ultimately heartwarming and humorous enough to merit a recommendation
Comment
07/23/08
The Amateurs (2007)
17 %
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 24
Fresh: 4
Rotten:20
Average Rating: 3.9/10
Consensus: The Amateurs is a largely unfunny sex comedy that squanders a talented cast.
Theatrical Release:2006
Synopsis: Sex sells in America and these guys know it. When Andy (Jeff Bridges) discovers that his ex-wife has married an extremely wealthy man who is now his son’s “cool” stepfather, he becomes motivated to... [More]
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Tim Blake Nelson, Joe Pantoliano, William Fichtner
Director: Michael Traeger
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Reviews for The Amateurs
...ultimately finds itself unable to hold the viewer's interest for more than a few minutes at a time.
06/20/08
Click to read the article
06/19/08
Top CriticAmateurs had all the potential in the world to be a charming, oddball delight, but it's a mess. A horrible mess. Albeit a horrible mess with some big laughs and the evergreen presence of Jeff Bridges.
01/30/08
The only burst of creativity is the number of euphemisms Traeger has for pussy ("fruit cup" was my favorite)
01/29/08
All this star power goes for naught in Traeger's film, which tries to blend bucolic sweetness with juvenile let's-make-a-porno jokes.
01/18/08
It ranges from awkward to excruciating.
12/14/07
The chief virtue of Amateurs is that it gives many talented people (Valerie Perrine, Judy Greer, Lauren Graham, Tim Blake Nelson) a scene or two in which to shine.
12/14/07
This sort of thing was done much better by the British years ago in The Full Monty and Calendar Girls. There's really no call for an American rehash.
12/13/07
Top CriticA sleazy, uninspired, pathetically unfunny sex farce.
12/13/07
A strong ensemble cast spruces up a weak script in this trifle...the little picture that, ultimately, doesn't.
12/11/07
Do not waste your time with The Amateurs.
12/10/07
Top CriticThe Amateurs has been shelved for a number of years because -- just a ballpark guess here -- it's not funny.
12/07/07
Potential laughs are largely lost due to the one-note nature of the characters.
12/07/07
There are no laughs to be found in writer-director Michael Traeger's would-be comedy The Amateurs, but there is one big mystery: how actors of this caliber could have been convinced to take part.
12/07/07
Top CriticIt's just not much fun to watch first time director Michael Traeger aim for Capra-esque comedy and wind up closer to crap.
12/06/07
As a writer, Traeger is consternatingly adolescent and glib.
12/06/07
The Amateurs turns out to be a mini-classic of sweet vulgarity, much in the vicinity if not the exact class of the recent spate of the Judd Apatow canon.
12/05/07
You'll notice that the actors are way overqualified for this nonsense. But the kick they get out of one another is what pulls you in.
09/07/06
Top CriticIf there’s something hypocritically coy about a sex comedy without sex (let alone a porn industry without victims), there’s also something refreshing about the characters’ unabashed good nature -- at least until the grievously saccharine finale.
05/06/06
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