Movie Review for Never Again

Summary: A tale about two lovelorn fiftysomething New Yorkers. Christopher is an exterminator-cum-jazz musician who, after years of one-night stands, begins to question his sexual orientation. Grace is a divorcee whose daughter has just left home for college. Grace is looking to jump-start her life anew. Grace's best friends push her to try dating again, while Christopher's fellow musician doesn't quite know what to do about his buddy's tentative game plan. When a blind date for Grace goes bad, she ducks into a gay bar--and meets first-time patron Christopher. The circumstances are so wrong that the two are immediately drawn to each other. But as with any romantic relationship at any age, their fears--both mutual and individual--may prevent them from being happy together. Is Grace's credo "never again" a self-fulfilling prophecy?

                         Reviews of Never Again
By Carlo Cavagna of AboutFilm.com (7/0)
            Though the characters are sometimes forced into madcap situations for the sake of adding yuks, th...

By Wilson Morales of BlackFilm.com (7/0)
            Schaeffer has written a clever, plausible, funny, and romantic film.

By Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times (7/0)
            Here's a case of two actors who do everything humanly possible to create characters who are sweet...

By Michael Wilmington of Chicago Tribune (7/0)
            I doubt if the solution to the movie industry's ludicrous ageism is showing 50-year-olds acting l...

By Harvey S. Karten of Compuserve (7/0)
            The 50-something lovebirds are too immature and unappealing to care about.

By Arthur Lazere of culturevulture.net (7/0)
            Schaefer's...determination to inject farcical raunch...drowns out the promise of the romantic ang...

                         Reviews of Never Again
By Boo Allen of Denton Record Chronicle (TX) (7/0)
            Old People Can Talk Dirty Too

By Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly (7/0)
            Clayburgh and Tambor are charming performers; neither of them deserves Eric Schaeffer.

By David Noh of Film Journal International (7/0)
            Schaeffer has crafted a winsomely appealing love story for -- surprise! -- the over-50 set.

By Merle Bertrand of Film Threat (7/0)
            By turns touching, raucously amusing, uncomfortable, and, yes, even sexy, Never Again is a welcom...

By Blake French of filmcritic.com (7/0)
            I never thought I'd say this, but I'd much rather watch teens poking their genitals into fruit pi...

By Blake French of filmcritic.com (7/0)
            Indeed, it is truly as disgusting as it sounds: a sex comedy with old people.

                         Reviews of Never Again
By Ray Conlogue of Globe and Mail (7/0)
            Rarely does a film so graceless and devoid of merit as this one come along.

By Ross Anthony of Hollywood Report Card (7/0)
            Jeffrey Tambor's performance as the intelligent jazz-playing exterminator is Oscar-worthy.

By Eric Harrison of Houston Chronicle (7/0)
            Just offbeat enough to keep you interested without coming close to bowling you over.

By Steve Rhodes of Internet Reviews (7/0)
            Never Again tries and fails to be Before Sunrise for the middle age set, but the talky script jus...

By Derek Tse of Jam! Movies (7/0)
            An intelligent, funny look at dating and relationships among the middle-aged.

By Prairie Miller of Long Island Press (7/0)
            A funny, raw, touching, ridiculous, outrageous and heartbreaking midlife romantic comedy, wrinkle...

                         Reviews of Never Again
By Kevin Thomas of Los Angeles Times (7/0)
            Schaeffer successfully teams Jeffrey Tambor and Jill Clayburgh in a middle-aged romance between a...

By Connie Ogle of Miami Herald (7/0)
            If Never Again is the best film we can get about older adult sexuality, it's no wonder we're not ...

By Brian Orndorf of Modamag.com (7/0)
            When a director deliberately sends his own film down such a well-worn path, you know you're in th...

By Frank Swietek of One Guy's Opinion (7/0)
            Cutesy and artificial...Just a predictable take on the 'Affair to Remember' formula with a thick ...

By Dennis Schwartz of Ozus' World Movie Reviews (7/0)
            As shameless a love story as anything that Hollywood has ever done.

By Brandon Judell of PopcornQ (7/0)
            Now all we need is a flick about elderly queers in heat. No, The Dresser doesn't count.

                         Reviews of Never Again
By Pam Grady of Reel.com (7/0)
            Please, someone, stop Eric Schaeffer before he makes another film.

By Laura Clifford of Reeling Reviews (7/0)
            Acting, particularly by Tambor, almost makes "Never Again" worthwhile, but [writer/director] Scha...

By Robin Clifford of Reeling Reviews (7/0)
            ...the good and different idea [of middle-aged romance] is not handled well and, except for the f...

By Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com (7/0)
            The characters are a major pain in the ass, to each other and to us.

By Jean Lowerison of San Diego Metropolitan (7/0)
            This film is just plain awful, despite the efforts of two enormously talented and likable stars w...

By Mick LaSalle of San Francisco Chronicle (7/0)
            Never Again swings between false sentiment and unfunny madcap comedy and, along the way, expects ...

                         Reviews of Never Again
By Jim Judy of Screen It! (7/0)
            Not a particularly good movie in general.

By Moira MacDonald of Seattle Times (7/0)
            A fresh cast, but a stale story.

By Ed Gonzalez of Slant Magazine (7/0)
            Do you say "hi" to your lover when you wake up in the morning?

By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat of Spirituality and Practice (7/0)
            A very funny romantic comedy about two skittish New York middle-agers who stumble into a relation...

By Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone of TheMovieChicks.com (7/0)
            Sex and romance after 50? Here's proof that it not only exists, a movie about it can be funny and...

By Frank Lovece of TV Guide's Movie Guide (7/0)
            With a tone as variable as the cinematography, Schaeffer's film never settles into the light-foot...

                         Reviews of Never Again
By Michael O'Sullivan of Washington Post (7/0)
            Full of the kind of obnoxious chitchat that only self-aware neurotics engage in.

By Michael Szymanski of Zap2it.com (7/0)
            "Never Again" is a feel-good romance for real people. If you want a smart, mature romantic comedy...

By Stephen Holden of New York Times (3/5) Login Required (Login Required)
            As conceived by Mr. Schaeffer, Christopher and Grace are little more than collections of quirky t...

By Stephen Holden of New York Times (3/5) Login Required (Login Required)
            Think of Never Again as bad Neil Simon with sex toys attached.

By Sheri Linden of Boxoffice Magazine (3/4) No reference
            Never Again doesn't quite rise above the conventions it attempts to deconstruct, but at its cente...

By Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times (3/4) No reference
            ...plays like a head-on collision between two ideas in conflict. Is it a movie about people, or a...

                         Reviews of Never Again
By Michael Wilmington of Chicago Tribune (3/4) No reference
            ...good-natured but trivial...

By Merle Bertrand of Film Threat (3/4) No reference
            ... a welcome and heartwarming addition to the romantic comedy genre...

By Marshall Fine of Journal News (Westchester, NY) (3/4) No reference
            Schaeffer isn't in this film, which may be why it works as well as it does.

By Dan Fienberg of L.A. Weekly (3/4) No reference
            Tambor and Clayburgh make an appealing couple — he’s understated and sardonic, she’s appealingly ...

By Kevin Thomas of Los Angeles Times (3/4) No reference
            Schaeffer has confused an entirely appropriate sexual candor with flagrant crudity...

By Rex Reed of New York Observer (3/4) No reference
            I don't think the proper alternative to bad movies about teenagers trying to get laid is more bad...

                         Reviews of Never Again
By Megan Turner of New York Post (3/4) No reference
            ...appalling...

By John Anderson of Newsday (3/4) No reference
            Schaeffer has to find some hook on which to hang his persistently useless movies, and it might as...

By Shawn Levy of Oregonian (3/4) No reference
            There's something deeply creepy about Never Again, a new arrow in Schaeffer's quiver of ineptitud...

By Carrie Rickey of Philadelphia Inquirer (3/4) No reference
            A bad movie that happened to good actors.

By Joe Baltake of Sacramento Bee (3/4) No reference
            In theory, a middle-aged romance pairing Clayburgh and Tambor sounds promising, but in practice i...

By David Elliott of San Diego Union-Tribune (3/4) No reference
            Both awful and appealing.

                         Reviews of Never Again
By Joe Leydon of San Francisco Examiner (3/4) No reference
            What Eric Schaeffer has accomplished with Never Again may not, strictly speaking, qualify as revo...

By Ed Gonzalez of Slant Magazine (3/4) No reference
            ...American Pie for adults.

By Laura Kelly of South Florida Sun-Sentinel (3/4) No reference
            Despite these annoyances, the capable Clayburgh and Tambor really do a great job of anchoring the...

By Geoff Pevere of Toronto Star (3/4) No reference
            There are enough things that poke out rather boldly from Never Again's modest proportions to keep...

By Stephen Hunter of Washington Post (3/4) No reference
            Excruciatingly unfunny and pitifully unromantic.

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