The To Do List
CBS Films | Release Date: July 26, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
61
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 40 Critic Reviews
Positive:
24
Mixed:
15
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
IndieWireEric KohnJul 26, 2013
In "Adventureland" and this summer's "The Way Way Back," disillusioned teens have worked through their issues in the weeks leading up to college by taking on quirky summer jobs. However, Carey's wacky sensibilities retain a notably fresh quality by using the same framing device as an excuse to bat around one funny idea after another. The story transcends the derivative scenario through a noticeable lack of verbal censorship. Read full review
90
The New York TimesNeil GenzlingerJul 25, 2013
This movie is smarter and better acted and just plain funnier than most of its predecessors in the my-first-time genre, no matter which sex is losing what. Read full review
88
New York PostSara StewartJul 26, 2013
I’d like to see a sequel about her freshman year at college, please. There were still a few items on that list left unchecked. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanJul 24, 2013
A summer-adventure comedy, and its tone is fairly synthetic, yet it gets major props for giving us the first movie heroine who is clueless and easy in such a hardcore way. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterJustin LoweJul 22, 2013
Making a convincingly assured feature debut, TV and web series writer-director Carey's script nails the raunchy-sweet tone required to bring off this R-rated teen-centered comedy with remarkable charm and relatability, mining a rich vein of girl-centered sexual curiosity and experimentation "loosely inspired" by personal experience. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesJul 24, 2013
Maybe someday there will be a better commercial comedy about a girl taking charge of her sexual education, but for now, this is the only one we’ve got, and it’s a filthy-fun charmer. Read full review
75
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallJul 28, 2013
Anything men can do women can do dirtier, funnier, fresher, since distaff raunchiness shows no signs of going stale and isn't contained to Melissa McCarthy. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaJul 25, 2013
The To Do List is sex-obsessed, to be sure, but it's a chick flick, too. And in what it says about women (or girls) and men (or boys) and what they want, maybe it's a movie for us all. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJul 25, 2013
The movie is pleasingly vulgar and, although there's no nudity, the whole thing is about sex. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldConnie OgleJul 25, 2013
The To Do List is a funny movie, but only if you’re not easily offended. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversJul 25, 2013
Does Carey go too far? Duh. But why gripe when you can't stop laughing? Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrJul 25, 2013
In its exuberantly smutty way, The To Do List is a revolutionary development: a teen sex comedy where the girls get to play nasty and the boys stand around looking vaguely terrified. Read full review
75
The PlaylistCory EverettJul 23, 2013
What really sets this film apart from nearly every other teenage sex comedy ever made, from "Porky's" to "American Pie" to "Superbad," is that this isn't about some dude trying to get laid. Read full review
75
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreJul 23, 2013
So many “lose my virginity over the summer” comedies, from “American Pie” to “Superbad,” “Can’t Hardly Wait” to “Girl Next Door.” But aside from the hilarious “Twilight Saga,” how many have told that torrid tale from the girl’s point of view? The To Do List is a summer romantic comedy dedicated to rectifying that imbalance in a single stroke. Read full review
70
The New YorkerDavid DenbyJul 29, 2013
It’s good-natured and raucous, with many scenes that are just sketched but a few that are truly funny. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriJul 28, 2013
The To Do List feels fresh and strange and wondrously new. It shouldn’t, but it does. Read full review
70
SalonAndrew O'HehirJul 25, 2013
This is definitely a formula movie, lovingly and even obsessively so, made by someone who obviously enjoyed “American Pie” and numerous other raunchy-sweet teen sex comedies of the ’90s, and wished they existed for girls. Read full review
70
VarietyScott FoundasJul 22, 2013
This rare femme-centric addition to the loss-of-virginity canon (dominated by the likes of “Porky’s,” “Risky Business” and “American Pie”) hits its fair share of outrageously funny highs amid lots of so-so filler, but stays buoyant and likable throughout thanks to the winning presence of “Parks and Recreation” star Aubrey Plaza in the lead. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Jul 24, 2013
The film’s as clumsy yet earnest as a nervous first-timer, groping gracelessly in the dark for ecstasy and meaning. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia PuigJul 28, 2013
Like the fumbling around of first-time sex, The To Do List has its enjoyable moments but doesn't exactly feel like a peak experience. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comSusan WloszczynaJul 26, 2013
A certain sloppiness prevents The To Do List from entering the female coming-of-age pantheon of "Sixteen Candles," "Clueless" and "Mean Girls." Read full review
63
Washington PostStephanie MerryJul 26, 2013
The one thing The To Do List lacks is emotion. Carey is wise not to let the movie get bogged down by too much drama, but Brandy’s scientific approach to losing her virginity makes her seem almost robotic. That being said, it’s an amusing twist that the most emotional characters are Cameron and Brandy’s father. Read full review
63
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsJul 25, 2013
There’s plenty of talk about sex — even from Brandy’s supportive mom (Connie Britton), who offers her lubricant — but not much nudity or consequence. In The To Do List, sex is just another dubious achievement to outgrow. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJul 25, 2013
Uber-raunchy but pretty interesting as sex comedies go. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicBarbara VanDenburghJul 25, 2013
Our teenage years are so overwrought with emotion; not to put them in play at all makes Brandy feel like little more than a cipher for Plaza’s deadpan dark humor. And that’s pleasurable enough for a quick fling, but hardly the foundation of a lasting relationship. Read full review
60
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlJul 22, 2013
Like first sex, writer-director Maggie Carey's debut feature, The To Do List, is quick and messy, fitfully pleasurable, full of promise but not quite adept at getting everyone off. Read full review
57
Film.comWilliam GossJul 25, 2013
Much like Brandy, “List” tries and tries and tries to get the job done, but frankly, the satisfaction only ever comes in spurts. Read full review
50
SlateDana StevensJul 28, 2013
This thin, floppy comedy never quite became the high-spirited summer sex romp it clearly set out to be. I haven’t quite figured out yet why The To Do List doesn’t work, when so many elements within it seem to. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJul 26, 2013
Writer/director Carey clearly has some talent, and she and Plaza deserve credit for never pulling their comedic punches. They’re all in. Problem is, it’s mostly a bluff. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyJul 25, 2013
The To Do List is neither supergood nor superbad, but passable doesn't exactly raise the bar. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianM. E. RussellJul 25, 2013
There's a potentially innovative teen comedy in here somewhere, but it's surrounded by one that's much duller. Read full review
50
The DissolveKeith PhippsJul 25, 2013
There’s a strain of gross-out humor—most bodily fluids make cameos—that doesn’t mesh well with the rest of the movie. But more bothersome is a tendency The To Do List shares with its heroine: mistaking checking items off a list for progress. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineAndrew SchenkerJul 21, 2013
Essentially the film aims to trade in the awkwardness of teen sexuality, but too often settles for the gross-out gag instead. Read full review
40
Total FilmEmma DibdinOct 5, 2013
There are moments of sweetness and spontaneity with her BFFs (Alia Shawkat, Sarah Steele) but not enough to fill the hole where the film’s soul should be. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawOct 5, 2013
A few laughs. Read full review
40
The TelegraphRobbie CollinOct 4, 2013
Maggie Carey, the writer and director, has plenty to say about life on the cusp of womanhood, but never quite works out a way to make her points without getting her characters to recite them verbatim. Read full review
40
EmpireOlly RichardsSep 30, 2013
A muddle. Read full review
40
Time OutNick SchagerJul 26, 2013
It’s too busy pleasing itself with lame references to (among others) Eddie Vedder and Hillary Clinton that suggest the film believes old stuff is funny because, you know, it’s old. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierJul 25, 2013
Everyone thinks sex is easy to do, but that doesn’t mean they’re good at it. The To Do List is exactly that type of movie, one that thinks a sex-obsessed version of a John Hughes comedy by its very nature is hilarious. It’s not, but there are still some things to like here. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJul 25, 2013
The To Do List is a romantic comedy with no romance and little comedy, but with an ugliness of spirit that's surprising and unrelenting. Read full review
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