Bringing Down The House: Critic Reviews

88%

MovieWeb: 0 reviews

34%

RottenTomatoes: 162 reviews

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Lisa Schwarzbaum Entertainment Weekly (Top Critic)

42

Coarse, poorly tuned comedy.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Elvis Mitchell New York Times (Top Critic)

40

High-school cafeteria soup has more flavor than this bland, tepid throwback.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Guardian [UK] (Top Critic)

Full Review » 9 years ago
Claudia Puig USA Today (Top Critic)

38

It's a sorry situation when actors as talented and funny as Queen Latifah and Steve Martin waste their efforts in an offensive exercise that feels like a bad sitcom.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Desson Thomson Washington Post (Top Critic)

The sitcom shtick wears thin after a while.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Rita Kempley Washington Post (Top Critic)

An embarrassment for all concerned, this witless, odd-couple comedy slings separate but equal gibes at blacks and whites... and still manages to ridicule gays and Hispanics.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Ty Burr Boston Globe (Top Critic)

38

It's depressingly tame stuff.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Jane Dark Village Voice (Top Critic)

A Film in Which Steve Martin Will Appear in Full Hip-Hop Drag With Appropriate Slang for Not Less Than Six Minutes.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Jami Bernard New York Daily News (Top Critic)

63

A comedy that successfully plays with stereotypes, both racial and personal.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Bruce Westbrook Houston Chronicle (Top Critic)

84

It's inspired comic casting with rare feel-good chemistry.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Philip Wuntch Dallas Morning News (Top Critic)

59

This is one high-concept, please-the-masses comedy that works.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Peter Rainer New York Magazine (Top Critic)

The material is thin and pandering and almost criminally negligent in bypassing opportunities for humor.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times (Top Critic)

50

A comedy is not allowed to end with the couples incorrectly paired. It goes against the deeply traditional requirements of the audience.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Mark Caro Chicago Tribune (Top Critic)

38

Viewers may be more likely to ride with Martin's and Latifah's good vibes than to analyze the lunkheaded racial politics, but very little is fresh here.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Carrie Rickey Philadelphia Inquirer (Top Critic)

75

A gut-busting, stereotype-busting slapstick comedy.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Jeff Strickler Minneapolis Star Tribune (Top Critic)

Full Review » 8 years ago
Tom Long Detroit News (Top Critic)

67

While Bringing Down the House is far from perfect, it is still guaranteed to get you laughing.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Bill Muller Arizona Republic (Top Critic)

... Martin doesn't have his A-game here. Bringing Down the House is a passable little comedy, but the white-haired funnyman is neither wild nor crazy.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Todd McCarthy Variety (Top Critic)

Full Review » 4 years ago
Lou Lumenick New York Post (Top Critic)

63

There's no shortage of laughs, thanks to some sharp one-liners, two stars at the top of their game, and a solid supporting cast of veteran laugh-getters.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Roger Moore Orlando Sentinel (Top Critic)

60

A gut-busting black-and-white culture clash comedy.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Peter Howell Toronto Star (Top Critic)

40

The laughs should roll like thunder, but instead they mew like kittens.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Liam Lacey Globe and Mail (Top Critic)

63

A movie where each scene seems to stand in a world of its own: funny; tasteless; stale; very funny; what on earth were they thinking?
Full Review » 9 years ago
Charles Taylor Salon.com (Top Critic)

The movie appears to have been made for an audience that considers the idea of black people terribly exotic.
Full Review » 9 years ago
James Berardinelli ReelViews (Top Critic)

75

Bringing Down the House offers proof that there are times when superior performances can salvage a mediocre script.
Full Review » 9 years ago