Guy Thing, A

Film Threat Kevin Carr

Gets off to a rocky start as you try to rationalize Lee’s place in the plot, but it soon has enough surprises and funny moments to keep you watching to the end.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Never going to be remembered as a tying-the-knot screwball classic (it probably won't be remembered past March), but one could do worse.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Actually is a bit of a hoot.

Village Voice Anya Kamenetz

In her role as Becky the half-assed tiki girl, Stiles's left-footedness can finally be named, only one of the many pleasures tugging this girl-snatches-guy-from-altar comedy a notch above standard.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

While it displays precious little originality or ingenuity, A Guy Thing is less graceless than most of its ilk and benefits from a likable cast.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

The formulaic mechanical plot machinations benefit greatly from the presence of the vivacious Stiles, gravely beautiful Blair and personable Lee, who radiates fundamental decency without seeming like a sap.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Sometimes funny, often strained comedy.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

You could do far worse in the current marketplace.

Variety Dennis Harvey

Does get slightly better as it goes along.

Chicago Reader Staff (Not credited)

I didn't buy half of the movie's scattershot gags, but the leads are sharp and the supporting cast sturdy.

LA Weekly Hazel-Dawn Dumpert

Transcends its video-box-shelf-filler pedigree only when it's actually indulging in guy stuff, mostly of the frat-boy, beer-commercial variety.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

You might believe that a movie comedy requires no visual rhythm, and that entire scenes -- especially those big set-pieces -- benefit greatly from a shooting style devoid of imagination and unremittingly flat. If so, A Guy Thing is surely your thing. Enjoy.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

The stars have little opportunity to engage their characters. The gang-written screenplay and Chris Koch's artless direction turn their scenes into a series of broad, overplayed comic sketches.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

A pleasant, thin, hammerlocked movie about the pleasures of breaking free - it's the Cliff Notes version of anarchic classics like ''Bringing Up Baby'' or ''What's Up, Doc?'' Should you want to take the graduate course, you'll find those films at your video store.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

As middling comedies go, this is neither as smart as it ought to be nor as dumb as you'd expect.

Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis

The three leads go through the motions with goofy geniality, and director Chris Koch has enlisted some consummate character actors -- to help hold up the sagging jokes and story line.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Stumbles along laboriously, its jokes following one after another in a sloppy, flat-footed walk.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The bad thing about A Guy Thing isn't the talent of its stars but the warmed-over triteness of the material they're forced to work with.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

A childish, empty effort.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

There is humor in the familiar just waiting to be rehashed for new generations, and A Guy Thing surely isn't the last stupid leave-'em-at-the-altar film we're likely to see.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Jason Lee seems to have been bitten by a vampire who sucked out all his prickly charisma. You see the promise of stardom dribbling through his fingers.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

If ever a romantic comedy is going to fail at the box office, this is it. The movie isn't a guy's thing, a girl's thing, or anybody else's thing.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

If you ever admired Julia Stiles, Selma Blair and Jason Lee -- and who didn't? -- don't watch them crush their careers in this laugh-free romantic comedy.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

Perhaps Lee took a look at the script -- saw all the jokes about diarrhea, pubic lice, drunk old ladies, and drugged gravy, and thought, "Why bother?" Looking at the final results, it's hard to feel any other way.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

Most of the meager charms of the chaotic romantic farce A Guy Thing spring from the deft comic contortions of Hollywood's ultimate nerdy sidekick, Jason Lee.

Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan

Chris Koch exhibits little flair for comedic direction and, though this isn't saying much, you'd be better served watching his previous film, "Snow Day." Ouch.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Tries desperately to lower the bar for scatological gags, rank sexual humor and cheap physical shots.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

For about 10 minutes, it works.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Designed as a disposable commodity, it's a film I'd dispose of with no further ado, except for what it says about minimum standards in a certain tacky niche of the movie business, as well as for what it suggests, in its lunkheaded way, about the perils that marriage may pose.