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Avg. Critic Score: 67 out of 100 Generally favorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
14 Iffy for 14+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 90
    Los Angeles Times | Kenneth Turan

    In As Good as It Gets, his (Brooks) mastery of the nuances of language and emotion has turned the most unlikely material into the best and funniest romantic comedy of the year. Read full review

  • 88
    Boston Globe | Jay Carr

    Nicholson, Hunt, and Kinnear will win you over as they turn the film into a valentine to New York's walking wounded. Read full review

  • 88
    USA Today | Mike Clark

    It's a case of actors and strong writing coming together, and it's uncommon in contemporary movies. Read full review

  • 75
    San Francisco Chronicle |

    The movie often verges on being too much; Brooks' supreme balancing act is to keep it all under control. Read full review

  • 75
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    There's so much good here, in the dialogue, the performances and the observation, that the movie succeeds at many moments even while pursuing its doomed grand design. Read full review

  • 67
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

    A cute premise that, upon closer inspection, rings falser rather than truer. It's pretty good, but not nearly as good as Brooks gets. Read full review

  • 60
    Variety | Todd McCarthy

    A sporadically funny romantic comedy with all the dramatic plausibility and tonal consistency of a TV variety show. Read full review

  • 60
    The New York Times |

    Wicked, but it works. Read full review

  • 50
    New York Daily News |

    The material has no dramatic center, a problem pointed up by Brooks' failed solution to it -- his use of an ugly-cute little dog, Simon's pet. Read full review

  • 50
    Washington Post | Desson Thomson

    Gets bogged down in sentimentality, while its wheels spin futilely in life-solving overdrive. Read full review

View more reviews for As Good as It Gets on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 14+ Funny, but not a light comedy for youngsters.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this film deals candidly with homophobia, violence, mortality, and mental disorders. It includes a very violent and disturbing attack on one of the main characters, which leaves the man hospitalized and disfigured. A character verbally abuses others as a means of coping with his own extreme self-centered and (clinically) obsessive-compulsive behavior.
  • Families can talk about issues such as tolerance, mental illness, and personal strength. What is at the bottom of Melvin's homophobic remarks toward Simon? What helps him overcome these feelings? The film illustrates the struggles of a single mother attempting to care for her chronically ill child and live a life of her own. Parents may want to use this opportunity to discuss a topic seldom considered by adolescents: the lives of parents beyond the needs of their children.
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: One main character exhibits hostile and obsessive compulsive behavior toward others. The same character also deals with his homophobia and a fear of intimacy. Other main characters include a gay man struggling to rebuild his life after an attack and a working-class single mom trying to get by while caring for herself and her chronically ill child.
What to watch for
  • violence false5 Violence: One very graphic homophobic assault and the horrific wounds left as a result.
  • sex false5 Sex: Slurs about gay sex, female sexual frustration, male prostitution. Nudity is portrayed in artwork.
  • language false3 Language: One character uses a large amount of profane, sexually and culturally insensitive language. However, it is used to illustrate both the intolerance of the main character and the pain and frustration of the other two leads.
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Includes Nick-at-Nite advertising.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Various moments of social drinking. A character takes anti-depressants.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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