The Simpsons Movie
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation | Release Date: July 27, 2007 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
80
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
35
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Washington PostStephen Hunter
The genius is in the writing and in keeping all gambits created by the individual writers in sync, so the piece has a tonal consistency and a narrative flow. A lost art in Hollywood? It's really one of the best movies of the year. Read full review
100
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
The show has been the gold standard for satirical TV ever since it debuted in 1989. This long-awaited movie adaptation has plenty of laughs, plus an assortment of milestones for fans. Read full review
100
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Like "Hairspray," it's not just a spinoff but a wised-up family comedy that's spirited and inventive. It retains the farcical belligerence of the TV comedy but also heightens the series' oddball warmth and expands on its Hellzapoppin' slapstick. Read full review
91
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
The movie is best when it just riffs on our compacted memories of the past 18 years of episodes. Fortunately, that's most of the time. Read full review
90
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
The Simpsons Movie, in the end, is as good as an average episode of "The Simpsons." In other words, I’d be willing to watch it only -- excuse me while I crunch some numbers here -- 20 or 30 more times. Read full review
90
TimeRichard Corliss
So, for those of you who were wondering if a great TV show could top itself at feature-film length, the good news is that The Simpsons did it! But "South Park" did it first. Read full review
90
L.A. WeeklyScott Foundas
A 90-minute, years-in-the-making comic wind-up machine that begins by mocking its own audience for paying good money to see what it can watch at home for free and proceeds from there through the most wickedly funny arsenal of assaults on big government, organized religion and corporate America this side of "Borat." Read full review
88
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
The result is two-tiered humor, broad enough to appeal to anybody but overlaid with jokes that will be funnier if you know the show. Read full review
88
USA TodayClaudia Puig
The good news is that this is not merely a few episodes cobbled together: It's a real movie. Read full review
88
PremiereGlenn Kenny
If this is in fact merely a longer Simpsons episode, it's a damn good Simpsons episode. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Though it never regains the inspiration or comic density of its brilliant first 20 minutes, The Simpsons Movie keeps the laughs coming from start to finish, a feat as rare and wonderful in film as it has been through 18 years of television. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
The best thing about this long-awaited feature-length project, a classic Simpsonian interplay of family psychology, social commentary, and brainy visual and verbal jokes tossed off at rat-a-tat speed, is how relaxed it manages to be. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoanne Kaufman
After 18 seasons and some 400 episodes of their Fox TV series, the family created by Matt Groening, the family that put the dys in dysfunctional, makes a seamless transition from the shag carpet to the red carpet in the long-awaited Simpsons Movie. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
In some ways, it reminded me of the final "Seinfeld" episode. As much as I laughed throughout, I kept wondering what was with all the emotional lessons. Read full review
80
Film ThreatPete Vonder Haar
It’s funny, it’s smart, and it pokes fun at exactly the things it should (organized religion, big business, and audience itself). Read full review
80
SalonStephanie Zacharek
The picture works because, despite the fact that it took nearly six years for the filmmakers to bring it to the screen, it doesn't strive for greatness. It's fleet, concise and clever in a nut-ball way. Read full review
80
SlateDana Stevens
Nearly all of the show's minor supporting characters--Moe Szyslak, Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel, Hans Moleman--get to make at least an appearance, though it would have been nice to see larger speaking roles for favorites like Apu and Mr. Smithers. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
It's caustic, irreverent, constantly amusing and a tiny bit rude. Not a lot, though. This isn't the "Beavis and Butt-Head" or "South Park" movie. It's almost -- dare I say it -- charming. Read full review
80
VarietyBrian Lowry
Put simply, if somebody had to make a "Simpsons" movie, this is pretty much what it should be -- clever, irreverent, satirical and outfitted with a larger-than-22-minutes plot, capable (just barely) of sustaining a narrative roughly four times the length of a standard episode. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
It's hard not to like it. And in both senses of the phrase, America keeps asking for it. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The movie is funny, sassy and intelligent in that moronic Simpsons' way. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleDavid Wiegand
No one will be bored with the feature film... but everyone who knows the show well will have a nagging feeling that something is missing. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
As much as I enjoyed the movie -- and I laughed all the way through it -- the truth is that the big screen adds nothing special to the "Simpsons" experience. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The Simpsons is interested in being a family film, although this is one of those rare animated occasions when adults are the primary audience. I, for one, couldn't be happier. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Best of all, though the Simpson clan is 18 years older, they're not one bit wiser. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
The most ingenious thing about the movie is how it plays to diehards and neophytes alike. Every Simpsons character gets at least a fleeting appearance (and occasionally, director David Silverstein uses the widescreen format to cram in as many of them into one shot as he can). Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
A very funny, solidly entertaining movie that, despite its unshakable obsesion with undergarments, is as sweet as a Kwik-E-Mart Squishee. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
The Simpsons Movie is finally here. And guess what? It's funny. But not that funny. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
It's amusing enough and breezy enough not to disappoint. But it never dazzles or challenges or truly delights. And that leaves me fairly certain that whatever Bart Simpson would say about it probably couldn't be printed in a family newspaper. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
On the positive side, it's still four back-to-back Simpsons episodes, which is still better than most of what either television or the movies have to offer. Read full review
75
New York PostKyle Smith
Though it does have a handful of dirty jokes meant to earn the audience-pleasing PG-13 rating and features Marge swearing, it falls short of classic status. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
It’s intermittently very funny. But it doesn’t make the existential leap to the big screen, and it doesn’t have the density of gags or the lunatic free-association of the best episodes. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleToddy Burton
Homer's rendition of "spider pig" is comedy gold. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
It would be a stretch to call The Simpsons Movie more than a crisper, livelier-looking episode of the series. The change in mediums changes nothing. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Homer even jokes that it takes a sucker to pay for a show you can get for free on TV. D'oh! That hurts. Read full review
40
EmpireIan Nathan
The message is just as clear with Simpsonian antics -- if it ain't broke, don't make a movie… Read full review
More From This Movie

80 Critic Reviews

7.7 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 84 Are You There God? It's Me,...
2 78 John Wick: Chapter 4
3 75 Polite Society
4 73 Air
5 70 Sisu
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL