Stealing Harvard 2002

Critics score:
9 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: The film glorifies incompetence, in part by terrorizing you with it. Read more

John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press: The script is stale, but the gags are downright rancid. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: It's bland and that's the worst thing a comedy can be. Read more

Susan Stark, Detroit News: Read more

Mark Caro, Chicago Tribune: Some actors steal scenes. Tom Green just gives them a bad odor. This self-infatuated goofball is far from the only thing wrong with the clumsy comedy Stealing Harvard, but he's the most obvious one. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: A shambling, incoherent story ... manages to abuse both Mr. Lee's good nature and his comic gift. Read more

Bill Stamets, Chicago Reader: Among the squandered supporting cast are Dennis Farina, Chris Penn, Megan Mullally, and Seymour Cassel. Read more

Ted Fry, Seattle Times: Stealing Harvard doesn't care about cleverness, wit or any other kind of intelligent humor. Read more

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times: Stealing Harvard is an act of grand theft -- the way it wastes your time is a crime. Read more

Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: It's all pretty tame. The most offensive thing about the movie is that Hollywood expects people to pay to see it. Read more

Bruce Fretts, Entertainment Weekly: The timing in nearly every scene seems a half beat off. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Stealing Harvard will dip into your wallet, swipe 90 minutes of your time, and offer you precisely this in recompense: A few early laughs scattered around a plot as thin as it is repetitious. Read more

Gary Dowell, Dallas Morning News: While the material is slight, the movie is better than you might think. Read more

John Patterson, L.A. Weekly: Whenever Green shows up to do his semi-improvised, non-acting shtick ... this otherwise sprightly and intermittently amusing movie suddenly feels like a ship dragging its anchor. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: This is as lax and limp a comedy as I've seen in a while, a meander through worn-out material. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: It's not enough to say that Green isn't funny in Stealing Harvard -- that might leave the impression that Green simply isn't funny in comparison to other comedians. No, it's bigger than that. Read more

Susan Walker, Toronto Star: Director Bruce McCulloch packs every scene with visual gags and his Kids in the Hall satiric touch is all over this movie. Read more

Derek Adams, Time Out: Weird, then, how the cast play as if holding their breath for the pay cheque. Read more

Mike Clark, USA Today: Tom Green and an Ivy League college should never appear together on a marquee, especially when the payoff is an unschooled comedy like Stealing Harvard, which fails to keep 80 minutes from seeming like 800. Read more

Scott Foundas, Variety: Depressingly thin and exhaustingly contrived. Only masochistic moviegoers need apply. Read more