People Like Us
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | Release Date: June 29, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
49
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
17
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
85
MovielineStephanie ZacharekJun 27, 2012
This is a straightforward family comedy-drama, a movie made for adults, and one that actually gives its actors – among them Chris Pine, Elizabeth Banks, Michelle Pfeiffer and Philip Baker Hall – something to do. That's more of a rarity on today's landscape than it should be. Read full review
80
Boxoffice MagazinePete HammondJun 20, 2012
This film stands out as one of the year's best. Read full review
75
ObserverRex ReedJun 26, 2012
This is a rare feel-good treat that nudges the heartstrings and makes you feel optimistic about the human race. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. JonesJun 28, 2012
The movie develops into a painful story of one generation inflicting its selfish compromises on the next. The three leads are uniformly excellent, and the strong supporting cast includes Mark Duplass and Philip Baker Hall. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyJun 15, 2012
As overcranked as it is -- the film is directed as if it were an action drama, with two or three times more cuts than necessary -- People Like Us has a persuasive emotional pull at its heart that's hard to deny. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianM. E. RussellJun 28, 2012
The movie is well-acted and a bit frustrating, but also a pleasant little surprise. Read full review
63
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJun 28, 2012
It's the flaws that Kurtzman builds into People Like Us that make it interesting. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter TraversJun 28, 2012
Pine is driven and touchingly vulnerable. And Banks, heartbreakingly good, nails every nuance in a raw wound of a role. Thanks to their teamwork, we believe we are watching people like us. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertJun 27, 2012
Sam and Frankie are certainly interesting enough that a film about them coming to grips with this hidden truth would have been justified. It also would probably have been harder to write than this one, so People Like Us marches on with a coy little smile, toying with Frankie and the audience. Read full review
60
The New York TimesStephen HoldenJun 28, 2012
If its tone is considerably tougher than that of movies adapted from Nicholas Sparks novels, it is still a grown-up soap opera. And as the overly determined plot progresses, it feels increasingly Sparks-like, although there are no dewy young lovebirds to swoon over. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicBarbara VanDenburghJun 28, 2012
It's a soapy, predictable ride where everyone learns about the importance of family. And though it's just a Christmas tree away from being a holiday special, the stellar cast wrings just enough genuine emotion out of a stale premise to make it mostly sweet. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierJun 28, 2012
Its hard sell wears you down and draws you in, even as you know you're being manipulated. Read full review
60
TimeMary PolsJun 28, 2012
The glossily photographed family drama People Like Us is not without appeal, but it has a major construction flaw. It's dramatic arc is predicated on the problem of accidental incestuous attraction. Egads. Read full review
60
VarietyJustin ChangJun 15, 2012
If they never fully sell the situation, the actors nonetheless deliver strong, emotionally accessible work. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubKeith PhippsJun 27, 2012
Viewers who dislike movies in which all drama hinges on one character withholding information from another for no reason beyond the need to keep the plot chugging along should stay far away from People Like Us. The film does have its charms, but getting to them means seeing past a Buick-sized contrivance. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanJun 27, 2012
People Like Us demonstrates how a drama can be heartfelt and bogus at the same time. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriJul 1, 2012
As usual, it's Banks, who's turning great performances in lousy movies into some kind of brilliant career strategy. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrJun 29, 2012
People Like Us is neither optimal nor prime. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsJun 29, 2012
Pine and the always-watchable Banks make the best of a bad screenplay, but People Like Us gives us nothing that we can relate to. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerJun 29, 2012
The most interesting plot development – Frankie starts falling for Sam – is nipped in the bud. Some things even a soap opera won't stoop to. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia PuigJun 28, 2012
The movie's soap opera quality undermines its efforts to tell a family saga with much believability. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJun 28, 2012
A fine and moving film could be made from this story, which was inspired, loosely, by events and situations in the lives of Kurtzman and Orci. But the script sets an awfully low bar for Sam's redemption. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovJun 27, 2012
For all its emotional and familial kerfuffles, People Like Us is an honorable misfire – good intentions and all. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJun 28, 2012
Going on too long seems to be the disease of the week; it's certainly what brings this movie down, though the going on here stems from a surfeit of implausible plot that suffocates the main characters and the excellent actors who play them. Read full review
40
Time OutDavid FearJun 26, 2012
The pity is that the people in People Like Us ultimately don't feel any more dimensional than the archetypes dutifully dotting his lowest-denominator multiplex fodder. He's just picked a different set of clichés to ransack. Read full review
40
Village VoiceNick PinkertonJun 26, 2012
Ultimately, however, People Like Us is infected with the "life-affirming" pox; this means making a narrative priority of redeeming everyone before adequately explaining them. Read full review
38
New York PostKyle SmithJun 29, 2012
The considerable talents of Banks make the movie bearable. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleAmy BiancolliJun 28, 2012
No matter how well made, well acted and well intentioned, Lying Dingbat Procrastinator movies are excruciating to watch. Case in point: People Like Us, a film hell-bent on dragging its protagonist (and, sadly, us) through the LDP narrative playbook. Read full review
25
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezJun 27, 2012
An irritatingly contrived drama. Read full review
12
Slant MagazineAndrew SchenkerJun 24, 2012
This dry-as-dust enterprise bogs down in an almost total lack of energy and imagination that no amount of faux earnestness can overcome. Read full review
0
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyJun 28, 2012
This is the sort of movie that ends up awash in sincere revelations, and not a moment of it feels remotely believable. Read full review
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