It's a Disaster 2013

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: An underbaked comedy about eight people facing their mortality. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: A smart, character-driven chamber play in which the cataclysmic offscreen event escalates the tensions between four already testy pairs. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: It's A Disaster is lively and assured before a third-act twist takes the film in an even more bracingly bleak direction. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: You certainly wouldn't want to spend your last moments with this bunch, but a couple of hours watching them is enjoyable enough. Read more

Sheri Linden, Hollywood Reporter: Writer-director Todd Berger brings a fresh stamp to Armageddon with his sharply scripted comedy It's a Disaster, which is anything but. Read more

Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times: The movie elicits knowing smiles more than laughs, even as it reveals a boundless observational awareness about the beefs and slights that, for the small-minded, must feel like everyday Armageddons. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Berger never takes the camera more than a few yards outside the house, but that's fine; there's plenty going on inside, as characters carom off each other like billiard balls, slipping down pockets of misunderstanding and jealousy. Read more

Scott Tobias, NPR: For most of the way, it's clever and smartly proportioned, with the action confined to one well-exploited location and gags about love, the curdling of long-term friendships and petty social mores popping off everywhere. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Berger's got some clever ideas, but he does not push far in exploring them. And aside from Cross, there is virtually no one to like among these self-involved suburbanites. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: [A] practically laugh-free vanity comedy with C-listers facing the apocalypse in the form of a nerve-gas attack on Los Angeles. Read more

Jim Emerson, Chicago Sun-Times: The movie's funniest touches are quiet flashes of character, expertly timed and nimbly played by a deft ensemble. "It's a Disaster" is consistently funny, but you wince more often than you laugh out loud. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: The humour may not be wickedly black, but once in a while it's amusingly beige. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: You need better dialogue than Berger supplies to help It's a Disaster make a liar out of its title. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: Todd Berger's misguided black comedy should come with a complimentary hazmat suit for how poisonously unfunny it is. Read more

Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice: Perhaps the first great indie apocalypse potluck comedy. Read more