70
More smile-inducing than laugh-aloud funny.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
80
This very funny, very British movie -- directed by newcomer Garth Jennings -- has sci-fi effects that are impressive yet appropriately cheesy.
50
The film's opening credits are terrific, and the first 10 or 15 minutes -- in which Ford and Arthur speedily load up on beer at the local pub -- are absorbing and funny. It's such a promising start that it's doubly deflating to realize that once they land on Zaphod's spaceship, the humor vaporizes.
80
Mostly harmless. A very British, very funny sci-fi misadventure that's guaranteed to win converts.
25
Christian Science Monitor by David Sterritt
Amiably bland actors can be fun to watch, as Tom Hanks has proved. Freeman is no Hanks, though, and The Hitchhiker's Guide won't boost anyone's career into hyperspace. Or give your mind a workout.
63
ReelViews by James Berardinelli
Boasts a strong ensemble of performances. Martin Freeman is the perfect choice for an ordinary, unheroic Earth guy.
50
Village Voice by Jessica Winter
Studiously harmless, Disney's long-in-development film rendition pasteurizes the book's renegade verve with typical means.
63
Charlotte Observer by Lawrence Toppman
Except for the irritating Rockwell, the cast suits the characters.
80
The Hollywood Reporter by Michael Rechtshaffen
Hits the screen with its disarmingly droll spirit quite intact.
40
Dallas Observer by Robert Wilonsky
The droll has been made dull, a most inexplicable and unfortunate turn of events for so adored a genius, goofball work as this.