Whatever It Takes

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.