The Baxter Reviews
April 6, 2010
The performers are fresh and offbeat, with the diminutive Peter Dinklage (Elf, The Station Agent) especially funny as a gay wedding planner named Benson Hedges.
September 29, 2005
Showalter tackles his mission with energy and an upbeat attitude that makes him a winner as a lovable loser.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.5/4
September 24, 2005
Full Review
| Original Score: B
September 24, 2005
Only when Williams is around does the movie seem human, true, and funny: Even in her slapstick there's pain. She's almost too good: It's not until she's left a scene that you realize the movie isn't working.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.5/4
September 22, 2005
There are enough laughs that those who enjoyed The 40-Year-Old Virgin might want to take The Baxter for a whirl.
Original Score: 3.5/5
September 18, 2005
Showalter's Elliot, self-described as the kind of guy who gets hay fever just raking the leaves, never breaks out of the Baxter clich. Frankly, he makes a pretty good case for why the sad sack never gets the girl.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.5/5
September 16, 2005
Showalter all-too-slavishly follows the lock-step school of formula romance.
September 16, 2005
Mildly cute while thoroughly forgettable, the chief achievement of The Baxter is it serves to remind viewers how thoroughly adorable Michelle Williams can be, even in something this inconsequential.
Original Score: C
September 16, 2005
The Baxter has many of the ingredients of a good-natured indie date movie. But when the lead performance isn't one of them, it gets difficult to recommend.
Original Score: 2/4
September 16, 2005
The Baxter is a self-conscious one-man show that obliterates the fine line between 'quirky' and 'annoying.'
Full Review
| Original Score: 1.5/4
September 15, 2005
No great shakes, The Baxter nonetheless has a quiet loopiness going for it.
Original Score: 3/4
September 15, 2005
While trying really hard to make Elliot a lovable loser, Showalter too often just renders him shrill and annoying.
Full Review
| Original Score: C+
September 8, 2005
Michael Showalter is a funny man, but ... how to put this gently ... not a funny movie star.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/4
September 8, 2005
The problem with The Baxter is right there at the center of the movie, and maybe it is unavoidable: Showalter makes too good of a baxter. He deserves to be dumped.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/4
September 3, 2005
It's a terrible comedy and a worse movie, and I'm hoping, like its namesake, people leave this at the alter and look elsewhere for their entertainment. I know I wish I could have.
Full Review
| Original Score: 1/4
September 1, 2005
A tender love story and a dead-on lampoon of the genre, but its main drawback is that Showalter is egregiously miscast in the title role.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/5
September 1, 2005
The more the film stresses and strains to be funny, the unfunnier it gets.
September 1, 2005
Writer-director Michael Showalter flirts with a great premise, but his slight love story gets cold feet.
August 29, 2005
Provides a few laughs, but only a few.
August 26, 2005
If [Showalter's] acting is misjudged, his direction is merely uninspired.
Original Score: 1.5/4