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The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard
Metascore
39 out of 100

Generally unfavorable - based on 23 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 23
  3. Negative: 9 out of 23
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  1. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    75
    A cheerfully energetically and very vulgar comedy.
  2. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Robert Abele
    70
    The Goods motors along choking out enough lowbrow laughs to make for an agreeably nutty late summer ride.
  3. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Stan Hall
    67
    In many places it's genuinely, absurdly funny--crass, sleazy and morally questionable, yes, but still funny.
  4. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Phillips
    63
    Sloppy, grimy but quick on its feet, which puts it ahead of certain other ("The Hangover") R-rated comedies ("The Hangover") we've seen this summer ("The Hangover").
  5. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Rick Kisonak
    60
    The movie doesn't even try to break new ground–it's shot entirely on location in familiar Ferrell-McKay territory.
  6. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    58
    Ed Helms and Ving Rhames score laughs. But the breakout is "Step Brothers'" Kathryn Hahn as the tough (sales)girl who keeps up with the boys.
  7. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Steven Rea
    50
    Although Will Ferrell materializes for a goofball cameo, The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard lacks a key element that his "Talladega Nights" and "Anchor Man" both had - that is, somebody to like.
  8. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Mick LaSalle
    50
    Feels forgettable, even though, in the moment, it's often very funny.
  9. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Wesley Morris
    50
    You put up the cash, the movie clunks.
  10. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marjorie Baumgarten
    50
    The script by Andy Stock and Rick Stempson (Balls Out: Gary the Tennis Coach) can, at times, be a nasty piece of work, and no amount of laughter will fully obscure the gag reflex that occasionally forms in the back of your throat.
  11. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Manohla Dargis
    50
    A comedy without a shred of obvious filmmaking and an endless stream of good, bad, sometimes terrible, often absurd jokes.
  12. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Joe Neumaier
    40
    The oh-so-out-there mentality earns some chuckles, but that, along with Piven's preening, gets very trying. A hard sell is still a hard sell.
  13. Time Out New York
    Reviewed by: Nicolas Rapold
    40
    The escapades are tossed off and fall flat, all products of the business-as-usual template created by the film's producers, Adam McKay and Will Ferrell.
  14. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Vadim Rizov
    40
    The few real laughs -- all two minutes' worth -- come courtesy of Russ Meyer veteran Charles Napier as Dick Lewiston, the angriest macho male anachronism of the year.
  15. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    38
    Jeremy Piven's infamous "sushi defense" for skipping out on a Broadway role is easier to swallow than his performance as a scuzzy auto liquidator who sees the light in The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard.
  16. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Keith Phipps
    33
    About Piven: When did it go wrong? When did the caustic character actor guaranteed to liven up even the dullest movie turn into a walking black hole of smarm from which no joy can escape?
  17. Variety
    Reviewed by: Brian Lowry
    30
    The movie simply doesn't deliver -- living hard, selling hard and, before it's over, finally dying hard.
  18. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Ann Hornaday
    30
    Sloppy compendium of filthy jokes and lowbrow sight gags.
  19. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Rene Rodriguez
    25
    How can a movie as overstuffed with funny people as The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard be so listless and leaden?
  20. Premiere
    Reviewed by: Staff (Not credited)
    25
    If you are a fan of brainless comedy that willed with bits that seque magically into some semblance of a plot…then The Goods is for you.
  21. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Jennie Punter
    25
    A raunchy, fast-paced comedy that, nevertheless, is as flat as the tires on the old Volvo gathering dust in my garage.
  22. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Michael Rechtshaffen
    20
    Tediously one-note comedy.
  23. Empire
    Reviewed by: Nev Pierce
    20
    Sometimes this kind of comedy just goes too far into rubbishness to make it back.
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User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
5.8 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 44 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 17
  3. Negative: 8 out of 17
  1. MovieGoer1
    10
    This movie rocks!!!! So many hearty laughs, chortles, chuckles, and gut-busting belly laughing that would ensue a riot! Jeremy Piven and the crew star in this hilarious movie, and it'll be even better on DVD. Neal Brennan is one of the best young directors yet.… Full Review »
  2. ChadS.
    4
    "The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard" is the sort of slack movie where the comic bits take precedence over the storyline. As a result, the characters have the substance of cardboard, but in this case, the cardboard is interesting because it's made of archetypes. Don Ready(Jeremy Piven) and his associates are badass used car salesmen for hire, who could only exist in the movie world. Put them on horses and the allusion to Westerns become more obvious. But still, a vestige of the cowboy survives, even in the modern trappings of an airplane, as Don lights up a cigarette like the Marlboro man. Don is a descendant of your classic Western hero; he has no place to call home; he's a wanderer. When Ben Selleck(James Brolin) summons Don and his possee into town, the car salesmen lodge at the Hacienda Courts(read: ranch), and hang out at the strip club(read: saloon). Instead of moving livestock, they move cars(the lot is the frontier). Ivy(Jordana Spiro), the boss' daughter(read: the sheriff's daughter), tames Don's wandering spirit when she chooses the outlaw over the gentleman(Ed Helms plays a "man"-band wanna-be), but in the postscript, the happy ending is undermined by the forces of filmic history: a wandering spirit can't be domesticated. They split up after two years. Primarily an absurdist comedy, "The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard" tries to be funny, then tries to be serious(an awkward transition since the people are cardboard), when it looks like Don isn't going to get the girl. John Wayne never said, "The only thing in this world I love is [horses]," but that's the idea Ethan Edwards seems to be expressing at the end of John Ford's "The Searchers". Don feels the same way about cars, and in the long run, he makes good on his declaration.… Full Review »
  3. KeithC
    3
    This movie had one or two mild laughs. Other than that I was thankful I saw it for free. I like Jeremy Piven's but the story of him being a mercenary hired to sell all the cars on the lot got do be boring by day 2 of the 4 days covered in the movie. I saw this movie at a drive-in and took advantage of the cool air by falling asleep during the rest of the movie (a first at the movies for me). Just shows how well it kept my attention. So, don't waste your money to see this movie. Its a good rental for a rainy day when you want to get some sleep and want to be mildly entertained.… Full Review »
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