The New Guy
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: May 10, 2002 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
24
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 23 Critic Reviews
Positive:
2
Mixed:
6
Negative:
15
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
If physical appearance creates its own class system (in high school and beyond), then Qualls is perfect for this proselytizing role. He has that rarest of movie-star faces -- one that over comes the tyranny of beauty. Read full review
63
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
The New Guy doesn't have a new idea in its head, but it trods over the old ground with such wit and heart that its lack of originality can be overlooked, if not entirely forgiven.
58
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
A Jekyll-and-Hyde teen comedy that sounds like a Pauly Shore reject, but Qualls moves his marionette body around with a true clown's effervescence, and he does rubber-faced parodies of youth cool that are just what youth cool deserves. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
It makes little sense, fails as often as it succeeds, and yet is not hateful and is sometimes quite cheerfully original. Read full review
50
New York PostJonathan Foreman
Uneven but occasionally hilarious teen comedy. Read full review
40
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
A comedy just funny enough to make viewers wish it were far funnier. Read full review
40
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
It isn't very good, but it doesn’t seem to care, which turns out to be rather refreshing. Read full review
40
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
A bad-taste comedy with a heart. Read full review
38
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
Tries everything possible to win you over -- satire, gross-out comedy, even earnest romance. But as any high-schooler can tell you, the harder you try, the bigger you fall.
25
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
You have to have faith that kids will recognize a bad movie when it's foisted on them -- and they don't get much worse than The New Guy. Read full review
25
Miami HeraldCharles Savage
Anyone who wants to enjoy himself at a good movie about a high school geek who undergoes a transformation should go see "'Spider-Man" again instead. Read full review
25
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
The slapdash comic flailing of screenwriter and TV scribe-turned-director Ed Decter is only compounded by a script so disconnected you have to wonder if pages were lost on the way to the set. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleCarla Meyer
Lame, haphazard teen comedy. Read full review
25
Boston GlobeRenee Graham
Probably would have worked better as a slamming soundtrack than as a muddle-headed movie. Read full review
20
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Lame, derivative comedy. Read full review
20
L.A. WeeklyMark Olsen
Various actors deserving of better (including Zooey Deschanel, Eddie Griffin and Lyle Lovett) suffer through the undercooked material, while love interest Eliza Dushku gamely gets through both a bikini-modeling montage and a mechanical bull ride, but none of their efforts can save this film. Read full review
20
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
In an inspired bit of casting, Lyle Lovett plays the dad of the goofy-looking Diz/Gil. That these two could be related might be the only believable touch in this whole misfired thing. Read full review
12
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Reaches breathtaking lows of incoherence, sexism, racial stereotyping, and -- did I say incoherence? Read full review
10
VarietyRobert Koehler
Overall aroma of movie junk food. Read full review
10
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Feckless and crude without any particularly funny redeeming value. If there's anything more to this poor excuse of a movie than immediately meets the eye, I'll get back to you. Read full review
10
Los Angeles TimesGene Seymour
An unintentional parody of every teen movie made in the last five years. Which can be the only rational explanation for making such a mess all over the screen. Read full review
0
New Times (L.A.)Robert Wilonsky
An ugly-duckling tale so hideously and clumsily told it feels accidental. Surely, no one PLANNED something this disastrously unfunny. Read full review
0
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
A particularly loathsome piece of cultural detritus, a trashy, crass piece of work that panders to the anxieties and desires of adolescents without a scintilla of sympathy or coherence. Read full review
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