The Trouble with Bliss
Metascore
38 out of 100

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 12 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 12
  3. Negative: 5 out of 12
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  1. Slant Magazine
    Reviewed by: Kalvin Henely
    Mar 22, 2012
    63
    Populated with unlikely occurrences and oddball characters, it plays out, to put it most complimentary, like a dull, slower moving "After Hours."
  2. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Eric Hynes
    Mar 20, 2012
    60
    The tiredness of its conceit aside, the film manages to ingratiate thanks to a script that pleasantly ping-pongs from one digressive dialogue to another and a persuasive performance by Hall.
  3. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Alison Willmore
    Mar 21, 2012
    58
    Even in an old T-shirt and scruff of beard, Hall seems too canny and calculated a presence to entirely inhabit this man-child role, which lends a compelling edge to an otherwise scattershot story of urban misadventure and coming of age.
  4. Arizona Republic
    Reviewed by: Bill Goodykoontz
    Apr 5, 2012
    50
    The film is not without charm, much of it provided by Larson as the sneakily demanding Brie. Liu is also funny and vaguely dangerous, while Henke is an agreeable presence. As for Hall, he's not asked to do much more than mope.
  5. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    Mar 22, 2012
    50
    Nobody in this sweet-natured, low-testosterone trifle is out for blood. Mr. Hall gives an agreeable portrayal of a man-child not unlike David Fisher, his character on "Six Feet Under."
  6. Variety
    Reviewed by: Dennis Harvey
    Mar 24, 2012
    40
    One can guess how the elements here might have been alluring on the page, but helmer/co-scenarist Michael Knowles' third feature doesn't find the distinctive tone needed to make its eccentric characters less than irksome and its plot more than arbitrary.
  7. Time Out New York
    Reviewed by: Sam Adams
    Mar 20, 2012
    40
    Hall's puppy-dog charisma holds up under the strain, but it isn't nearly enough to keep this messy midlife-crisis dramedy afloat. A little of this Bliss goes a long way.
  8. NPR
    Reviewed by: Ian Buckwalter
    Mar 23, 2012
    35
    Without much actual character to latch on to, most of the actors seem lost and awkward, even the usually dependable Hall.
  9. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Gary Goldstein
    Mar 29, 2012
    30
    Any potential enjoyment here is fatally undermined by the film's barely developed characters, self-conscious dialogue ("I will wax his tugboat!") and repetitive imagery.
  10. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Frank Scheck
    Mar 22, 2012
    30
    The "Dexter" star gives it his all in this indie comedy about a 35-year-old unemployed man coping with various romantic and life crises, but by the end of this terminally cute effort you'll wish that he just stop moping and kill somebody already.
  11. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Kyle Smith
    Mar 23, 2012
    25
    Fails to draw much humor from farcical situations.
  12. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Elizabeth Weitzman
    Mar 22, 2012
    20
    The biggest trouble with "Bliss" is the way it wastes a cast that deserves so much more.

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