In Her Shoes
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation | Release Date: October 7, 2005 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
60
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
21
Mixed:
14
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
The movie is so well-cast, sympathetically acted and delicately directed -- and so genuinely touching and funny -- that it leaps right out of the narrow confines of the family bonding formula. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Starts out with the materials of an ordinary movie and becomes a rather special one. Read full review
88
USA TodayMike Clark
This is the most enjoyable film of its type in recent memory. Read full review
88
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
It's wonderfully satisfying: Collette, MacLaine and Diaz are exceptional, and the mix of humor and heartbreak is perfectly calibrated. Read full review
83
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
No great claims should be made for In Her Shoes. If the aim here was to show how chick lit can become just plain lit, the effort failed. But there is something to be said for froth when it's expertly whipped. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Ken Tucker
When superb craftsmanship, discipline, and risk-taking (toning down Diaz and MacLaine; treating Collette as a desirous leading lady) are applied to accessible, even frivolous material, the results can be deeply pleasurable. In Her Shoes isn’t a masterpiece, but it’s the best Saturday-night movie millions of people are going to go to. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Manipulative, but confidently so, and improbably but consistently affecting.
80
EmpireStaff (Not credited)
While on the surface very much a girls' film, this ruefully honest picture has something to say to everyone. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Maintains a breezy charm throughout and contains many extremely funny sequences. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
It's Hanson's astute directing that makes the film's life lessons go down painlessly, turning the smartly entertaining In Her Shoes into a comfy fit for both sexes. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
It's an earnest, contemporary drama about adults -- OK, women -- that has no use for irony or cynicism, no room for cutting-edge, clever hipness. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
A rollicking, mascara-smearing, intergenerational coed crowd-pleaser. Imagine "Sex and the City" negotiating "Terms of Endearment" with "The Golden Girls." Read full review
75
PremiereRyan Devlin
Simply clicks on every level. From the surprising depth of the story, to the smooth and sometimes brilliant performances, to Hanson’s clear mastery of form. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Director Curtis Hanson has made a chick flick with substance as well as style. Read full review
70
VarietyTodd McCarthy
While the director's avid fans may be disappointed, upscalish mainstream auds, particularly women, will eat up this well-acted, emotionally focused adaptation of Jennifer Weiner's popular novel. Read full review
70
Village VoiceLaura Sinagra
The best moments belong to Shirley MacLaine, who makes the clipped script sing as Ella. Read full review
70
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
The joy of this unassuming, generous film is that it never sells out its characters' desires or ours. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Could it be that the director of "L.A. Confidential," "Wonder Boys," and "8 Mile" has been defeated by characters on a first-name basis with brisket, by women who, in Susannah Grant's screenplay, represent avatars of joyless workaholism and joyless sexaholism? Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
A great big wad of chick-lit gum, In Her Shoes gets by on the skill of its players. Read full review
63
New York PostLou Lumenick
Cameron Diaz redeems her reputation somewhat in In Her Shoes, Curtis Hanson's schmaltzy, but reasonably entertaining dramedy about mismatched sisters. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Entertaining enough, but it's more pat than provocative -- this is what makes it a bona fide audience pleaser while keeping it from drawing real blood. Read full review
60
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
Not once does this ruffled sweetness seem like Hanson’s natural terrain. "Wonder Boys" took emotional risks, daring to suggest that with age comes not wisdom but confusion and crummy robes, whereas everything in the new film is designed to slot together with an optimistic click. Read full review
58
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
It's absolutely the classiest big-screen version of chick lit we're ever likely to see. But it still has all the lasting flavor of a Chiclet. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Artificial in both its dialogue and its construction, the film only works - on those occasions when it works - because of the sincere performance by the underrated Toni Collette. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyChuck Wilson
Diaz and Collette are believable as sisters, but their performances rarely surprise -- in a more interesting movie world, they'd have switched roles. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
A bungled mess that spends an hour creating two characters whose lives are about as believable as a successful ambush set by Wile E. Coyote for the Roadrunner. Read full review
50
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Emotions too often get ladled unconvincingly. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Overlong, undercooked drama. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
The people who made this film -- particularly the ones responsible for the story and the dialogue -- should look no further when trying to understand why In Her Shoes lands with such little impact. The characters seem authentic -- until the chick-flick template distorts them. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Although much of the bloat can be traced to the script, via the Jennifer Weiner novel, let's not absolve director Curtis Hanson from his fat share of the blame. Read full review
50
Film ThreatMichael Ferraro
For you guys out there stuck with a lady-friend looking for that "Beaches" replacement, here it is. Read full review
40
The A.V. ClubTasha Robinson
The whole exercise feels hopelessly shallow and artificial. In Her Shoes is basically a double-date romantic comedy, in which not one but two women find themselves and learn to live and love again, etc. etc., and while it's well-acted on most counts, it's also as plodding as it is obvious. Read full review
40
Dallas ObserverRobert Wilonsky
The movie's a bust in myriad ways, especially because almost every scene possesses the oily feel of manipulation and condescension. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
Ultimately, it's too self-conscious of its role in the marketplace and too hamstrung by its source material to risk being honest at the expense of being liked. Read full review
40
Washington PostDesson Thomson
There'd be nothing wrong with this if the film 'fessed up to its kitschy soul. Instead, it pretends to be the high-minded drama it's not. Read full review
30
SalonStephanie Zacharek
The movie works neither as a comedy nor as a lame melodrama -- its entertainment value is embarrassingly feeble. Read full review
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