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
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
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