Without a Paddle

Entertainment Weekly Scott Brown

There are some genuinely clever moments of physical comedy, and the inevitable crudeness is offset by winning whimsy. Without has all the freshness of moldering Playboys stashed under a mattress, but it evokes what few boys-will-be-boys larks can: chumminess.

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

Extremely dumb, sporadically funny.

San Francisco Chronicle Carla Meyer

Dax Shepard from MTV's "Punk'd," in his first major big-screen role, steals Without a Paddle. Not that it's too hard to do.

Washington Post Sara Gebhardt

The cheesy, unconvincing moments centered on the characters' serious discussions of life and friendship really seem unnatural and ruin the flow of the physical comedy.

Variety Dennis Harvey

An unstable -- if mostly painless -- mix of low comedy, stabs at higher silliness, and schmaltz.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

There are a few gross-out laughs, but Without a Paddle's gang-written script doesn't know what it wants to be.

New York Post Megan Lehmann

A likable trio of actors struggles valiantly but ultimately fails to keep this dopey buddy comedy afloat.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Even in a world where stupidity mixed with cliche is all too often mistaken for humor, this movie barely meets expectations.

The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen

While the likable Seth Green, Matthew Lillard and Dax Shepard are definitely up to the comic excursion, the picture charts an uncertain course between wild and mild, eventually running aground in a pile of male-bonding muck.

LA Weekly Robert Abele

Burt Reynolds, whose near-vaudevillian comic timing, is refreshing but not enough to carry the picture.

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

Despite some agreeably idiotic moments, Without a Paddle is also mostly without a rudder. Its few memorable highlights end up floating haplessly in a genial but uninspired and watery plot.

TV Guide Angel Cohn

Bart the Bear shows more versatility in his gender-bending role than Lillard, who trots out his old, tired slacker shtick.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

This so-called comedy is a frayed string of anxious jokes about whether male bonding is manly or sissy.

Chicago Tribune Sid Smith

Led by a trio of dumb, dumber and dumbest, Without a Paddle is a testosterone comedy that might just as well be titled "Without a Brain Cell."

USA Today Claudia Puig

In a summer filled with dumb comedies, this might prove to be the dumbest. Think "Road Trip" meets "City Slickers." Then dial the humor down a few notches, and you're left Without a Paddle.

Dallas Observer Bill Gallo

Every situation, every bit of dialogue, comes straight out of the Big Book of Movie Clichés.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

Buddy comedies rely heavily on their leads' chemistry, and in this regard, Without A Paddle fails.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

Pushes its ugly humor further than most.

Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall

Aside from a few good zingers the humor is crude and homophobic, and you could drive an ATV through the holes in the plot.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

Yet another raunchy, gross-out farce, this one about smart-alecky city boys who have wacky adventures while exposing themselves in -- I mean to -- the great outdoors.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Never quite as dumb as "Harold & Kumar," but it's nowhere near as smart, and that's what kills it.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

At least it cares enough to steal from the very best. Unfortunately, that's about all it cares about.

Village Voice Mark Holcomb

Burt Reynolds turns up as scruffy mountain man, sparking unfulfilled expectations of some primo Deliverance jokes.

Empire Adam Smith

Disappointing.

Wall Street Journal Joanne Kaufman

Well, incredibly stupid is certainly what is delivered to audiences.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

So bad that it will annoy and/or bore those who have minimal standards and a high tolerance for sewage.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Director Brill makes no stylistic advances from his recent work with Adam Sandler (Little Nicky, Mr. Deeds), and shows no signs of seeking growth or improvement.