The Five-Year Engagement
Universal Pictures | Release Date: April 27, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
62
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 38 Critic Reviews
Positive:
25
Mixed:
12
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsApr 26, 2012
As in last year's "Bridesmaids," an authentic, dimensional human element animates the jokes and the characters with whom we spend a couple of highly satisfying hours. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubNathan RabinApr 25, 2012
A lovely, sweet, funny, romantic, and supremely worthwhile endeavor that unfortunately takes longer to wrap up than it should. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanApr 25, 2012
A lively, original, and scattershot-hilarious ramble of a Judd Apatow production. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawJun 21, 2012
As for Violet, Emily Blunt brings to the role genuine sympathy, and she continues to thaw out the ice-queen hauteur of her earlier movies. Read full review
80
EmpireSimon BraundJun 17, 2012
Another solid hit from Planet Apatow - charming, funny and remarkably in tune with real life. Read full review
80
NPRAndrew LapinApr 27, 2012
Feels poignant and real in a way few raunch comedies are. Read full review
80
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottApr 27, 2012
Perhaps the best thing about The Five-Year Engagement is that it signals a touch of maturity creeping into the House of Apatow. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanApr 27, 2012
Blunt has never been more relaxed, and she and Segel have a believably warm chemistry. It's also nice to find a romantic comedy with so much respect for both its leads. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesApr 25, 2012
Stoller and Segel don't shy away from rational, relatable adults, which may be an unsexy selling point for a romantic comedy, but that attention to authenticity elevates the likable, low-stakes The Five-Year Engagement. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerApr 27, 2012
I was expecting something raunchier. Instead, what we have here is a wistful, somewhat overextended but occasionally sweet comedy about a couple that can't – in more ways than one – quite get it together. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldConnie OgleApr 27, 2012
It makes you laugh and eagerly wish for a happy ending without any preachy soul-searching. As a bonus, it's got a Van Morrison-friendly soundtrack, and the trailers haven't revealed the best parts. Read full review
75
New York PostLou LumenickApr 27, 2012
It might not have as many gut-busting laughs as "Bridesmaids,'' but there are still plenty - and for once in Apatow's phallocentric universe, most of them don't come at the expense of female characters. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleApr 26, 2012
For the most part, The Five-Year Engagement has charm and emotion. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaApr 26, 2012
It's not impossible to address grown-up issues of commitment, of responsibility, of love, and have some fun, and some profanity, while you're at it. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineAndrew SchenkerApr 25, 2012
The film proves that neither gross-out gags nor pseudo-sophisticated Woody Allenisms are necessary to make a smart, funny comedy. Read full review
70
The New YorkerDavid DenbyApr 30, 2012
It's a seize-the-day movie, even though the day is a long time coming. [7 May 2012, p.80]
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinApr 30, 2012
A charming, funny, reactionary mating comedy. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. ScottApr 26, 2012
The Five-Year Engagement dutifully hits the marks of its genre, but it is also about the unpredictability of life and the everyday challenges of love. The sensitivity and honesty with which it addresses those matters is a pleasant surprise. Read full review
70
MovielineAlison WillmoreApr 26, 2012
The Five-Year Engagement is, for a movie in which a guy fakes an orgasm and (in a separate incident) stuffs a dead deer in his car's sunroof, very grown-up. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeApr 19, 2012
Nicholas Stoller and Jason Segel's latest collaboration offers a more relatable rom-com scenario while generating laughs that should still satisfy "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" fans. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliApr 27, 2012
The problem is one of tone. The Five Year Engagement, despite its serious thesis, tries desperately to be funny. Some of the comedic material provokes laughter and some doesn't, but nearly all of it feels wrong. Read full review
63
St. Louis Post-DispatchKevin C. JohnsonApr 27, 2012
There are enough F-bombs, a couple of chopped-off appendages and a flash of gratuitous male nudity to earn an R rating. But fans of producer Judd Apatow would expect nothing less. Read full review
63
Washington PostAnn HornadayApr 26, 2012
I liked The Five-Year Engagement, and then I didn't, and then I did. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter TraversApr 26, 2012
Drags and sags at 124 minutes. Luckily, the movie never runs on sitcom empty. How could it, with a terrific cast. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrApr 26, 2012
Five-Year Engagement alternates between realistic scenes of couples bickering and broad character farce, and the two halves mesh uneasily. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzApr 25, 2012
Unfortunately, stretching things out dilutes the charms of Segel and Blunt, which are considerable. Read full review
50
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallApr 30, 2012
Apatow hates leaving anything on the cutting room floor. You could excise entire chunks of The Five-Year Engagement - the donut experiments at college, a couple of wise soliloquies, most of the stuff involving Violet's sister (Alison Brie) - and never miss a beat. Read full review
50
SlateDana StevensApr 27, 2012
Where "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" frolicked on the beach, this amiable but underachieving comedy just sort of blobs on the couch. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyApr 26, 2012
A lot more cutting would have made this movie much funnier – but it should have taken place in the editing room, not on the screen. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyApr 26, 2012
In many ways, "Engagement" reflects both the best and worst of Stoller and Segel's creative collaborations. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia PuigApr 26, 2012
The story starts out well, then becomes contrived and goes on too long. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianShawn LevyApr 26, 2012
Comedy means different things to different people, but I'm pretty sure that most everyone agrees that it's best when it's quick and funny. The Five-Year Engagement is neither. Read full review
50
VarietyJohn AndersonApr 19, 2012
It puts Emily Blunt in a wedding dress, which will appease the hopeless romantics in the house, even while making the institution of marriage seem ridiculously obsolete. Read full review
40
TimeMary PolsApr 26, 2012
Five-Year has comic bloat. Virtually every character gets their own moment of stand up, but in most cases, the bits aren't funny enough to warrant the screen time. Read full review
40
Boxoffice MagazineNick SchagerApr 25, 2012
It's the sheer lack of investment one feels for the couple that truly sabotages the film. Read full review
40
Village VoiceMelissa AndersonApr 24, 2012
There is exactly one unexpected moment in the otherwise drearily predictable The Five-Year Engagement that, though little more than a throwaway line, at least adds a bit of political reality to puncture Nicholas Stoller's limp, hermetic comedy of deferred nuptials. Read full review
40
Time OutDavid FearApr 24, 2012
This is the same old safe, sappy movie that shows up on TBS every weekend. Read full review
20
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternApr 26, 2012
Sometime around what I guessed to be the one-hour mark in The Five-Year Engagement, I checked my watch and honestly thought the battery had given out. Five years doesn't begin to tell the interminable tale. Read full review
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