For a Good Time, Call...
Focus Features | Release Date: August 31, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
55
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
9
Negative:
6
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayAug 24, 2012
The notion of a love story that's really about two women becoming friends is gimmicky, I'll grant, but Graynor and Miller are so charming together, and the movie is so focused and funny. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeWesley MorrisAug 30, 2012
This movie is basically where some small-screen comedy in the last year has been: "2 Broke Girls," "New Girl," and, their far superior sister, "Girls." Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanAug 29, 2012
For a Good Time, Call... tells the tender tale of two roommates who team up to launch a phone-sex line. Whatever their virtues or flaws, each of these movies makes the dirtiest episode of "Sex and the City" look like Doris Day fluff. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBarbara VanDenburghSep 6, 2012
It's a somewhat formulaic romp, but it's an utterly winning one. Read full review
70
SlateDana StevensSep 1, 2012
It's the movie's affectionate portrait of female friendship, along with Miller and Graynor's loose, playful performances, that make this whole imperfect soufflé rise as high as it does. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinSep 1, 2012
The confusion in For a Good Time, Call… is delightful, the phone-sex talk sweetening the vibe. Justin Long is peerlessly funny as the girls' gay pal, but the movie belongs to Graynor, who's like Sandra Bullock with a touch of Ginger Rogers–y brass. Read full review
70
The New York TimesStephen HoldenAug 30, 2012
Doesn't aspire to be more than a broad, sloppy, old-fashioned sitcom with a sexy gimmick. But it is quite funny. Read full review
70
Village VoiceChris PackhamAug 28, 2012
Lauren and Katie aren't defined by their attitudes toward men; they're defined by being fu--ing funny and awesome. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeAug 24, 2012
A feel-good raunch-com whose dirty-talk plot comes from a convincingly female perspective instead of feeling like cut-and-paste Apatow. Read full review
70
VarietyDennis HarveyAug 24, 2012
Doesn't rise much above sitcom level in material or execution, but provides enough laughs and goodwill to be disarmingly entertaining. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesSep 6, 2012
While its heart is always in the right place, the humor – especially in the sludgy first act – is hit or miss. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliSep 8, 2012
The film is worth seeing for the humor and for its high level of energy, but it falls short of being the "complete package." It's probably a better pick for home viewing than a trip to a theater. Read full review
63
New York PostSara StewartAug 30, 2012
Travis, making his feature debut, gets very likable performances out of his female stars. And it's nice to see sex given its due as a wide, wild buffet rather than the standard missionary, bra-on fare we're usually served in a rom-com. Mmm-hmmm! Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter TraversAug 30, 2012
In a rare instance of truth in advertising, the movie actually is a good time. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsAug 30, 2012
Even if the film should be retitled "For a Fairly Good Time, Call ..." at least we're not back on the couch with another variation on the same old group of arrested-development young adult males, hanging on to their adolescence with as much determination as their marijuana intake allows. Read full review
60
The GuardianMike McCahillNov 4, 2012
The dialogue, penned by Miller with Katie Anne Naylon, is subversively salty: surpassing even those Judd Apatow comedies to which it's indebted, this is almost certainly the filthiest movie ever to bear the Universal logo. Read full review
60
Total FilmJosh WinningOct 27, 2012
All right, it's not up there with "Bridesmaids" but, thanks to a game Graynor (here channelling a young Bette Midler), a revolving door of cameos and some gloriously smutty pillow talk, For A Good Time delivers, yes, exactly that. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanAug 30, 2012
The most adorably filthy movie you may ever see. Read full review
58
The PlaylistKimber MyersAug 30, 2012
By sex line standards, For a Good Time, Call... clearly succeeds –- it starts off slow, includes plenty of dirty talk, then gives us the happy ending we came for –- but our needs are a little bit greater when it comes to good films. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie RickeySep 6, 2012
The main distinction of this particular raunchfest, about the economic opportunities available to women in the phone-sex industry, is that it does not reconcile its slim narrative conflict with a big, fat wedding. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Geoff PevereAug 30, 2012
Easily the daffiest movie you've ever seen that also references incestuous role-playing games. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleAmy BiancolliAug 30, 2012
In its way, the film is more concerned with the love between friends than the sex between strangers. Read full review
50
USA TodayScott BowlesAug 30, 2012
Does its share of teasing, but amounts to nothing serious. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertAug 29, 2012
The performances by Miller and Graynor are high-spirited enough that you yearn to see them in worthier material. The potential is there. If there's anything more seductive to Manhattanites than sex, it's a cheap apartment overlooking Gramercy Park. Read full review
38
Washington PostJess RighthandAug 30, 2012
Even if a good phone-sex movie does exist, For a Good Time, Call . . . is woefully, definitively not it. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineAndrew SchenkerAug 26, 2012
While the heart of the movie is the at-times strained relationship between the two leads, it all unfolds rather by the numbers, dictated more by the expected arc of such things than the demands of the characters. Read full review
25
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezSep 6, 2012
There are several cameos in For a Good Time, Call… by famous actors portraying the girls' phone-sex clients, including Kevin Smith and Seth Rogen, but they've been clearly been left to improvise, and they don't put much effort into their routines. Read full review
20
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottSep 14, 2012
In other words, For a Good Time is not a good time. For that, you'll have to dust off your Nintendo and reacquaint yourself with "The Legend of Zelda" -- and hope that one of these days somebody can give "Bridesmaids" some real competition. Read full review
20
Time OutDavid FearAug 28, 2012
What really hurts is seeing Jamie Travis's name attached; for those of us who love his extraordinary "Patterns" trilogy, watching the talented Toronto filmmaker add his characterically kitschy touch to such a witless, faux-edgy movie can only be described as a Travis-ty. Read full review
0
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallSep 14, 2012
Save the money you might spend for a ticket to see For a Good Time, Call... and just read a dive bar's restroom wall for free. That's the sub-level of comedy here, with a litany of crude sexual euphemisms and phallic images passed off as jokes. Read full review
More From This Movie

55 Critic Reviews

6.8 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL