Must Love Dogs
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: July 29, 2005 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
46
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
17
Negative:
8
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
It's a frisky romantic comedy with a great title and wonderfully appealing performances. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Writer-director Gary David Goldberg's script is full of complex and lively love patter, which Cusack especially rattles off with sometimes breakneck speed. Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Reminds me of the golden retriever that lived next door long ago: endearing, consistently sweet-natured, ready for a brisk turn around familiar territory as long as no strenuous intellectual demands are ever made. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
A breath of fresh air amid the superheroes, aliens and bombastic explosions of summer. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
View it as a fat-free but tasty cinematic treat in the middle of the long, hot summer. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
A thoroughly conventional romantic comedy with all the usual trimmings. Read full review
70
VarietyJustin Chang
To properly appreciate Must Love Dogs, one must first love John Cusack. Thesp's maverick turn steals the show in this otherwise middling romantic comedy, which retools standard meet-cute elements for the Web generation in pleasant but uninspired fashion. Read full review
70
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
These two generate real, slow-burning rapport, so that you're still pulling for them even during a gratingly preposterous climax. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Bland and forgettable - a romantic comedy with affable characters and some funny lines, but where love never really takes flight. It fizzles when it should sizzle. Read full review
63
New York PostLou Lumenick
This movie is never more than a one-liner away from sitcom, yet it goes down like ice cream. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
While Lane is her typical winning self, the film is mawkish. The more we're cajoled to root for Sarah Nolan, the divorced preschool teacher she plays, the more Must Love Dogs stops resembling a movie and starts feeling like a greeting card. Read full review
60
Dallas ObserverLuke Y. Thompson
The movie does find fresh ways to tweak the formula, making it more than the sum of its broad strokes. Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderAndrea Gronvall
The script by sitcom veteran Gary David Goldberg has weaknesses--it soft-pedals bitterness, and the ending is annoyingly pat. On balance, though, this is a funny and smartly paced love story. Read full review
58
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
It offers a handful of funny and touching moments and maintains a level of cuteness. But it's far from original, and its star chemistry doesn't exactly light up the screen. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyJohn Patterson
At once over- and under-written, and peppered with tiresome coincidences and misunderstandings, Goldberg’s mechanical, joke-one, joke-two, joke-three approach to ensemble screenwriting soon betrays his TV-sitcom roots. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Individually, the actors are endearing. But together in this charmless Gary David Goldberg sitcomedy, inspired by the Claire Cook novel, they are as oddly paired as chalk and cheese. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Virtually every person in the story is fabulously cute, picturesquely forlorn, adorably ditzy, or winsomely philosophical. In short, there's plenty of smooth storytelling but not a hint of reality here. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Short on dramatic energy, Must Love Dogs settles for a cheerful drone.
50
TV Guide MagazineAngel Cohn
The film makes no real impression; it's amiable, occasionally funny and indistinguishable from dozens of other romantic comedies just like it. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The movie is pleasant, sedate, subdued and sweet, but there is not a moment of suspense in it. Read full review
50
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
Think you know where this film is going? You do, and the best thing about Must Love Dogs is that it takes only 88 minutes to get there - short enough to enjoy the film's modest, well-worn pleasures, but not so long that you feel your time could have been put to better use elsewhere. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Cusack should have been half the picture, but the screenplay keeps shoving him offstage for no good reason, and it's a mistake. One of many. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)David Gilmour
What's curious about the film, in an anthropological way, is that it's made up of a series of false human moments yet remains entirely predictable. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
The dialogue and the movie seem as canned as a Must-See TV laugh track. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
This is a movie of fake conflict, fake heart, even fake doggy love. Read full review
40
Village VoiceLaura Sinagra
With a character this dull--so dull that we're told over and over how smart and special she is--the resulting glut of date-ad losers seems like just deserts. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
Forces them (the cast) to reenact the entire unabridged Encyclopedia of Treasured Romantic Comedy Clichés and Chestnuts, Revised Second Edition. Read full review
40
EmpireEmma Cochrane
Less than crowd-pleasing chick flick livened up by John Cusack’s self-penned one-liners. Read full review
38
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
Did Lane and John Cusack really have to put themselves through this? Here are two first-rate actors in the embarrassing situation of playing blithering misfits in a lame comedy of errors. Read full review
30
Washington PostJen Chaney
This is nothing but a dare-to-be-terrible movie. Read full review
30
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Proving once again that skillful performances can't create something out of almost nothing - the best they can do is make it palatable. Read full review
30
Film ThreatPete Vonder Haar
The movie wastes the talents of its two leads by refusing to take any risks with the material, marching in lockstep to every genre cliché. Read full review
25
Portland OregonianMarc Mohan
Here's a hint to tracking down an intelligent, discriminating significant other: stand outside the entrance to a theater showing Must Love Dogs. Once the film begins, look for the first person to walk out. Read full review
25
PremiereSara Brady
It's somehow fitting that this purported romantic comedy about dating is, like most dates, clumsy, endless, and absolutely excruciating. Read full review
20
SalonStephanie Zacharek
It's ostensibly about adults, but there's nothing remotely adult about it. Read full review
11
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
No film that requires a woman to jump in water and dogpaddle toward a man has the "sisterhood's" best interests at heart. Read full review
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