> Switch to Advanced Search

New This Week
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search

Upcoming Release Calendar
Awards & Bests By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

sort by name

sort by score

63 11th Hour, The
47 27 Dresses
29 Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem
39 Alvin and the Chipmunks
81 Bamako
84 Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
47 Bella
68 Business of Being Born, The
69 Charlie Wilson's War
64 Cloverfield
30 Cover
68 Delirious
92 Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The
43 Final Season, The
41 First Sunday
51 Golden Compass, The
49 Good Night, The
65 Great Debaters, The
63 Hannah Takes the Stairs
52 Hollywood Dreams
7 Hottie and the Nottie, The
60 I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With
15 In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
81 Juno
70 Lars and the Real Girl
47 Lions for Lambs
41 Mad Money
71 Manda Bala (Send a Bullet)
xx Moondance Alexander
53 Music Within
77 Nanking
44 Nina's Heavenly Delights
24 One Missed Call
74 Orphanage, The
30 Over Her Dead Body
39 P.S. I Love You
37 P2
46 Reservation Road
55 Resurrecting the Champ
57 Romulus, My Father
85 Savages, The
78 Starting Out in the Evening
83 Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
57 Teeth
92 There Will Be Blood
38 Trailer Park Boys: The Movie
32 Untraceable
63 Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
68 War Dance
71 Water Horse: Legend of the Deep, The
43 Youth Without Youth

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Whatever It Takes
Sony Pictures Entertainment


9.4

based on 22 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 22 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for thematic elements, sexual material and language

Starring James Franco, Shane West, Christine Lakin, and Marla Sokoloff

Based upon the classic Cyrano de Bergerac tale. A socially inept boy (West) teams up with an athletic type (Franco) to get their respective dream dates.

GENRE(S):	Romance
WRITTEN BY:	Mark Schwahn
DIRECTED BY:	David Raynr
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: August 1, 2000 Video: August 1, 2000 Theatrical: March 24, 2000
RUNNING TIME:	94 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

You haven't heard anything until you've heard "Play That Funky Music" on the accordion.

USA Today Mike Clark

Didn't work this time, David. Maybe next season.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

It's larded with blinding glimpse-of-the-obvious homilies.

San Francisco Examiner Walter Addiego

Whatever It Takes is DOA -- dated on arrival.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Populated by ersatz versions of stars who, in this case, are fairly vanilla to begin with.

Film.com Robert Horton

It's a notch above average, but Whatever It Takes can't get too far above that notch.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

It's still got some panache.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

A teen comedy so stupid that a long nose -- perhaps with a red bulb on it -- actually would have helped.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

It involves teenagers who have never existed, doing things no teenager has ever done, for reasons no teenager would understand. Of course, it's aimed at the teenage market.

LA Weekly Chuck Wilson

If the teen in your life drags you along to this movie, act like you're doing him a favor -- and try not to let on that you sort of liked it.

Chicago Tribune Marc Caro

So derivative and crass that it's far more entertaining to try to think of the dozens of films it's ripping off than it is to take any of it at face value.

Baltimore Sun Chris Hewitt

There's a movie opening today that is so indistinctive I can barely remember its name.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

An assembly-line high-school comedy that flunks miserably in all three subjects.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

Pretty lame stuff. Already it seems to be passing with the speed of light into the limbo of utterly forgettable "who-will-I-take-to-the-prom?" movies.

Mr. Showbiz Michael Atkinson

Yet another leaden, witless, cliché-drunk, teen romantic comedy starring the preposterously good-looking stars of mediocre TV series.

Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky

Bearable only because, unlike the recent spate of teen films, it's so breezy it barely even registers.

The New York Times A. O. Scott

A thinly veiled "Cyrano," with the prom in mind.

Los Angeles Times John Anderson

It's guys like Floyd who make a movie like Whatever It Takes feel like high school. And the rest of the losers make it feel like a movie.

Variety Robert Koehler

Makes little impression and is sure to leave few memories for a teen.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Drivel of the purest ray serene.

Miami Herald Phoebe Flowers

If you can summon up the resolve to search, there is not a single honest moment in all of Whatever It Takes.

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

Disingenuously naive romantic comedy.

The average user rating for this movie is 9.4 (out of 10) based on 22 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Austin B. gave it a9:
good original prom comedy if that's what you're looking for.

Beth B. gave it a10:
I loved It!!! It's great for a girl's sleepover!!!

Ashton H. gave it a 10:
OMG!!! This movie is sooo funny the only thing I dont like about it is that Shane is with a girl that's not ME! Shane West is sooo HOT HOT HOT!

Erica K. gave it a 10:
I LUVED this movie. Shane West has never looked better!

Kelsey S. gave it a 10:
I thought this movie was really good..i love SHANE WEST....he's very SEXY and HOTT!!

Ben gave it a 10:
Heheh...critics are stupid. i loved it, so did everyone else.

Lisa S. gave it a 10:
I loved it and i love shane west.

Whatever It Takes Sony Pictures Entertainment

Whatever It Takes
Sony Pictures Entertainment