In Her ShoesMovie Reviews

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So-so
Avg. Critic Score: 60 out of 100 Generally favorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
15 OK for kids 15+
Read Common Sense Media review

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

  • 88
    USA Today | Mike Clark

    This is the most enjoyable film of its type in recent memory. Read full review

  • 88
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    Starts out with the materials of an ordinary movie and becomes a rather special one. Read full review

  • 75
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    It's Hanson's astute directing that makes the film's life lessons go down painlessly, turning the smartly entertaining In Her Shoes into a comfy fit for both sexes. Read full review

  • 70
    The New York Times | Manohla Dargis

    The joy of this unassuming, generous film is that it never sells out its characters' desires or ours. Read full review

  • 70
    The Hollywood Reporter | Kirk Honeycutt

    Director Curtis Hanson has made a chick flick with substance as well as style. Read full review

  • 70
    Variety | Todd McCarthy

    While the director's avid fans may be disappointed, upscalish mainstream auds, particularly women, will eat up this well-acted, emotionally focused adaptation of Jennifer Weiner's popular novel. Read full review

  • 67
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

    Could it be that the director of "L.A. Confidential," "Wonder Boys," and "8 Mile" has been defeated by characters on a first-name basis with brisket, by women who, in Susannah Grant's screenplay, represent avatars of joyless workaholism and joyless sexaholism? Read full review

  • 50
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    The people who made this film -- particularly the ones responsible for the story and the dialogue -- should look no further when trying to understand why In Her Shoes lands with such little impact. The characters seem authentic -- until the chick-flick template distorts them. Read full review

  • 40
    Washington Post | Desson Thomson

    There'd be nothing wrong with this if the film 'fessed up to its kitschy soul. Instead, it pretends to be the high-minded drama it's not. Read full review

  • 40
    Los Angeles Times | Carina Chocano

    Ultimately, it's too self-conscious of its role in the marketplace and too hamstrung by its source material to risk being honest at the expense of being liked. Read full review

View more reviews for In Her Shoes on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says OK for kids 15+ Drama about rival sisters. Best for teens and up.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that the film includes sexual references (images and language); indeed, it opens on fragmented shots of a drunken sexual encounter in a bathroom at high school reunion. Focused on the tensions between two grownup sisters, one a rowdy rebel and the other a prototypical "good girl," the movie pays particular attention to familial conflicts, secrets, and traumatic history (the sisters discuss the mother's suicide, committed when they were children; their father is remarried to a woman who treats them disdainfully). Characters use some crude language, usually in anger or surprise, including multiple uses of the s-word and hell, and slang for sex and genitals. One character reads aloud from a romance novel (including predictable, here comic, references to heaving breasts and sexual passion); and an episode of Sex and the City on TV refers to sexual activity. The rebellious sister wears skimpy clothing, including bikinis and underwear. Characters drink (to the point of vomiting) and smoke. The rebellious sister steals money and other items, sometimes from family members.
  • Families can talk about the sisters' long-term, mutual resentments and distrusts. How does the sisters' competition for attention shape their relationship? How can they reconcile with one another by sharing basic truths? (The fact that Maggie's dyslexia has remained undiagnosed all her life is especially troubling.) How does the father's dishonesty about his troubles with their mother and her mother/their grandmother also a source of conflict?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: "Bad" girl is sexually promiscuous, steals from her family, and learns the error of her ways; snobby/mean stepmother; frequent family tensions.
What to watch for
  • violence false3 Violence: Not an issue
  • sex false3 Sex: Sexual references, slang, and images (activity, cleavage, sounds), some pushing the edge of a PG-13 rating.
  • language false3 Language: Mild, including s-words, sexual slang, ass, and hell.
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Clothing brands (Jimmy Choo shoes)).
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Drinking (to the point of visible drunkenness and vomiting), some smoking.
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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