Movie 43Movie Reviews

Oh No!

Avg. Critic Score: 19 out of 100 Generally unfavorable reviews Metascore^® based on all critic reviews

Information for Parents:

not for kids

Read Common Sense Media review

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

88

Washington Post | Michael O'Sullivan
Movie 43 is a near masterpiece of tastelessness. The anthology of 12 short, interconnected skits elevates the art form of gross-out comedy to a new height. Read full review
58

Entertainment Weekly |
At its best, Movie 43 resembles a risqué episode of Saturday Night Live - a comparison reinforced by the presence of both parody ads and Jason Sudeikis. At its worst? Let's just say that Hugh Jackman fans who want to remember the actor as Jean Valjean and not as a guy with a scrotum sprouting from his neck should make alternate plans this weekend. Read full review
40

The Guardian | Peter Bradshaw
Movie 43 is sketchy, in every sense. It's a collection of short comedy films in the manner of the 70s cult classic "Kentucky Fried Movie," each with a separate director, in which many very famous actors have been persuaded to take part. Read full review
38

Movie Nation | Roger Moore
About a third of the short films land a few laughs. But even the weakest material is lifted by the actors. Read full review
38

Boston Globe | Ty Burr
The line between gross-out humor that's inspired and the kind that's witless is fine indeed, and Movie 43 obliterates it with poop and movie stars. Read full review
0

The Hollywood Reporter | Frank Scheck
Despite the dizzying array of talent involved both in front of and behind the camera, this godawful exercise is so painfully unfunny, so screamingly bad that it immediately qualifies as one of the worst films of all time. Read full review
0

New York Post | Lou Lumenick
If you mashed-up the worst parts of the infamous "Howard the Duck,'' "Gigli,'' "Ishtar'' and every other awful movie I've seen since I started reviewing professionally in 1981, it wouldn't begin to approach the sheer soul-sucking badness of the cringe-inducing Movie 43. Read full review
0

New York Daily News | Elizabeth Weitzman
Despite the filmmakers' desperate attempts to scandalize us, the only real shock is that a movie this disastrous ever managed to get made. Read full review
0

Chicago Sun-Times |
There's camp-fun bad and interestingly horrible bad, and then there's just awful. Movie 43 is the "Citizen Kane" of awful. Read full review
0

Slant Magazine |
This is barely a movie at all, mostly due to its structural similarities to "SNL", but also because it acknowledges the fact that its own premises are inherently unfilmable. Read full review

Metacritic link View more reviews for Movie 43 on Metacritic

Information for Parents

Common Sense Media says not for kids Depraved, unfunny anthology comedy wastes tons of talent.

What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that Movie 43 is a collection of short but over-the-top comedy films (directed by the likes of Peter Farrelly) that are tied together with a wraparound sequence about a writer making a pitch at a Hollywood studio. The content is astoundingly vulgar, loaded with sex (including full-frontal female nudity) and sexual innuendo, depravity, the foulest language imaginable ("f--k," "s--t," and much more), some violence, and drinking and drug use. The film boasts an incredible cast of talented actors and a funny trailer, so teens will no doubt be interested in seeing it. But the situations are so depraved and of a negative nature that any and all potential viewers are hereby warned.

Families can talk about Movie 43's sexual situations. Are there any relationships in the movie that could be defined as healthy or positive? What messages does the movie send about sex?
Some segments revolve around cruelty to children and teens. Are they funny? Why or why not? Who are they intended to appeal to?
In the final sequence, an animated cat is involved in some of the movie's most depraved humor. Does the fact that the cat isn't real affect the impact of those scenes?

The good stuff

Positive messages: Mostly very iffy/problematic behavior (with little consequence), including greed, lust, threats, and revenge.
Positive role models: No characters behave admirably or responsibly, and the segments aren't long enough for them to learn or change.

What to watch for

Violence: Characters threaten one another with guns and grenades. Two guys fight with two leprechauns, with punching, shooting, and lots of blood. Parents humiliate their teenage son by throwing basketballs at his head. A teen girl gets her first period; blood is shown. There's a discussion of men losing their hands and penises while using a "naked girl iPod." A man punches another man in a restaurant. A woman gets hit by a car and then tries to kill an animated cat with a shovel.
Sexy stuff: A naked woman is shown full-frontal; she's an "iBabe," which is a something like a life-size iPod. Several other women are shown topless in the same sequence. Halle Berry mixes guacamole with her naked breast in another sequence; she's seen later with huge, naked (and obviously fake) breasts. A woman asks her boyfriend to poop on her during sex. A mother and father play sexually charged scenarios with their teenage son. A man has a pair of testicles hanging from his neck. A man has a climaxing penis tattooed on his face. An animated cat is shown masturbating (including inserting a brush into his anus). Strong innuendo and heavy kissing.
Language: Language is extremely strong and includes frequent use of "f--k," "s--t," "fag," "pubes," "d--k," "suck off," "blow," "boobies," "ass," "balls," "vag," "vagina," "beaver," "son of a bitch," "butthole," "masturbate," "jizz," "p---y," "c--k," "c--t," "prick," "douche," the "N" word," "hell," "crap," "damn," "goddamn," "oh my God," and more.
Consumerism: Match.com is mentioned. The Rocksmith video game is shown.
Drinking, drugs and smoking: A teen party is briefly shown, with suggestions of drinking and drugs. Adults drink vodka at dinner.

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