About Schmidt
New Line Cinema | Release Date: December 13, 2002 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
85
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 40 Critic Reviews
Positive:
34
Mixed:
6
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
It’s the difference between artistry and knowingness. About Schmidt doesn’t bring us deeply into the lives of its people because it’s too busy trying to feel superior to them. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
The writing is sharp and often blithely cynical, although not above using a shooting star to put a lump in the throat. The tone, however, is at times dangerously uncertain. Read full review
60
SlateDavid Edelstein
Payne's movie is flat, depressed, and at times -- given this director's talent -- disappointingly curdled; it needs every quivering molecule of Nicholson's repressed rage to keep it alive and humming. Read full review
50
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Starts out as a barbed, poignant little movie and turns into an excruciating slow-motion car wreck. Read full review
50
Film ThreatRick Kisonak
The truth is About Schmidt offers only the sporadic laugh, the less frequent original cultural insight and, at best, a craftsmanlike performance from its aging headliner. The truth is there are long stretches in the picture that are unequivocally dull. Read full review
40
SalonCharles Taylor
Had Payne the grace or generosity to present the vulgarity and naiveté and tackiness of these characters as something vital and endearing and delightful, the movie might have been explosively funny. Read full review
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