Seeking a Friend for the End of the World: Critic Reviews

88%

MovieWeb: 1 reviews

55%

Rotten Tomatoes: 158 reviews

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Lisa Schwarzbaum Entertainment Weekly (Top Critic)

75

In our summertime-movie world of aliens and superheroes who look all too familiar, Dodge and Penny look all the rarer in their precious humanity.
Full Review » 11 months ago
A.O. Scott New York Times (Top Critic)

50

It seems downright unfair that billions of people have to die so that a middle-aged sad sack can cop a cuddle with a cute, younger bohemian neighbor.
Full Review » 11 months ago
Peter Bradshaw Guardian [UK] (Top Critic)

20

As ever, without a funny script, Carell looks and sounds like the world's creepiest serial killer.
Full Review » 10 months ago
Claudia Puig USA Today (Top Critic)

88

This is a romantic comedy for people who don't like rom-coms. There's no chance of a happy ending, but its tender mercies speak volumes.
Full Review » 11 months ago
Ann Hornaday Washington Post (Top Critic)

38

Unsure whether it wants to be a quirky, sad-eyed indie pixie or a brassy, raunchy broad, it veers uneasily between the two, never quite settling into a comfortable or recognizable groove.
Full Review » 11 months ago
Ty Burr Boston Globe (Top Critic)

50

"Seeking a Friend for the End of the World" struggles to find its voice.
Full Review » 11 months ago
Mark Holcomb Village Voice (Top Critic)

By turns bizarrely affectless and then prattlingly manic, much like its dual protagonists...
Full Review » 11 months ago
Joe Neumaier New York Daily News (Top Critic)

80

One of the year's most emotionally affecting movies.
Full Review » 11 months ago
Lisa Kennedy Denver Post (Top Critic)

88

This is an exceedingly promising directorial debut for Scafaria, who adapted the winning romance Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist.
Full Review » 11 months ago
James Rocchi MSN Movies (Top Critic)

70

...Scafaria's skill here is not only in getting a wide pool of talented people to be in the film, but also in actually giving them something to do.
Full Review » 11 months ago
Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times (Top Critic)

75

It amounts to sort of a romanic comedy, although it makes no promises of providing a happy ending.
Full Review » 11 months ago
Michael Phillips Chicago Tribune (Top Critic)

50

What it doesn't have is a way of making sense of its comic and dramatic strains, together, in the same movie.
Full Review » 11 months ago
J. R. Jones Chicago Reader (Top Critic)

Lorene Scafaria, making her feature debut as writer-director, scores numerous laughs off the social dislocation that follows as people realize the apocalypse is imminent.
Full Review » 11 months ago
Carrie Rickey Philadelphia Inquirer (Top Critic)

50

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World offers the beats of a series of bad news / worse news jokes. This is not necessarily a good thing.
Full Review » 11 months ago
Colin Covert Minneapolis Star Tribune (Top Critic)

50

"Seeking a Friend for the End of the World" has plenty of tonal problems -- given the concept, how could it not? -- but Carell's introspective, dryly funny performance is a consistent delight.
Full Review » 11 months ago
Tom Long Detroit News (Top Critic)

50

Scafaria has to work beneath the inevitable looming gloom or else chicken out, and that's a question that ultimately distracts from the characters' dramatic development.
Full Review » 11 months ago
Bill Goodykoontz Arizona Republic (Top Critic)

80

I liked "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World," the notes it hit, the questions it asked. And if Scafaria is guilty of playing on emotions, at least she's good at it.
Full Review » 11 months ago
Rex Reed New York Observer (Top Critic)

75

After so many hellish apocalypse movies, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is intelligent, dignified and emotionally satisfying.
Full Review » 11 months ago
Peter Debruge Variety (Top Critic)

The end of the world can't come fast enough in Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, a disastrously dull take on the disaster-movie formula.
Full Review » 11 months ago
Lou Lumenick New York Post (Top Critic)

38

"Seeking a Friend for the End of the World'' has its laughs, but pretty much every single one of them is in the trailer.
Full Review » 11 months ago
Linda Barnard Toronto Star (Top Critic)

63

Bittersweet moments that remind us of the importance of family, questions of faith, the nature of forgiveness and facing mortality are handled deftly but the swings in mood are unsettling.
Full Review » 11 months ago
Eric Kohn indieWIRE (Top Critic)

The movie's potential for depth ends long before the world does.
Full Review » 11 months ago
Rick Groen Globe and Mail (Top Critic)

63

Scafaria seems to get disoriented by her own scenario, boxing herself into an apocalypse whose initial absurdities feel so wonderfully right, but where to go from there?
Full Review » 11 months ago
James Berardinelli ReelViews (Top Critic)

75

Seeking a Friend plays to the strengths of both leads, allowing Carell to be the controlled introvert and Knightley to portray the bubbly extrovert.
Full Review » 11 months ago
Stephen Dalton Hollywood Reporter (Top Critic)

Scafaria and her two likeable leads have made a witty, warm-hearted and impressively original addition to the rom-com ranks.
Full Review » 11 months ago