Metacritic reviews

Mostly harmless. A very British, very funny sci-fi misadventure that's guaranteed to win converts.

Hits the screen with its disarmingly droll spirit quite intact.

This very funny, very British movie -- directed by newcomer Garth Jennings -- has sci-fi effects that are impressive yet appropriately cheesy.

More smile-inducing than laugh-aloud funny.

Boasts a strong ensemble of performances. Martin Freeman is the perfect choice for an ordinary, unheroic Earth guy.

Except for the irritating Rockwell, the cast suits the characters.

Studiously harmless, Disney's long-in-development film rendition pasteurizes the book's renegade verve with typical means.

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.

The droll has been made dull, a most inexplicable and unfortunate turn of events for so adored a genius, goofball work as this.

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.