54
Metascore
19 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 75Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertIt has its laughs, but it’s a more thoughtful film, more softhearted toward its characters. It’s warm and poignant.
- 75Chicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumChicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumThe movie takes a while to hit its stride, and its conclusion is fairly slapdash, but somewhere in between are some of the funniest bits of low slapstick Brooks has ever come up with, and an overall uncloying sweetness helps to save much of the rest.
- 75Chicago TribuneDave KehrChicago TribuneDave KehrBut if Brooks doesn't get the sting of reality he's looking for in Life Stinks, he does succeed with the film's fantasy elements-most memorably, a dance sequence set to Cole Porter's Easy to Love and performed by Warren and Brooks in a colorful used-clothing warehouse.
- 70Los Angeles TimesMichael WilmingtonLos Angeles TimesMichael WilmingtonIt's a risky movie, and an uneven one. But the impulses behind it are darker and stronger than in most of his previous comedies. Good or bad--and Life Stinks definitely has a weak, undeveloped side--I liked it.
- 70Time OutTime OutThe grim, black humour of yore sporadically breaks through the glossy sheen, providing moments of vintage vitriol.
- Life Stinks isn't nearly as bad as legend suggests, and its even won a tiny cult following.
- 50The New York TimesJanet MaslinThe New York TimesJanet MaslinEven more dispiriting than the film's silly moments are its pious ones. Only at rare moments does Life Stinks offer much in the way of surprise or grace.
- 50TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineOften annoyingly vulgar and crude, Life Stinks is partly redeemed by Brooks's good intentions. He and his associates have attempted, sometimes with great success, sometimes not, to illustrate the difference between decency and deceit as well as the painfully thin line that separates pleasure and happiness from degradation and despair.
- 40EmpireWilliam ThomasEmpireWilliam ThomasLife stinks, Brooks' character stinks and the film, after all the Brooks magic in the past, stinks.