Over Her Dead Body
New Line Cinema | Release Date: February 1, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
30
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 29 Critic Reviews
Positive:
1
Mixed:
16
Negative:
12
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
63
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
This madcap paranormal love triangle is charming on its own terms. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The result, while not horrifically bad, is as mediocre a motion picture as you're likely to find in a multiplex this season. It's tough to hate the movie because it doesn't generate enough emotion for that kind of passion. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyNick Pinkerton
Many a comic potentiality is underworked, and the film's prevailing tone is obnoxiously erratic -- surely the supporting eccentrics (Jason Biggs and Lindsay Sloane) aren't supposed to be so off-putting? -- but it rests safe when entrusted to the charisma of its principals. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
The slapstick is crudely executed. And the movie never makes up its mind regarding how nasty the ghost of Kate is going to play her revenge tactics. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Consider for a moment how this movie might play if it took itself seriously. Would it be better than as a comedy? I suspect so. Read full review
50
Washington PostJohn Anderson
In her imperfectly beautiful way, Bell suggests Carole Lombard. As a comedian, Bell is enough of a distraction that you can forgive all the inanities around her. And there are many. Read full review
50
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
For what it is -- a romantic comedy about the rivalry between a jealous ghost and a flaky psychic for the love of a veterinarian -- Over Her Dead Body is not bad. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
What ensues may be predictable, but the slapstick performances of Rudd and Bell are anything but. They court, they spark, and a few times they catch comic fire. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Though the tale may fall short on imagination, the principal actors make Over Her Dead Body livelier than one would expect. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
It's said that opposites attract, but for the brief period they're onscreen together in the dire comedy Over Her Dead Body, Eva Longoria Parker and Paul Rudd are one of the more bizarrely mismatched couples in recent memory. Read full review
42
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
A stiff of a supernatural comedy. Read full review
42
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
To be fair, Rudd and Bell are cute and funny in their scenes together, and Rudd salvages a few laughs with his deadpan line readings. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Rudd's talents as a thinking woman's charmer are wasted -- as are those of amiable Jason Biggs in a weak variation on the pop theme of being a gal's gay best friend. Read full review
40
Chicago ReaderAndrea Gronvall
Playing a competitive schemer not unlike her "Desperate Housewives" character, Parker doesn't generate much heat, while Rudd is squandered in a bland role. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterSheri Linden
Rudd is an underappreciated comic actor, and his line readings are the best thing in the film, but the bland role barely taps his talent. Amid the rest of the cast's one-note posing, his scenes with a parrot have a spontaneity and wit otherwise in short supply. Read full review
40
VarietyDennis Harvey
Even the weakest "Desperate Housewives" episode packs more heat than this tepid romantic comedy-fantasy, whose basic plot gimmick has been done as far back as "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir." Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesKevin Crust
For what is essentially a screwball comedy, Over Her Dead Body is surprisingly uninspired, a frothy concept that offers little satisfaction in the way of execution. Read full review
38
New York PostKyle Smith
At some point, this movie must have been a screenplay. But it's an enigma why anyone would bet tens of millions of dollars that people would laugh. Read full review
38
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Back to Wisteria Lane, Eva, and stay there until we call you. Read full review
38
PremiereCortney Rock
The silver lining in the film is Paul Rudd, who brings some nuance to his character that, given his past work, you can assume was all his doing. Jason Biggs, in his role as Ashley's gay best friend and catering partner, carries out an interesting, if somewhat left-field plot twist. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Hartlaub
Seriously lacks both romance and comedy. Read full review
25
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
A hopeless pastiche of timeworn plotlines, hackneyed dialogue and stultifying direction; to call it amateurish is a slap in the face to amateurs everywhere. Read full review
25
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
It's not quite true to say that death is preferable to sitting through Over HerDead Body, but it's a safe bet that if you struggle through this witless romantic comedy the lure of being six feet under will cross your mind. Read full review
25
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jason Anderson
Few things are more painful to watch than a botched comedy. Read full review
25
Rolling StonePeter Travers
I like Longoria Parker on "Desperate Housewives" and truly believe she could have a career on the big screen if she promises to never again work with writer-director Jeff Lowell, who perpetrated this offense of a ghost comedy on her and on her otherwise gifted co-stars Paul Rudd and Lake Bell. Read full review
20
Austin ChronicleJosh Rosenblatt
Where Over Her Dead Body should soar with blistering verbal gymnastics, it limps with empty sass about weight gain and skin blemishes; where it should race with inventive comic set-pieces, it slogs with extended flatulence sequences and gags about lifting overweight dogs. Read full review
20
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
The kindest context in which to put Over Her Dead Body, which was written and directed by Jeff Lowell, is that of a training film, a public display of people trying to master their craft. The best way to see it is not at all. Read full review
12
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Over Her Dead Body is to romantic comedy what Spam is to meat. But at least with Spam, you get cool packaging. Read full review
0
SalonStephanie Zacharek
May be the worst romantic comedy I've ever seen, although I hesitate to make such a resolute pronouncement about a movie that's so barely even THERE. Read full review
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