IGN.com|AskMen.com|Rotten Tomatoes|GameSpy|FilePlanet|TeamXbox|CheatsCodesGuides|GameStats|Direct2Drive

RottenTomatoes.com

Register | Log In | What is RT?
It's our 10th birthday, so you get presents!
Home Movies DVD Celebrities News Critics Photos & Trailers The Vine Forums
Box Office | Best Of | Certified Fresh | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
 
MOVIES / ON DVD / IRA & ABBY
Ira & Abby

Rate This Movie

Write a Review
See Pictures
Share This Movie
Add to List
Buy Poster

Bookmark and Share

Ira & Abby (2007)

66%
75%
62%
N/A
N/A
N/A
66 %
Reviews Counted: 38 Fresh: 25  Rotten:13 Average Rating: 6/10
 
Consensus: Ira & Abby overcomes the somewhat clichéd plot with witty dialogue and earnest performances.
 

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Runtime: 1 hr 45 mins

Synopsis: Ira Black, 33, is brilliant, neurotic, Jewish and has so many issues he can't fit them into 12 years of analysis. He can't finish his dissertation, he can't commit to his longtime girlfriend, and he's incapable of making a decision, even if it's just what to order at the diner. Abby Willoughby,... Ira Black, 33, is brilliant, neurotic, Jewish and has so many issues he can't fit them into 12 years of analysis. He can't finish his dissertation, he can't commit to his longtime girlfriend, and he's incapable of making a decision, even if it's just what to order at the diner. Abby Willoughby, 30, is a free spirit who's better at solving her friends' problems at the gym than selling memberships. When the two meet, the impossible happens: they fall in love, meet each other's parents and decide to get married, all in a few breathless hours. And life is good, until Ira finds out that Abby is a divorcee... two times over. Despite even more therapy, Ira can't help but feel that their marriage was built on a lie. They divorce quietly, while cracks grow wider in their parents' marriages. Ira's gorgeous analyst mother Arlene starts a secret liaison with Abby's charming voiceover artist father Michael, while Abby's mother Lynne wonders why she's no longer attractive to her husband and Ira's father Sy pretends not to notice. Of course, Ira soon realizes he's miserable without Abby. He asks her forgiveness and they marry again, this time making more realistic vows. But Ira's jealousy issues and Abby's free-floating tendencies lead him to reconnect with his ex-girlfriend. When Abby finds out about their parents' infidelities, the three couples converge for a hilarious group therapy scene with the eight therapists we have met in the film. Ira and Abby ultimately realize that they were meant to be together. But divorced. Because marriage just isn't for them... Ira & Abby was written by Jennifer Westfeldt, who co-wrote, co-produced and played the title role in the indie hit Kissing Jessica Stein. Westfeldt, a 2004 Tony nominee for her turn in the Broadway revival of Wonderful Town, stars as Abby, while the charming up and comer, Chris Messina (most recently seen as "Ted" on the final season of HBO's Six Feet Under) stars as Ira. Fred Willard, known for such films as Anchorman, A Mighty Wind, and Best in Show, and for his Emmy-nominated turn on Everybody Loves Raymond, co-stars as Michael, and Golden Globe winner and multiple Emmy nominee Frances Conroy (Six Feet Under) plays Abby's mother Lynne. The well-known comedian/actor Robert Klein (Two Weeks' Notice, How To Lose A Guy in Ten Days), co-stars as Ira's father, Sy, and Judith Light, best known as the star of the long-running sitcom Who's The Boss? will play the role of Arlene. -- © Official Site [More]

Genre: Comedies

Starring: Jennifer Westfeldt, Chris Messina, Frances Conroy, Judith Light, Robert Klein

Director: Robert Carey
Screenwriter: Jennifer Westfeldt
Producer: Brad Zions
Composer: Marcelo Zavros

DVD Info

Release:

May 1, 2010

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • NTSC
  • Keep Case
  • Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
  • Dolby Digital 2.0 - English
  • Subtitles - Spanish - Optional

Additional Release Material:

  • Audio Commentary - 1. Jennifer Westfeldt - Actor/Executive Producer/Writer
  • 2. Llana Levine - Actor/Executive Producer
  • Gag Reels
  • Outtakes

Reviews

 
T-Meter Critics
 
 
Top Critics
 
 
RT Community
 
 
My Critics
 
 
My Friends
 
 
DVD
 
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
Arrange By: Name | Fresh | Rotten | Date | Source
 
 
Ratings Image
N/A

Robert Carey directs his cast with zest and the film plays its laughs with a sense of gentle sardonic smirk that makes it inoffensive yet tart.

Full Review | comment Comment
02/21/08
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile
Ratings Image
3/4

Ira & Abby may drive you into therapy, but you'll be chuckling all the way.

Full Review | comment Comment
02/03/08
Christian Toto
Washington Times
Ratings Image
C+

The steady addition of more and more characters served to fragment what could have been a charming romantic comedy.

Full Review | comment Comment
02/03/08
Robin Clifford
Reeling Reviews
Ratings Image
N/A

Ira and Abby may be a divorce comedy, but the perfect marriage of two comically inspired minds, director Robert Cary (Anything But Love) and writer/star Jennifer Wesfeldt (Kissing Jessica Stein) is irresistible.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/26/08
Prairie Miller
NewsBlaze
Ratings Image
3/4

"Ira & Abby" doesn't throw out the romantic comedy rule book, but it occasionally shuffles the pages a little for comic effect.

Full Review | comment Comment
12/07/07
Rob Thomas
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
11/24/07
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ratings Image
4/5

In the season that has seen such loathsome films as Good Luck Chuck and The Heartbreak Kid, Ira & Abby is remarkable proof that a compelling and funny love story can appear on celluloid.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/26/07
Adam Fendelman
HollywoodChicago.com
Ratings Image
3/4

On paper, Ira and Abby sounds like a sitcom (in fact, it sounds like Dharma & Greg). But intelligence and fine acting shoves it up several notches.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/19/07
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press
Ratings Image
2/5

It spends so much time reminding of how quaint and kooky it is throughout that you may find yourself pulling out your wallet or purse and offering it some of your hard-earned money if it will agree to just simmer down and go away

Full Review | comment Comment
10/18/07
Peter Sobczynski
eFilmCritic.com
Ratings Image
B

The movie benefits from an exceptionally strong line-up of supporting characters beautifully played by a top-notch cast.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/18/07
Nell Minow
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
3/4

Ira & Abby has plenty of sharp details, mostly verbal, and it gives old pros and newer faces a chance to show off their poker-faced comic wiles.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/18/07
Michael Phillips
Chicago Tribune
Ratings Image
2/4

Ira & Abby is like its characters: nice with a lot of problems.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/12/07
Wesley Morris
Boston Globe
Ratings Image
B

Ira & Abby is a charming film, but it's nearly great when it settles down and causally explores life's often strange complications.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/11/07
Brian Orndorf
eFilmCritic.com
Ratings Image
4/5

It's sunny, oh-so-New-York and ever-so cute, and Messina and Westfeldt, under-used actors, are equally beguiling.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/11/07
Roger Moore
Orlando Sentinel
Ratings Image
3.5/5

The group-therapy scene that wraps it up brings those substantial themes together in a way that’s uproariously funny.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/11/07
Jason Ferguson
Orlando Weekly
Ratings Image
3.5/5

The result is light but surprisingly fresh, and even a bit insightful.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/10/07
Geoff Berkshire
Metromix.com
Ratings Image
C

Offers some smiles and rueful insights about the vicissitudes of love, but its almost slavish imitation of the Woody Allen formula ultimately makes it seem stale.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/07/07
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion
Ratings Image
3/4

Ira & Abby, in its breezy, low-key way, will make audiences happy -- something [director] Westfeldt already knows how to do.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/05/07
Moira MacDonald
Seattle Times
Ratings Image
B-

A mixed bag with a lot of cutesy awfulness to wade through, but the acerbic ending is enough of a punchline to suggest that Westfeldt understands what a joke this kind of film can be.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/05/07
Tasha Robinson
Onion AV Club
Ratings Image
2/4

It was all so fresh and funny -- when Woody Allen did it.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/05/07
Connie Ogle
Miami Herald
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
See More Topics...

Related Forums

Critic review: "Wily 'Ira & Abby' Averts Predictable Hollywood Boy Meets Girl Trap"
by: filmforlife 10/26/07


(2007 release/Rated R)-IRA & ABBY set to open theatrically on September 14th!!!
by: ReelReviewer.com 9/19/07


Showing in Chicago on Oct 19!
by: filmforlife 9/13/07
all

Pictures

all

News

Critical Consensus: Brave One Isn't Tops, Mr. Woodcock is Flaccid, Hunting Party is Busted
posted by Tim Ryan September 13, 2007
This week at the movies, we've got vigilantes (The Brave One, starring Jodie Foster), gym teachers (Mr. Woodcock...

Around the Network

• Ira & Abby at Rotten Tomatoes
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Celebs List| Newsletter

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | ModCenter | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2008, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.