This Means War
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation | Release Date: February 17, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
31
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
3
Mixed:
18
Negative:
15
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumFeb 15, 2012
As is true in most buddy pictures, the real love in This Means War is between FDR and Tuck. Pine and Hardy are an odd choice as Men Who Bond. Pine behaves like a player on Entourage; Hardy broods as if he thinks dating is torture. But as a result, they're kind of cute in an itchy and scratchy way, ­bumping shoulders in a pantomime of what men do in love and war. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie RickeyFeb 16, 2012
The film's focus on the contest between the two agents does throw the film off-balance. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliFeb 15, 2012
This Means War is not funny enough to succeed as a comedy. It's not emotionally deft enough to succeed as a romance. And it's not exciting enough to succeed as an action film. It's a high-energy, fast-paced explosion of moments that can be edited together to make a compelling trailer. Read full review
60
EmpireHelen O'HaraFeb 27, 2012
Smart, funny and really quite hot, this is worth a look no matter what you think of "Charlie's Angels." Read full review
60
Boxoffice MagazineSara Maria VizcarrondoFeb 11, 2012
A dating fantasy for girls and an action bromance for guys, This Means War wins the Valentine date crowd in swoops and strokes, but does it lead to swoons? Not really. Read full review
58
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallFeb 15, 2012
At least This Means War is an equal opportunity misfire, with as much appeal for men as women, compared to a one-sided weeper like "The Vow." Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerFeb 17, 2012
The best you can say about This Means War is that it would make a good date movie for couples in the witness protection program. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyFeb 17, 2012
This Means War is a Valentine's date dud: Think wilted roses, squashed chocolates and flat champagne. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia PuigFeb 16, 2012
Silly action sequences grow tedious and rarely blend with the wannabe madcap comedy. Read full review
50
The New York TimesManohla DargisFeb 16, 2012
Perfectly acceptable watched on the back of an airline seat or at home while you're doing housework. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsFeb 16, 2012
Even by the standards of light entertainment, This Means War is meaningless. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. JonesFeb 16, 2012
Pine, who expertly approximated William Shatner in the Star Trek reboot, seems to have picked up some of the actor's air of self-serious buffoonery, and it suits him well; as Witherspoon's best pal, late-night TV comedian Chelsea Handler holds down what might be called the Nora Ephron part, dispensing an endless stream of bawdy man jokes. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzFeb 15, 2012
Individually they are all good here, though Hardy's skills don't necessarily translate that well to romantic comedy -- which could have been used to good effect, but McG doesn't have the touch to pull that off. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyFeb 14, 2012
If you can get past the gross invasion of privacy issues that would exist if this were real life and not just a frothy confection, what you have is some bittersweet fun peppered by bursts of sharp patter, the best between the boys. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineR. Kurt OsenlundFeb 14, 2012
This Means War seems so concerned with being the best product, it doesn't even know how to be good trash. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinFeb 13, 2012
The gut-whomping, high-concept romantic thriller This Means War is not a distinguished addition to director McG's oeuvre. Read full review
40
TimeMary PolsFeb 16, 2012
Technically, movies don't give off a scent, but This Means War is so smarmy that it seems to reek of cheap cologne. Read full review
40
MovielineAlison WillmoreFeb 16, 2012
Bromance or romance, This Means War feels like something scrawled by enterprising teenagers who developed their concepts of love and espionage from films and TV shows they caught over a few weekends of basic cable surfing. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovFeb 15, 2012
But Pine playing 1960s-era Shatner – sometimes subtly, sometimes not? That's a terrific gag. Really, it is. Totally inspired. It's just not enough to save this otherwise cookie-cutter bromantic comedy from being anything other than what it is: an inoffensive yawn. Read full review
40
Village VoiceNick PinkertonFeb 14, 2012
The cocky presumption of charm that isn't actually there is precisely the problem with action-comedy This Means War. Read full review
40
VarietyPeter DebrugeFeb 10, 2012
This screwball premise lives or dies by the chemistry between Pine and Hardy, who are too busy trying to out-appeal one another to make the buddy dynamic click. Read full review
38
Washington PostAnn HornadayFeb 16, 2012
As this sloppy, scattered, utterly synthetic piece of Hollywood widgetry unspools, it becomes increasingly clear that the romantic tension at play exists mostly between the men in question. Read full review
38
Rolling StonePeter TraversFeb 16, 2012
A trio of appealing actors is trapped in an action-spiked romcom death-sentenced by a lack of humor, heart and a coherent reason for being. Read full review
38
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertFeb 15, 2012
If there's anything I hate more than a stupid action comedy, it's an incompetent stupid action comedy. It's not so bad it's good. It's so bad it's nothing else but bad. Read full review
30
The New YorkerAnthony LaneFeb 20, 2012
Reese Witherspoon is a woman, aged thirty-five, with a bundle of grownup roles behind her. Yet in order to retain her slot in romantic comedy, it appears, she must reverse into her teens. What makes the transition yet more depressing is the memory of Tracy Flick. [27 Feb. 2012, p.86]
25
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezFeb 20, 2012
The action, which bookends the movie, is atrocious, defying all laws of gravity and physics and machine gun-edited into incomprehensible lunacy. Read full review
25
Boston GlobeWesley MorrisFeb 16, 2012
It's got both a soap opera plotline and a Chuck Norris-load of taxpayer-financed gadgets and gear. It also has Reese Witherspoon in another terrible part. Read full review
25
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsFeb 16, 2012
Pure, witless discombobulation. Read full review
25
The A.V. ClubScott TobiasFeb 15, 2012
Given the creepiest rom-com premise this side of "Addicted To Love" - which at least had the wisdom to reflect on its camera-obscura voyeurism - director McG tries to turn This Means War into a cool pop confection along the lines of his Charlie's Angels movies. But pouring on the douchey hipness and charm only makes things worse. Read full review
20
Time OutJoshua RothkopfFeb 14, 2012
Charmless and histrionic, this mean-spirited movie takes place in the toyscape of McG (Charlie's Angels), a monomonikered director who makes Michael Bay seem thoughtful. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanFeb 14, 2012
"War" is depressingly mean-spirited. Read full review
10
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyFeb 10, 2012
This perfectly dreadful romantic action comedy manages to embarrass its three eminently attractive leading players in every scene, making this an automatic candidate for whatever raspberries or golden turkeys or other dubious awards may be given in future for the films of 2012. Read full review
0
NPRIan BuckwalterFeb 21, 2012
With the material they're given, they mostly just seem foolish for showing up to the movie to begin with. Audiences would do well to avoid the same mistake. Read full review
0
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleFeb 16, 2012
An ugly, misguided exercise. Read full review
0
New York PostLou LumenickFeb 14, 2012
Nearly totally laugh-, chemistry- and coherence-free, this fiasco from the director of "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle'' has a script whose sensible parts would fit on a napkin with enough room left over for the Gettysburg Address. Read full review
0
ObserverRex ReedFeb 14, 2012
The result is 98 minutes of moronic stupidity already being labeled on the Internet as "the worst movie of the year." Read full review
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