Never Again
USA Films | Release Date: July 12, 2002 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
30
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
2
Mixed:
10
Negative:
10
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
VarietyJoe Leydon
A hugely enjoyable romantic comedy that dares to suggest that love can bloom -- and, more important, hormones can rage -- after 50. Smart, sassy and slickly packaged. Read full review
70
Film Threat
By turns touching, raucously amusing, uncomfortable, and, yes, even sexy, Never Again is a welcome and heartwarming addition to the romantic comedy genre; a pleasant surprise of a film that delivers so much more than its description leads one to expect. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Here's a case of two actors who do everything humanly possible to create characters who are sweet and believable, and are defeated by a screenplay that forces them into bizarre, implausible behavior. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
However insulting the script is to the formidable talents of Clayburgh and Tambor, they turn in Shinola performances. Read full review
50
Village VoiceBen Kenigsberg
A comedic semi-rehash of "An Unmarried Woman" (1978) with older leads, Never Again sports a good-hearted story but doesn't know how to tell it. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
The opening of writer-director Eric Schaeffer's sloppy, sporadically funny adult sex comedy Never Again shows how an undisciplined filmmaker can sabotage his best intentions.
50
Boston GlobeJanice Page
There are moments, too, where the forced hipness falls aside and the two lead characters just plain relate, realistically and maturely, with a seasoned playfulness that is truly charming. Read full review
40
TV Guide MagazineFrank Lovece
Kudos to writer-director Eric Schaeffer for doing a sexually graphic romantic comedy about fiftysomethings without being patronizing or cutesy. With both heart and guts, he honestly depicts how that moony-eyed, falling-in-love rush of endorphins is the same at 55 as it is at 15. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
Youthful audiences won't be attracted to a love story between two 54-year-olds in the first place, and mature audiences will be turned off by the language, not necessarily out of prudishness, but out of its sheer crassness. Read full review
40
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
It's a pleasure to see Jill Clayburgh on the big screen in a story about middle-aged love and sexuality, but she can't rescue this alternately trite and implausible comedy. Read full review
40
L.A. WeeklyDaniel Fienberg
Schaeffer fails to develop the relationship beyond clichéd signpost events. Read full review
40
New Times (L.A.)Andy Klein
This is not exactly original, but Schaeffer and his cast manage to make it tolerable.
38
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
A good-natured but trivial Manhattan romantic comedy. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
A wretched comedy about middle-aged romance. Read full review
25
New York PostMegan Lehmann
Clayburgh is the most dignified thing about this dreadfully overwrought, often preposterous romantic comedy. Read full review
25
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
The germ of a better film lies in that joke, but Schaeffer doesn't quite dig it out. Instead, we get painfully unfunny scenes that make us think that when it comes to writing comedy, Schaeffer should stick to his own rule: never again. Read full review
20
The New York TimesStephen Holden
The movie, like its lovers, is really two films smushed together in the faint hope that sheer incongruity can grind out laughter. Read full review
20
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
Clayburgh and Tambor demonstrate genuine chemistry, but the film keeps diluting it with awful attempts at comedy and worse attempts at drama. Read full review
20
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
Full of the kind of obnoxious chitchat that only self-aware neurotics engage in. Christopher and Grace probably deserve each other, but that doesn't mean that any of us do. Read full review
16
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Schaeffer's howler of a romantic comedy, which presents itself as a valentine to Clayburgh even as it keeps dreaming up fresh ways to humiliate her. Read full review
10
Washington PostStephen Hunter
A meet-cute whimsy set among divorced fifty-somethings in New York, it blunders on toward oblivion, excruciatingly unfunny and pitifully unromantic. Read full review
0
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Ray Conlogue
Rarely does a film so graceless and devoid of merit as this one come along. Read full review
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