40 Days and 40 Nights 2002

Critics score:
38 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News: Even [Hartnett] can't overcome the lameness of the movie's increasingly obvious attempts to make horniness seem funny. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: A truly wretched sex comedy, or should we say non-sex comedy. Read more

Charles Savage, Miami Herald: The material may be lightweight, but it's been shaped into a film that deserves to become a classic in an admittedly lightweight genre. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: Josh Hartnett is good and I love Shannyn Sossamon I think she could become a big star, but this comedy is so wrong on so many levels. Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: If short on surprises, the screenplay has a fair share of snappy patter. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: You may feel like taking a vow of abstinence yourself -- at least from Hollywood youth-sex comedies. Read more

Elvis Mitchell, New York Times: Mildly amusing but wholly unnecessary. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: The underpinning misogyny of 40 Days and 40 Nights is only exceeded by its cynicism. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: A fluffy, dopey, but occasionally likable romantic comedy. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: It's risque, lewd, worthy of Balzac, 90-plus minutes of pretty hilarious smut. Read more

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times: The way Matt's fate plays out is consistently engaging, at once clever and insightful. Read more

Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle: A base guy flick that's clueless about women, relationships and emotion, and even flirts with sacrilege. Read more

Paul Tatara, CNN.com: It comes dangerously close to being America's first sex comedy without comedy. Read more

Steven Rosen, Denver Post: An American Pie variation without the affection for its characters or original humor. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Just a kinder, gentler teensploitation comedy, but Hartnett's Matt, at least, invites the audience to graduate to something better. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Without the defence of teen ignorance, 40 Days is little more than soft-core sleaze. Read more

Paul Malcolm, L.A. Weekly: Hartnett's pitch-perfect sexual panic can be hilariously funny. Read more

Peter Rainer, New York Magazine/Vulture: Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: This is as stupid as movies come. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The details are fresh and writer Rob Perez's dialogue about sex has more complexity and nuance than we expect. Read more

Charles Taylor, Salon.com: It's too mild to be crass; it's clumsy. Read more

Carla Meyer, San Francisco Chronicle: The slapdash and vulgar second half ... saps the good will engendered by some funny gags and heartthrob Josh Hartnett's ... heart-tuggingly earnest performance. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: It does nothing to challenge the self-centredness of the smug little world it depicts, and everything to endorse it. Read more

Time Out: Read more

Mike Clark, USA Today: It has a way of wearing out what's supposed to be knockabout farce. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: Read more

Dennis Lim, Village Voice: Squeamishly risque teen sexcom. Read more

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: The movie is both exhilarating and depressing. The trouble is, I can't figure out which is more important. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: It's not Shakespeare's Twelfth Night or anything, but it's pretty darned good! Read more