The Mindy Project
FOX | HULU | Release Date: September 25, 2012
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
69
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 43 Critic Reviews
Positive:
33
Mixed:
8
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Entertainment WeeklyRay RahmanSep 8, 2015
Season 4 Review: With fewer constraints, the show has more room to breathe, making it feel less rushed and chaotic. [11 Sep 2015, p.56]
91
Washington PostHank StueverSep 14, 2012
Season 1 Review: Everything about The Mindy Project is so very Kaling and happily spot-on, starting with the strength of the jokes and dialogue. Read full review
90
SalonWilla PaskinSep 24, 2012
Season 1 Review: The confident, acerbic new sitcom The Mindy Project is easily the best freshman comedy of the season. Read full review
90
Wall Street JournalNancy DeWolf SmithSep 21, 2012
Season 1 Review: Mindy is not just soulful and amusing. It takes a genre full of clichés, adds something fresh and spins it into gold. Read full review
88
San Jose Mercury News/Contra Costa TimesChuck BarneySep 19, 2012
Season 1 Review: The good news is that Kaling and her writers have crafted a character who is competent at her job, not a goofball in scrubs. And they've offset the show's dreamy sweetness with plenty of snarky bite. Read full review
83
IndieWireHanh NguyenSep 12, 2017
Season 6 Review: The uncertainty of where Mindy will end up--with a relationship or not--isn’t so much unsettling as it is promising. Read full review
83
HitfixAlan SepinwallSep 24, 2012
Season 1 Review: Overall, The Mindy Project is a comedy that arrives knowing what it wants to be and what kinds of stories and jokes it wants to tell. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyKeith StaskiewiczSep 21, 2012
Season 1 Review: The pilot is promising, with sharp dialogue, a solid supporting cast, and Kaling's appealing unapologetic protagonist. [28 Sep 2012, p.64]
80
The Daily BeastKevin FallonSep 15, 2015
Season 4 Review: The [premiere] episode is sweet and sharp and clever and everything The Mindy Project was when it was at its best, and perhaps deserves even more admiration for finding a way to pair its two leads together and dismiss all notions that TV characters that graduate from will-they/won’t-they status to committed relationships are creative time bombs. Read full review
80
Yahoo TVKen TuckerSep 15, 2015
Season 4 Review: It’s a measure of how confident this underrated-in-every-way show has become that it can confidently separate the two lovers and let Danny carry a completely independent subplot with such comic success. Read full review
80
TV Guide MagazineMatt RoushSep 25, 2012
Season 1 Review: Kaling makes for an unconventional sitcom heroine, to put it mildly. Read full review
80
Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen GraySep 25, 2012
Season 1 Review: So far, Kaling's is pitch-perfect. Read full review
80
Philadelphia InquirerDavid HiltbrandSep 25, 2012
Season 1 Review: Like The Office, The Mindy Project trades deftly on the humor of excruciating awkwardness. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesRobert LloydSep 24, 2012
Season 1 Review: I like this a lot. Read full review
75
IndieWireBen TraversSep 15, 2015
Season 4 Review: Many of the people tuning in for the Season 4 premiere of The Mindy Project know exactly what they're going to get by doing so--a tasty treat they may realize wasn't necessary 15 minutes after consumption--and Kaling & Co. happily deliver it to them. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchGail PenningtonSep 15, 2015
Season 4 Review: The Mindy Project has never been more of a modern rom-com than in its Season 4 premiere. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchGail PenningtonSep 25, 2012
Season 1 Review: Kaling is happy to make fun of herself to get a laugh, and her most painful scenes are some of the most amusing in The Mindy Project, which is far from perfect but still one of the top prospects among new fall comedies. Read full review
75
New York PostLinda StasiSep 25, 2012
Season 1 Review: Kaling has lined up enough very funny actors to get this Project the kind of respect that Dr. Mindy never seems to get. Read full review
75
RedEyeCurt WagnerSep 24, 2012
Season 1 Review: The Mindy Project mostly lives up to the hype. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleDavid WiegandSep 21, 2012
Season 1 Review: Two things are clear from the Mindy pilot: First, that the writers need to do some work to make the secondary characters less of a cliche, and, second, that Kaling has the stuff to go the distance. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesLori RacklSep 11, 2012
Season 1 Review: This ranks among the best new comedies of the season. Read full review
70
VarietyBrian LowrySep 15, 2014
Season 3 Review: The series still remains a trifle weak in terms of the support staff.... Still, the interplay between Kaling and Messina is actually quite good--much better, in fact, than their squabbling when they were at each other’s throats earlier in the run. Read full review
70
PopMattersMatthew WollinSep 17, 2013
Season 2 Review: These couple of episodes give hope that Kaling the writer means to continue to skewer her character’s fantasies with the same combination of intelligence and acid wit as before. Read full review
70
TimeJames PoniewozikSep 25, 2012
Season 1 Review: In all, it's a polished pilot, but one that will have to ground its characters better to work as a series. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Matt Zoller SeitzSep 25, 2012
Season 1 Review: The show's antic energy and aggressively kooky heroine may not hit everyone's sweet spot, but the pilot is a brisk, confident piece of work, made by people with a clear vision. Read full review
70
Boston GlobeMatthew GilbertSep 24, 2012
Season 1 Review: Despite a few flaws, The Mindy Project could evolve into an interesting hybrid, an anti-romantic-comedy romantic comedy. Read full review
70
The New York TimesAlessandra StanleySep 24, 2012
Season 1 Review: The pilot of The Mindy Project isn't quite as funny as Ms. Kaling is at her best, but it has some amusing moments and a lot of promise. Read full review
70
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob OwenSep 24, 2012
Season 1 Review: Tuesday's pilot is not as consistently funny as one might hope and Mindy's flightiness could turn off some viewers, but she and the show are amusing enough to warrant watching. Read full review
70
VarietyBrian LowrySep 24, 2012
Season 1 Review: There are enough winning moments here to come back for an encore. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterTim GoodmanSep 19, 2012
Season 1 Review: If, like most sitcoms, Mindy still is in a growth phase, it's clear the writing and acting are there to be developed. Read full review
67
NewsdayVerne GaySep 21, 2012
Season 1 Review: Kaling's good (and always is), but the pilot is just not all that funny. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineMatthew WolfsonSep 17, 2013
Season 2 Review: If Kaling focused more on playing her characters off each other and less on her heroine's mishaps, The Mindy Project would make for a smoother, more consistently engaging series. Read full review
63
People WeeklyTom GliattoSep 21, 2012
Season 1 Review: A sitcom that veers uncomfortably between charmingly cute and cloyingly sarcastic. [1 Oct 2012, p.38]
60
New York Daily NewsDavid HinckleySep 25, 2012
Season 1 Review: Even by the notoriously uneven standards of sitcoms, The Mindy Project takes precipitous swings from fresh and clever insights to the most predictable "Oh, girl, don't go there" setups. Read full review
58
Boston HeraldMark A. PerigardSep 25, 2012
Season 1 Review: Despite their [Mindy Kaling and B.J. Novak's] experience, the show plays like a blind date gone bad. Read full review
58
Uncle BarkyEd BarkSep 20, 2012
Season 1 Review: The Mindy Project is a minor disappointment in light of all the accomplished guest stars populating its opening half-hour. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubEmily VanDerWerffSep 15, 2013
Season 2 Review: It’s possible that The Mindy Project will settle down a bit once it’s done reversing the course of season one’s cliffhanger, but the flaws of the first two episodes are so similar to those of season one that it’s hard to imagine some sort of remarkable turnaround. Read full review
50
USA TodayRobert BiancoSep 25, 2012
Season 1 Review: If you've resisted Kaling's charms up to now, nothing that happens tonight is likely to change your mind. Read full review
50
PopMattersChris ConatonSep 25, 2012
Season 1 Review: It just needs sharper writing, and the supporting cast needs to be developed. While Kaling and Messina are charming and work well together, the rest of the show needs to catch up. Read full review
50
The Huffington PostMaureen RyanSep 24, 2012
Season 1 Review: There's a weird stew of ideas about expectations, desire and anger roiling around in Mindy, but as they're explored here, those ideas don't cohere into a show that's either funny or cogent. Read full review
40
VarietyBrian LowrySep 16, 2013
Season 2 Review: There’s precious little in the two-part premiere to suggest much room for growth, creatively or ratings-wise, in season two. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineChris CabinSep 24, 2012
Season 1 Review: The Mindy Project is far more interested in the worn-out comic agenda of a smart, independent woman hamstrung by her obsession with finding commitment with a man than it is in self-excoriation or the unique proclivities of a chosen community. Read full review
10
Miami HeraldGlenn GarvinSep 25, 2012
Season 1 Review: Think Gray's Anatomy with unpretty people; then think of something else to watch. Read full review
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