46
Metascore
27 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 75Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattEntertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattWhat’s fun is just watching Lopez and her supporting cast — including her real-life best friend Remini, Tony winner Annaleigh Ashford as her tightly wound coworker, and a loopy Charlyne Yi as her phobic new assistant — move through the scenes so easily.
- 75Original-CinKim HughesOriginal-CinKim HughesIf you are someone inclined to head to the theatre specifically to see the new Jennifer Lopez rom-com, you will get exactly the movie you hope for. And you will be happy.
- 70VarietyOwen GleibermanVarietyOwen GleibermanEven though Second Act shouldn’t work, it does (sort of). It’s got flow, a certain knowing ticky-tackiness about its own contrivances. You know you’re watching a connect-the-dots comedy, but the dots sparkle. And Lopez gives her first star performance in a while. Age has enriched her talent; she brings curlicues of experience to every scene.
- 60Arizona RepublicSamantha IncorvaiaArizona RepublicSamantha IncorvaiaIt's clear this movie is for a certain audience, but at least the film embraces its genre and the jokes stick the landing. It's definitely worth a watch for fans of movies with an early 2000s rom-com aesthetic.
- 58IndieWireKate ErblandIndieWireKate ErblandSecond Act never recovers from its big reveal, a cataclysmic (and nearly catastrophic) piece of narrative nuttiness that derails every scene, every performance, every subsequent revelation.
- 55TheWrapYolanda MachadoTheWrapYolanda MachadoIt feels like a confused puppy, caught between a stale script and a very confused storyline that frequently loses focus.
- 50San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleSan Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleSo, there you have it, a bad good movie, or a good bad movie, but a very decent Jennifer Lopez movie.
- 50The New York TimesWesley MorrisThe New York TimesWesley MorrisThis is Jenny from the blah.
- 40New York Magazine (Vulture)Emily YoshidaNew York Magazine (Vulture)Emily YoshidaThe contemporary nostalgia for romantic comedies is understandable (even if I do not personally share it), as is the nostalgia for Jennifer Lopez, movie star. Unfortunately, Second Act is a strange, scattered attempt to cash in on that longing, and it doesn’t seem to know what its own deal is aside from a rushed vision board collage of Things Women Are Probably Worried About.
- 30The Hollywood ReporterKeith UhlichThe Hollywood ReporterKeith UhlichIf there are any dadaist cinephiles out there, perhaps they can reclaim Second Act as a multilayered masterpiece of illogic. Certainly the film seems destined to survive all future nuclear winters, enduring as a time capsule of humanity at its most pitiably pedestrian.