He's All That
Netflix | Release Date (Streaming): August 27, 2021 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
36
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
7
Negative:
11
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
82
PolygonPetrana RadulovicAug 30, 2021
Helmed by Mark Waters (Mean Girls, 2003’s Freaky Friday) and with a script from R. Lee Fleming Jr., the screenwriter behind the original movie, He’s All That is one of the best high-school romantic comedies in recent history. It uses the old movie’s makeover template to carve out a romantic story that hits all the satisfying beats, turning turns them into something refreshing… and actually better than the original movie. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comNell MinowAug 27, 2021
It is a sweet little end of summer sorbet with appealing young performers and a script that refreshes the original without overdoing it. Read full review
70
IGNMatt FowlerSep 1, 2021
Addison Rae and Tanner Buchanan are magnetic leads in this reboot that pays homage to the first film, but fully stands on its own. It manages to cut through modern high school b.s. while transforming two posers into presentable, likable people. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesMichael OrdoñaAug 27, 2021
You’ll be pleased to discover the entertaining remake has its charms; it actually is all that, for the most part. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterRobyn BahrAug 27, 2021
He’s All That may be a flattened reflection of its predecessor, but both films are charming enough to get away with about one anal sex innuendo joke apiece. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleLily JaniakAug 27, 2021
Directed by Mark Waters, cast members seem to operate on the belief that they can best deal with the plot’s improbabilities by grimacing their way through and not giving anyone time to react to them. Pesky details brushed aside, the film can play to its strength, which is the charm of its leads. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperAug 27, 2021
This movie is pure cotton candy — sweet and brightly colored and a bit of a guilty pleasure, but it’s not intended to be something you can sink your teeth into, and five minutes after consuming it, it’s like it never happened. Read full review
40
VarietyCourtney HowardAug 27, 2021
While it’s possible to make the formulaic and familiar resound fantastically, that concept has evaded these filmmakers here. Neither bland regurgitation nor innovative retelling, the remake falls somewhere in between, suffering greatly by not establishing a more distinctive identity. Read full review
40
The New York TimesDevika GirishAug 27, 2021
Hot people pretending to be homely is par for the course in makeover movies; the real thrill lies in watching opposites attract. But the catfights, confessions, and dance-offs in He’s All That lack the sting of real romantic conflict, and there’s nary a spark between Rae and Buchanan. Read full review
40
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzAug 27, 2021
The intentions were probably noble, but the execution not so much. Read full review
40
The GuardianAdrian HortonAug 27, 2021
It’s the same feeling, really, as watching a bunch of straight TikToks. While Rae offers flashes of promise, especially when she pops her genuinely winning smile, she doesn’t make the case for TikTok-to-film-stardom here. The chemistry between her and Buchanan is stilted, at best. Read full review
38
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliAug 31, 2021
Undemanding movie-goers on the lookout for a movie featuring pretty people in a vapid rom-com that might find this movie to their liking. For everyone else, this is decidedly not “all that.” Read full review
38
Movie NationRoger MooreAug 28, 2021
But the charm is thin and the laughs hard to find in this iteration. Aside from a little nostalgia for the middling film this is based on, He’s All That just isn’t all that. Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Amil NiaziAug 27, 2021
Despite some clever, winking nods to the original, including appearances by Cook herself and Matthew Lillard, He’s All That fails to deliver on what She’s All That did so well: a sweet, lighthearted romance that hinges on the chemistry between its two leads. Read full review
30
ABC NewsPeter TraversAug 27, 2021
Manufactured for the ‘Kissing Booth’ crowd, this gender-swapped, TikTok-friendly update of the 1999 teen hit sounds awful and it often is, but enough charm pokes through the cracks to sucker anyone who ever fell for a makeover fable. Read full review
30
Screen RantMolly FreemanAug 27, 2021
He's All That is a hollow Gen Z recreation of She's All That, lacking in charm and seemingly engineered as a vehicle to promote its stars' other work. Read full review
25
The PlaylistChristian GallichioAug 29, 2021
Water’s film is merely bland, a boring hodgepodge of Gen-Z references and a workmanlike script that never seems to understand what it’s trying to say. Read full review
25
IndieWireRyan LattanzioAug 27, 2021
Despite the efforts of a bright young cast, this is a hollow and depressing Gen Z romantic comedy. What’s even scarier is that this film comes from Mark Waters, the director of “Mean Girls,” a way savvier teen satire that doesn’t pander to its audience. Read full review
25
The A.V. ClubCaroline SiedeAug 27, 2021
There’s nothing inherently wrong with the idea of a teen rom-com centered on social media popularity and influencer culture—even one that doesn’t necessarily see those things as evil. But He’s All That offers nothing beyond buzzwords, empty platitudes, and sponcon. Read full review
25
Entertainment WeeklyMary SollosiAug 27, 2021
It might be just as well that Padgett is not given a real emotional arc, nor anything resembling an internal life. Even when little is asked of her, Rae's acting is not up to the challenge. Read full review
20
Washington PostSonia RaoAug 27, 2021
In the end, He’s All That is not all that — not even a little bit of that. Read full review
15
Paste MagazineBrianna ZiglerAug 27, 2021
He’s All That is, yes, a nightmarish, joyless commentary on influencer-beholden adolescence told through the crutch of nostalgia and starring a charisma-less TikTok star, but it’s hard to know if one is merely an example of “Old Man Yells at Cloud” or if the teenagers of today are truly living in a Hell on Earth Read full review
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