Better Housekeeping
Modernica Pictures | Release Date: November 20, 2002 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
53
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 12 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
6
Negative:
2

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
VarietyRobert Koehler
A triumph of indie casting of unknowns, Good Housekeeping is knee-deep in delicious thesping. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderTed Shen
In this uproarious and often scathing debut feature, writer-director Frank Novak charts the dissolution of a working-class marriage. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Plunges far beneath Todd Solondz's territory and enters the suburbs of John Waters' universe in its fascination for people who live without benefit of education, taste, standards, hygiene and shame. I Read full review
70
Film ThreatMerle Bertrand
This white trash "War of the Roses" is a surprisingly engaging film. Read full review
60
Film ThreatRich Cline
There are flashes of honest insight lurking under the film's rough, uneven surface. Read full review
60
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
The exaggerated white-trash environment and the naturalistic style mix poorly over time, giving off a stale odor that's funny in more ways than one. Read full review
60
The New York TimesDave Kehr
As broad and cartoonish as the screenplay is, there is an accuracy of observation in the work of the director, Frank Novak, that keeps the film grounded in an undeniable social realism. Read full review
50
New York PostLou Lumenick
Though the performances are uniformly good -- Adams is a standout -- the movie plays like one long, meandering sketch inspired by the works of John Waters and Todd Solondz, rather than a fully developed story. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
Gives cinema vérité texture to a fictional story of trailer-trash dysfunction (minus the trailer). Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
You don't see such feisty acting very often. Read full review
30
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
This loud and thoroughly obnoxious comedy about a pair of squabbling working-class spouses is a deeply unpleasant experience. Read full review
20
Village VoiceEd Park
Too stupid to be satire, too obviously hateful to be classified otherwise, Frank Novak's irritating slice of lumpen life is as reliably soul-killing as its title is nearly meaningless. ("Good Housekeeping" magazine's legal muscle forced a last-minute change.) Read full review
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