights are modest, but modesty is a virtue for a low-key comedy this doggedly unpretentious.
  10. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: John DeFore
    Jul 2, 2012
    70
    Inevitable or not, it's fun watching two middle-aged lunkheads reverting to adolescent competitiveness, and the fun is compounded by secrecy.
  11. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    Jul 5, 2012
    90
    The most gripping scene in this near-perfect little sports comedy is a fraternal arm-wrestling contest that reaches apoplectic intensity.
  12. Time
    Reviewed by: Mary Pols
    Jul 5, 2012
    70
    It may be minimalist, but it isn't minor.
  13. Time Out New York
    Reviewed by: David Fear
    Jul 3, 2012
    40
    They're not doing themselves any favors by letting this oldie out of the vault.
  14. Variety
    Reviewed by: Peter Debruge
    Jul 2, 2012
    70
    A delightfully scrappy backburner passion project from Jay and Mark Duplass.
  15. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Michael Atkinson
    Jul 3, 2012
    70
    Uncompromising in its way, the film's portrait of codependent compulsion is so organically conceived, you start to smell the sulfur of traumatized childhood, no exposition needed.

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