The Object of My Affection
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation | Release Date: April 17, 1998 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
52
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
9
Negative:
2
Watch Now
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
Much of that appeal comes from compelling performances by the two main actors. Read full review
80
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
It's just more wry than funny, more a gently subversive comedy of modern manners than the simpering date movie it seems to be masquerading as. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
As Nina, Aniston not only displays a surprising capacity for both comedy and drama, but she shines with the kind of star quality that only a handful of current performers exhibit. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
The mixture of sincerity and sitcom phoniness is bewildering at times, but on some level, I guess, the film works. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineSandra Contreras
You come away with a remarkable sense of the filmmakers and actors working together harmoniously as they delve into the heart of relationships between friends and lovers. Read full review
70
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Tries to mix the messy realities of mismatched relationships with the structural neatness of a musical-comedy view of the world, with mild, occasionally diverting results. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
It boasts appealing performances, and it takes a reasonably tasteful approach to its subject, aside from a string of four-letter words that sound strangely out of place in this romantic comedy. Read full review
60
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
Easier to watch than it is to believe. Read full review
60
NewsweekDavid Ansen
In trying to appeal to a wide audience, quirky material has been forced to fit a formula that can't really contain it. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
All of this promising material is dealt with on that level where characters are not quite allowed to be as perceptive and intelligent as real people might be in the same circumstances. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Judged esthetically -- the only yardstick worth applying -- it can be safely placed in that long line of indistinguishable Hollywood mediocrities, all of them trying in vain to resurrect an awfully weary genre. Read full review
50
San Francisco ExaminerJane Ganahl
Unfortunately, all the good parts didn't add up to a great movie. Read full review
50
Washington PostRita Kempley
Wendy Wasserstein brings a dull pen to this literary adaptation, which shows none of the bite or savvy of Stephen McCauley's novel. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
So riddled with cultural stereotypes, woe-is-me neurotic mopiness, and glib therapeutic compassion that by the end all it leaves you with is a waxy buildup of falseness. Read full review
40
The A.V. ClubJoshua Klein
The film is being marketed as a romantic comedy, but it's neither romantic nor funny. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleSteve Davis
The storyline lacks credibility. Read full review
30
SlateDavid Edelstein
The film that Nicholas Hytner has directed (from a screenplay by the playwright Wendy Wasserstein) is slick, sweet, and disastrously unmoving -- even people who live to cry at the movies will find themselves depressingly dry-eyed. Read full review
30
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Denby
If the woman’s love is obsessive and needy, the story becomes stupid and painful, and that is what happens in The Object of My Affection, the Stephen McCauley novel that has been adapted for the movies with disastrous panache by playwright Wendy Wasserstein and director Nicholas Hytner. Read full review
More From This Movie

52 Critic Reviews

5.5 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 71 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL