49
Metascore
31 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 85MovielineStephanie ZacharekMovielineStephanie ZacharekThis is a straightforward family comedy-drama, a movie made for adults, and one that actually gives its actors – among them Chris Pine, Elizabeth Banks, Michelle Pfeiffer and Philip Baker Hall – something to do. That's more of a rarity on today's landscape than it should be.
- 80Boxoffice MagazinePete HammondBoxoffice MagazinePete HammondThis film stands out as one of the year's best.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyThe Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyAs overcranked as it is -- the film is directed as if it were an action drama, with two or three times more cuts than necessary -- People Like Us has a persuasive emotional pull at its heart that's hard to deny.
- 63Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertSam and Frankie are certainly interesting enough that a film about them coming to grips with this hidden truth would have been justified. It also would probably have been harder to write than this one, so People Like Us marches on with a coy little smile, toying with Frankie and the audience.
- 60VarietyJustin ChangVarietyJustin ChangIf they never fully sell the situation, the actors nonetheless deliver strong, emotionally accessible work.
- 58Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanPeople Like Us demonstrates how a drama can be heartfelt and bogus at the same time.
- 40Time OutDavid FearTime OutDavid FearThe pity is that the people in People Like Us ultimately don't feel any more dimensional than the archetypes dutifully dotting his lowest-denominator multiplex fodder. He's just picked a different set of clichés to ransack.
- 40Village VoiceNick PinkertonVillage VoiceNick PinkertonUltimately, however, People Like Us is infected with the "life-affirming" pox; this means making a narrative priority of redeeming everyone before adequately explaining them.
- 12Slant MagazineAndrew SchenkerSlant MagazineAndrew SchenkerThis dry-as-dust enterprise bogs down in an almost total lack of energy and imagination that no amount of faux earnestness can overcome.