Kritiken

[In Jerry and Marge Go Large], all idiosyncrasies have been flattened. It’s an added shame that Bryan Cranston and especially Annette Bening have been made similarly edgeless, two solid yet uninspired performances from two actors who deserve far more, playing overfamiliar types rather than real people

There’s a version of “Jerry & Marge Go Large” that’s more like an early Tom McCarthy film, a movie that takes itself seriously as a character study instead of resorting to the simplicity of a generic comedy. Everything starts to feel as calculated as Jerry’s plan, even before the final scenes that make one realize there wasn’t really enough to this story to justify a feature telling of it.

In tone and semiotics, “Jerry & Marge” evokes conventional sitcoms... While the movie sustains levity, its lack of subtlety — and a lack of stakes, save for sweepstakes — make for an altogether bland bonanza.

A generic piece of fluff that leaves you feeling warm and fuzzy without the burden of having to laugh or think. The film seems destined to live on as in-flight entertainment on nursing home-sponsored trips to Vegas, but a good cast and some well-placed sentimentality elevate it into something almost watchable.

Jerry & Marge Go Large lands as a diverting amusement—an underdog tale more in the vein of Queenpins rather than something which lingers longer, and stands out as a portrait of its time.

“Jerry & Marge Go Large” is a charmer. It’s a low-key, fact-based caper movie that overcomes some broad comedy leanings to settle into the sweet stuff in the soft center. It’s bolstered by a funny script and dependably sharp performances by Bryan Cranston and Annette Bening.

This utterly toothless, glorified Hallmark movie for proves the director is only as good as his material... The movie is stubbornly uncinematic and surprisingly low-stakes. Also tiresomely cute, with the wildly overqualified Cranston and Bening in the title roles dialing up the folksy oldsterisms to grating degrees.

“Jerry & Marge Go Large” is likable, but compared to those previous Frankel movies it’s also tidy and thin. It’s like the pilot for a quirky small-town TV series — a “Northern Exposure” of revenue enhancement — and it’s goosed along by one of those intrusively upbeat musical scores that keeps telling us, “You’re having a wacky good time! At the movies!”