Meet Bill (2007)

21% of critics liked it
(19 reviews)
45% of users liked it
(7,407 ratings)

A henpecked husband locked in a dead-end job attempts to reclaim his life with a little help from a self-assured teen and a pretty lingerie sales girl in this bittersweet romantic comedy starring Aaron Eckhart, Elizabeth Banks, and Jessica Alba. Bill (Eckhart) is a walking doormat; his in-laws look… More A henpecked husband locked in a dead-end job attempts to reclaim his life with a little help from a self-assured teen and a pretty lingerie sales girl in this bittersweet romantic comedy starring Aaron Eckhart, Elizabeth Banks, and Jessica Alba. Bill (Eckhart) is a walking doormat; his in-laws look down their noses at him, his wife, Jess (Banks), neglects him, and his love for chocolate is beginning to affect his waistline. When Bill discovers that Jess has recently struck up a "friendship" with hotshot local reporter Chip Johnson (Timothy Olyphant) that she can't quite explain, his fears that his wife may have strayed are quickly confirmed. One day, a group of kids from the mentor program show up at the bank Bill works at, and one particularly insightful boy (Logan Lerman) recognizes that all is not well with the hapless husband and banker. Convinced that all Bill needs to win his wife back and reclaim his life is a healthy shot of self-esteem, the quick-thinking teen teams with a perky lingerie sales girl named Lucy (Alba) to confront Bill's problems with humor and energy. In the process, Bill not only begins to break free from the inhibitions that have prevented him from achieving success in both his personal and professional lives, but also begins to realize his dreams of being financially independent and self-confident. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 37 min.
Directed By: Melisa Wallack
Written By: Melissa Wallack
Genres: Comedy

In Theaters: Apr 4, 2008 Wide
On DVD: Jul 15, 2008
Studio: First Look

Critic Reviews

Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times
The story of a man (Aaron Eckhart) grappling with middle-age ennui at work and at home feels done to death, as does the distracting addition of a spunky rich-kid high schooler.
Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper
This movie never should have seen the light of day.
Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times
Male midlife crisis presents as pathological self-loathing in Meet Bill, an imperative to which the only sane response is: No thanks.
Loren Lankford, Entertainment Weekly
Even a hilarious turn by Kristen Wiig as the owner of a doughnut company can't save this clichéd, meandering story from playing like American Beauty lite.
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune
Meet Bill misfires on multiple levels, but its foremost mistake is focusing on a sad-sack underachiever. Bill doesn't believe in himself, so why should we?
Michael Rechtshaffen, Hollywood Reporter
When all is said and done, Bill is let down by Bill.
Andrew L. Urban, Urban Cinefile
Discovering your real self is the theme of Meet Bill, in which Bill has to work hard to finally meet himself
David Cornelius, DVDTalk.com
Not even a solid performance can keep the script's problems at bay.
Brian Orndorf, BrianOrndorf.com
It doesn't take long for Bill to suddenly veer off course into total impenetrability, where the characters become a blur, the hacky visual poetry is rolled out, and the plot drops dead.
Andy Klein, Los Angeles CityBeat
Not awful or offensive, but pretty weak broth nonetheless.
Julia Wallace, L.A. Weekly
It tries hard to mimic the arch tone of the best suburban tragicomedies (American Beauty, et al.), but a surfeit of stock characters, double-wide plot holes and heavy-handed symbolism ruins the effect.
Austin Kennedy, Sin Magazine
As the movie goes on, you actually end up rooting for this schmuck to take charge of his life, and in a way, the movie is sort of inspiring.
Bill White, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
For those whose idea of hilarity is an adult and a kid throwing fireworks at each other, then getting stoned and playing piggyback in the mall, this movie should be a refreshing tonic.
Shlomo Schwartzberg, Boxoffice Magazine
Takes scattershot aim at all manner of appropriate targets-the vapid nature of local television news, the perceived stigma of standing out from the pack in America, the dilemma of dreams deferred and abandoned-but rarely hits the comic bull's-eye.
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul), St. Paul Pioneer Press
Clunky and smug, Meet Bill isn't convincing for one moment.

Read all 15 critic reviews

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Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

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Featured Audience Ratings

Melvin W

Bill: They hate that I'm working at their bank. I hate that I'm working at their bank. Meet Bill is a perfect example that an exemplary cast can't hold up a movie that is without good material. The cast is great: Aaron Eckart, Elizabeth Banks, Timothy Olyphant, Holmes… More
Bill: They hate that I'm working at their bank. I hate that I'm working at their bank. Meet Bill is a perfect example that an exemplary cast can't hold up a movie that is without good material. The cast is great: Aaron Eckart, Elizabeth Banks, Timothy Olyphant, Holmes Osborne, Kristen Wiig, Jessica Alba, and Logan Lerman. The story, however, is extremely dull. The story is about Bill. A man who's addicted to sugar, works at a bank with his in-laws, and has a wife that cheats on him with the local news guy. Bill then takes up mentoring a student and starts to try to find himself. His search is pretty boring. The movie wants to be insightful and funny, but it just comes off as a dull and unfunny comedy with no redeeming qualities; that will be forgotten twenty minutes after watching it. I honestly thought I would like this. I'm an Aaron Eckart fan. I've loved several of his movies. From Thank You For Smoking to The Dark Knight. From Conversations with Other Women(Extremely Underrated) to Rabbit Hole. He normally plays characters that are interesting. Here he plays a character that is extremely, ummm.... uninteresting and extremely boring. Meet Bill is not funny enough to be a good comedy and not dramatic enough to be a good drama. It's just a piece of garbage. Once you throw it away, you forget about it.
jay n

Pleasant enough age crisis comedy that veers off course but Aaron Eckhart is good in the lead and keeps it on track as much as possible.
♥˩ƳИИ &

Jessica Alba, Elizabeth Banks, Aaron Eckhart A guy fed up with his job and married to a cheating wife reluctantly mentors a rebellious teen. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Great comedy. Really liked this movie a lot. I was laughing one moment… More
Jessica Alba, Elizabeth Banks, Aaron Eckhart A guy fed up with his job and married to a cheating wife reluctantly mentors a rebellious teen. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Great comedy. Really liked this movie a lot. I was laughing one moment and then cringing in embarrassment for Aaron Eckhart's character Bill another moment. Just some really awkward moments that make you wanna laugh but then feel sorry for the guy. Logan Lerman was great in this movie. Liked his sarcastic comments and if not for his performance, I feel Jessica Alba's would have been forgetful. Logan definitely stills her spotlight. Aaron Eckhart was great. I loved his acting in this movie. He was hilarious.
Nicki M

Hmm.. it was okay...not great, but okay. I could have done without the drug stuff, and the ending was a little too up in the air, but it had it's moments. Jessica Alba and Elizabeth Banks are both very good. I certainly wouldn't advise anyone to go out of their way to see… More
Hmm.. it was okay...not great, but okay. I could have done without the drug stuff, and the ending was a little too up in the air, but it had it's moments. Jessica Alba and Elizabeth Banks are both very good. I certainly wouldn't advise anyone to go out of their way to see it, though.
Josh L

I was entertained and there were some funny parts, but it's a forgettable movie. I liked Aaron Eckhart as usual and Logan Lerman has plenty of charisma.
Daniel J D

Timothy Olyphant and Jessica Alba could've easily ruined this movie for me, but they were surprisingly tolerable. Olyphant played the only believable role he ever plays -- a douchebag. That Logan Lerman kid, however, reminds me of the kid in Charlie Bartlett and should be in more… More
Timothy Olyphant and Jessica Alba could've easily ruined this movie for me, but they were surprisingly tolerable. Olyphant played the only believable role he ever plays -- a douchebag. That Logan Lerman kid, however, reminds me of the kid in Charlie Bartlett and should be in more movies. And the music was pretty cool. As was Eckhart.
Curtis L

I laughed, I cringed. It's like American Beauty got turned into a comedy, but without the brain splattering. Aaron Eckhart is my new hero. I really enjoyed it, but near the end it had some over exaggerated drug scenes and some 'moral of the story' elements.
Manu G

The movie has no point its just a wannabe comedy-self improving rich guy with a slut wife that just wants to follow his dream. A guy fed up with his job and married to a cheating wife reluctantly mentors a rebellious teen
Lorenzo v

Aaron Eckhart's performance is the only thing that kept this film intact until the end. He plays Bill, a down-and-out 30 something guy who works for the father of his wife. He reluctantly takes a kid under his wing and be his mentor. He was supposed to teach the kid about… More
Aaron Eckhart's performance is the only thing that kept this film intact until the end. He plays Bill, a down-and-out 30 something guy who works for the father of his wife. He reluctantly takes a kid under his wing and be his mentor. He was supposed to teach the kid about life and all that comes along with it, instead the kid taught Bill that life is more than a good desk job and a bar of Snickers. A solid performance by Aaron Eckhart. He was funny, outrageous, comedic, unbelievable, awkward, silly whatever you call him, he was pretty impressive. I don't know about the remaining actors though. Jessica Alba barely spoke in the entire film and her role was downright useless. Its a damn shame. 3/5
Joey N

I hated this movie. NOT a fan of Aaron Eckhart or Elizabeth Banks.
William G

Midlife crisis dramedy has few laughs, not very likeable characters, and no real drive.
Sarah P

It was an enjoyable, fun watch.
Leo L

Hmmm. I rated this before. Oh well. An interesting movie. Good story plot about a man who doesn't wish to settle for less of life but to be more in control of it. Good music. Timothy Olyphant is hilarious. Aaron Eckhart is great. Definitely worthy.
Rose G

Definitely, it was Aaron Eckhart who carried the movie all way through, after all he plays the title role. There's nothing really much to rave about it, though some scenes were funny, I just thought that the story was too stretched out. There wasn't much material to work… More
Definitely, it was Aaron Eckhart who carried the movie all way through, after all he plays the title role. There's nothing really much to rave about it, though some scenes were funny, I just thought that the story was too stretched out. There wasn't much material to work with. It was rather a bit disappointing to see a good actor such as Eckhart in something that probably is just tv-movie material.
FanGirl B

Funny enough, but not funny enough to recommend