This Means War (2012)

All Critics (168) | Top Critics (39) | Fresh (43) | Rotten (124) | DVD (3)

Yet another case of Hollywood execs trying way too hard to give the audience what they think it wants.

February 29, 2012 Full Review

Tom Huddleston

Time Out

Top Critic

The director is McG, who allows no motion to pass without a musical energy boost.

February 21, 2012 Full Review | Comment (1)

Anthony Lane

New Yorker

Top Critic

"This Means War" is the worst McG film yet. And good Lord, that is saying something.

February 17, 2012 Full Review | Comments (9)

Colin Covert

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Top Critic

The best you can say about This Means War is that it would make a good date movie for couples in the witness protection program.

February 17, 2012 Full Review | Comments (2)

Peter Rainer

Christian Science Monitor

Top Critic

Slides by on the strength of Tom Hardy.

February 17, 2012 Full Review | Comments (4)

Laremy Legel

Film.com

Top Critic

And we have our first lock for the Worst of the Year list.

February 17, 2012 Full Review | Comments (10)

Richard Roeper

Richard Roeper.com

Top Critic

The laziest, most cack-handed, most unromantic and most excruciatingly unfunny rom-com I can remember having to sit through.

March 14, 2013 Full Review

Andy Lea

Daily Star

It's not the most realistic spy film or the most tear-enducing romance; however, This Means War works as a middle-of-the-road guilty pleasure.

September 30, 2012 Full Review

Ben Kendrick

ScreenRant

Being a little absurd is acceptable, but completely throwing reality out the window in a film that tries to ground itself in it is pushing it too much.

September 16, 2012 Full Review

Jeff Beck

Examiner.com

In a turn of events that utterly defies the terrible trailer that's been making the rounds for the last few months, This Means War actually proves to be an agreeably dim-witted combo of testosterone-fuelled action and an estrogen-friendly love story.

September 15, 2012 Full Review

Kristal Cooper

We Got This Covered

This Means War remains a vapid, rushed effort that pays little attention to its characters in favour of making sure it hits every comedy and action beat on time with a reliable but ultimately tuneless drum.

September 13, 2012 Full Review

Matt Looker

TheShiznit.co.uk

An unusually focused depiction of male courtship issues, albeit in a surface-y, mainstream sort of fashion.

August 22, 2012 Full Review

William Bibbiani

CraveOnline

Love is a battlefield in This Means War, and the three likable leads are the casualties.

August 17, 2012 Full Review

Mark Pfeiffer

Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema

There are better action comedies out there.

May 29, 2012 Full Review

James Plath

Movie Metropolis

Their spy-prying...and displays of lunkheaded brawn...aren't endearing; they're horrifying, in ways there's no coming back from. [Blu-ray]

May 25, 2012 Full Review

Peter Canavese

Groucho Reviews

This insulting, structureless so-called romantic comedy is a wretched embarrassment for all involved, especially Witherspoon, who is required to act like a ninny while other characters remark on how 'really, really beautiful' she is.

May 11, 2012 Full Review

John Beifuss

Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

...more like a business plan than a movie, and it's difficult to imagine that any of the professionals who collaborated to produce it would ever want to watch it.

April 29, 2012 Full Review | Comments (2)

Philip Martin

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Overall, this is solid date night fare. You would be disappointed that you spent the time or money but you'll never need to see this film again.

April 26, 2012 Full Review

Blake Howard

2UE That Movie Show

The fast-paced jokes help overcome the preposterous covert underpinnings.

April 16, 2012 Full Review

Bruce Bennett

Spectrum (St. George, Utah)

It's a brisk sprint over familiar ground with just enough appeal to action addicts and romantic-comedy lovers to amuse fans of both genres.

March 23, 2012 Full Review

Roger Moore

McClatchy-Tribune News Service

... too much action, not enough comedy, and no romance at all ...

March 20, 2012 Full Review

Jim Lane

Sacramento News & Review

Bathed in bright plastic colours, scored to sleazy jazz funk, This Means War comprises endless short scenes that never quite coalesce into a real motion picture.

March 19, 2012 Full Review

Donald Clarke

Irish Times

McG's weakness is in developing character and story... and since they make up about 80 percent of the movie, we're left stranded.

March 9, 2012 Full Review

Jeffrey M. Anderson

San Francisco Examiner

I have never been in a movie screening that had such a divided reaction as This Means War; on one side film critics moaning and groaning from start to finish, on the other a young audience laughing and cheering through every scene.

March 8, 2012 Full Review | Comment (1)

Brian Henry Martin

UTV

• 1. Lauren: You have the emotional intelligence of a fifteen years old boy!
  – Submitted by Glaiza Rose F (10 months ago)
• 1. Tuck: Sometimes, falling is the best part.
  – Submitted by Eiram G (11 months ago)
• 1. Lauren: What do you do when you don't know what to do?
  – Submitted by Eiram G (11 months ago)
• 1. Trish: I know he's fat and ridiculous. But his my fat. And my ridiculous. And I like the way that I am with him.
  – Submitted by Eiram G (11 months ago)
• 1. Ivan: You slept with my wife!
  – Submitted by Roger B (11 months ago)
• 1. Tuck: Sometimes he used mud and sticks...and if he didn't have a stick he would use his...
  – Submitted by Paulina G (11 months ago)

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