The Back-up Plan
CBS Films | Release Date: April 23, 2010 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
34
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
18
Negative:
10
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
San Francisco ChronicleAmy Biancolli
I laughed hysterically, but in the interest of balanced reporting, I should add that the guy parked next to me at the screening - a boyfriend who was there under duress - emitted a series of low guttural noises suggesting profound psychological anguish. Read full review
67
Tampa Bay TimesSteve Persall
Even stock characters -- Zoe's tirelessly supportive friends and relatives -- get style points for giving jobs to old pros Klein, Linda Lavin (Alice) and "Mr. C" himself, Tom Bosley. Of course, the babies are adorable. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
As a romantic comedy, The Back-up Plan is friendly but also a bit drab. Read full review
63
Washington PostDan Kois
A not-as-bad-as-you-think-it-is romantic comedy. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Jennifer Lopez carries this thin concept about as far and as well as she can, with Alex O'Loughlin in his first leading-man outing managing not to get lost in the shuffle. Read full review
50
VarietyBrian Lowry
This tepid romantic comedy falls somewhere between a weak sitcom pilot and a second-tier Hallmark movie. Read full review
50
Orlando SentinelRoger Moore
O’Loughlin is the very definition of comic dead weight. Imagine making Greg Kinnear carry half of "Baby Mama," or sending Tina Fey out with Matthew Fox on "Date Night" and you’ll get the picture. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
This is the film to watch when pretty much everything else has been sold out and the only remaining choices are The Back-Up Plan and the latest Rob Schneider opus. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Cutesy and formulaic and has the approximate depth of a cookie sheet. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Lopez smiles, whines, and blinks her way through this movie. She seems more relaxed than she ever has. And yet it seems like she’s hiding in romantic comedies, lest we discover that she doesn’t have a “Monster’s Ball’’ or even a “Blind Side’’ in her. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
A film divided against itself. It’s really two movies, one silly and one serious. Too bad neither is particularly compelling. Read full review
50
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
A not very good and yet painless waste of time. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Suffers from sludgy pacing, flat writing and acting, and a strange and puzzling fondness for scatology and coarse language. Read full review
50
Boxoffice MagazinePete Hammond
Although it’s formulaic in the extreme, The Back-up Plan is an easygoing romantic comedy treat for fans of Jennifer Lopez. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia Puig
When it comes to comedies about pregnancy, "Knocked Up" and "Baby Mama" delivered more. This sitcom style exercise in planned parenthood is blandly predictable. If it were a cheese, it would be Velveeta. Read full review
50
New York PostLou Lumenick
Lopez, appearing in her first rom-com since “Monster-in-Law” five years ago, is still a likable screen presence who throws herself into the movie’s slapstick sequences with unwarranted enthusiasm. Read full review
50
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike Scott
Even at its worst moments, it's better than "awful." But at its best, it's never comes close to "incredible." Read full review
40
Arizona RepublicBill Goodykoontz
It's not as if every funny movie has to offer something in the way of social commentary or greater insight. Sometimes funny is just funny. Sometimes, as is too often the case here, it's not. Read full review
40
SlateDana Stevens
I wouldn't go so far as to recommend this movie, but if you were tied down and forced to watch it, you wouldn't necessarily have to chew off your own leg to get away. Read full review
40
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
A dispiriting and thoroughly ineffective romantic comedy, with some juicy morsels provided around the edges by a great supporting cast but no heat whatever in the central coupling between Lopez and Aussie TV hunk Alex O'Loughlin. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesBetsy Sharkey
Good slapstick is actually an art -- unfortunately not one practiced here -- and bad slapstick is just tedious. Read full review
40
EmpireAnna Smith
Sporadically amusing but rarely inspired. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
A weak romantic comedy. Read full review
38
St. Louis Post-DispatchKevin C. Johnson
With movies like this, Lopez might want to start leaving low-end romantic comedies alone and look at her movie career's backup plan. Read full review
25
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Some movies are no better than second-rate sitcoms. Other movies are no better than third-rate sitcoms. The Back-up Plan doesn't deserve comparison with sitcoms. It plays like an unendurable TV commercial about beautiful people with great lifestyles and not a thought in their empty little heads. Read full review
25
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
The Back-up Plan is about as much fun as 36 hours of labor, only you don't get to go home with a baby at the end. Instead, you leave with a throbbing headache and a lot of questions about why anybody still thinks Jennifer Lopez can anchor a movie. Read full review
25
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
Mostly though, The Back-up Plan feels like a movie aimed right at the funny bones of four-year-olds. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
Charmless and derivative. Read full review
20
TimeMary Pols
My pregnancy lasted 41 weeks and five days, involved morning, afternoon and night sickness and culminated in 25 hours of labor capped off by an emergency C-section. Yet all that seems like a walk in the park compared with the 100 minutes I spent watching Jennifer Lopez mug her way through The Back-Up Plan. Read full review
20
Time OutJoshua Rothkopf
The only aspects marking The Back-Up Plan as modern (not fresh) are its skanky wallowings in hormonal urges and an equally sour penchant for potshots at the target audience: women who want to be mothers. Read full review
0
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Part unfunny sitcom, part post-"Gigli" career resurrection strategy, and all bad. Read full review
0
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
As romantic comedies go, this is the worst drivel I've seen since Nia Vardalos's "I Hate Valentine's Day." Read full review
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