Megan Lehmann

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New York Post, The Hollywood Reporter
For 329 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 43% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 54% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 10.8 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Megan Lehmann's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 55
Highest review score: 100 Holy Motors
Lowest review score: 0 The Cookout
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 160 out of 329
  2. Mixed: 72 out of 329
  3. Negative: 97 out of 329
329 movie reviews
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    • 85 Metascore
    • 100 Megan Lehmann
    Holy Motors
    Exhilarating, opaque, heartbreaking and completely bonkers – French auteur Leos Carax's so-called comeback film, Holy Motors, is a deliciously preposterous piece of filmmaking that appraises life and death and everything in between, reflected in a funhouse mirror.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 100 Megan Lehmann
    Fast Five
    Big crashes, lithe women and roiling testosterone, not to mention the addition of The Rock as a fire-and-brimstone federal agent – there's plenty to pull in the (mostly) young male audience.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 63 Megan Lehmann
    Scarlet Diva
    This is an egotistical endeavor from the daughter of horror director Dario Argento (a producer here), but her raw performance and utter fearlessness make it strangely magnetic.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 50 Megan Lehmann
    Mr. and Mrs. Iyer
    The central narrative is ultimately too one-dimensional to sustain interest.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 50 Megan Lehmann
    The Young Black Stallion
    A visual treat diminished by lifeless dialogue and self-conscious acting.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 50 Megan Lehmann
    The Safety of Objects
    Although deft editing provides neat segues, "Safety" suffers from a case of too many dramas, too little time. Characters are given no chance to develop and, too often, their behavior turns on a dime, hurtling off into a parallel universe of extreme acts.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 75 Megan Lehmann
    Manito
    A leisurely, scene-setting start, peppered with authentic banter and winning localized humor, fleshes out the characters in Manito so well you feel as if you live alongside them.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 38 Megan Lehmann
    Dopamine
    Can that achingly abstract thing called love be captured in a beaker or dissected like a frog splayed on a slab? That's the belabored premise of this dorky, clinically structured romance cooked up in the Sundance Institute's screenwriter and filmmaker labs.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 75 Megan Lehmann
    Reconstruction
    Uber-hip technique triumphs over substance in Reconstruction.
    • 38 Metascore
    • 63 Megan Lehmann
    Rugrats Go Wild
    Harmless, if slightly hyperactive, fun.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 50 Megan Lehmann
    Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
    Often so silly, it's surreal.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 50 Megan Lehmann
    Daddy Day Care
    Only really little tykes will find the surplus of pratfalls and poo and fart jokes a hoot.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 88 Megan Lehmann
    28 Days Later...
    In place of elaborate sets, clever filmmaking gives the impression of a central London emptied of people and cars, to eerie effect - and this opening reel is nothing short of magnificent.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 63 Megan Lehmann
    The Slaughter Rule
    A good-looking, if imperfectly plotted, coming-of-age feature -- that doesn't quite manage to sidestep the clichéd sport-as-metaphor-for-life trap.
    • 97 Metascore
    • 100 Megan Lehmann
    Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
    Simultaneously funny and frightening, Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 satirical masterpiece. [25 Apr 2004, p.3]
    • New York Post
    • 66 Metascore
    • 75 Megan Lehmann
    Margarita Happy Hour
    At once, a joyful celebration of female friendship and an unusually honest look at newly responsible young women wistfully saying goodbye to the dreams of their youth.
    • 30 Metascore
    • 38 Megan Lehmann
    Knockaround Guys
    Any one episode of "The Sopranos" would send this ill-conceived folly to sleep with the fishes.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 75 Megan Lehmann
    Late Marriage
    Kosashvili's clear-eyed approach to the cultural tradition of arranged marriage balances respect and scorn, and he reconciles the comedy and tragedy inherent in Zaza's tug-of-love with finesse.
    • 36 Metascore
    • 38 Megan Lehmann
    Against the Ropes
    Ryan spends much of the grubby-looking boxing drama Against the Ropes with her face screwed up in distaste, as if a dirty sock is being waved under her nose. Perhaps it's because the movie she's in stinks.
    • 31 Metascore
    • 12 Megan Lehmann
    House of 1000 Corpses
    Kicks off as a cheap piece of retro schlock and quickly devolves into a putrid bloodbath with a thin narrative made utterly indecipherable by the first-time director's clueless approach to filmmaking.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 63 Megan Lehmann
    The Dancer Upstairs
    It's mostly a political thriller, contingent on a love story. It's kind of noirish, subtly humorous and intermittently confusing.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 25 Megan Lehmann
    Hollywood Homicide
    There's little action in this snail-paced bore, you'll need a high-powered magnifying glass to spot the comedy and the "buddies" have about as much chemistry as a pair of wet socks.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 63 Megan Lehmann
    Johnny English
    It's a chaste "Austin Powers," a less ridiculous "Casino Royale," a more subtle "Spy Hard" — in other words, yet another James Bond parody.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 38 Megan Lehmann
    Food of Love
    Some solid performances and pretty scenery don't do much to conceal that there's a whole heap of nothing at the core of this slight coming-of-age/coming-out tale.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 75 Megan Lehmann
    Elf
    Ferrell's manic, overgrown-kid energy sweeps all before it, announcing him - after his standout turn in "Old School" - as a major leading-man talent who can charm as well as amuse.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 50 Megan Lehmann
    A Song for Martin
    This slow-moving Swedish film offers not even a hint of joy, preferring to focus on the humiliation of Martin as he defecates in bed and urinates on the plants at his own birthday party.
    • 32 Metascore
    • 63 Megan Lehmann
    It's All About Love
    A weird hybrid of cloning thriller and futuristic love story, with hints of "The Godfather" and "Ice Castles" - and it wears its disjointed nature like a badge of honor.
    • 36 Metascore
    • 12 Megan Lehmann
    Abandon
    A confusing mishmash.
    • 34 Metascore
    • 63 Megan Lehmann
    The Real Cancun
    It actually works as a sometimes funny, occasionally scandalous, but mostly involving narrative.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 88 Megan Lehmann
    To Be and to Have
    One of the year's most engaging films.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 38 Megan Lehmann
    Torque
    It's a simple-minded celebration of speed that pretends to be nothing else, even throwing in the occasional wink to acknowledge its own silliness.
    • 30 Metascore
    • 12 Megan Lehmann
    The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
    Unfathomable balderdash.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 38 Megan Lehmann
    Japanese Story
    Snoozy and unconvincing.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 50 Megan Lehmann
    Miracle
    The feel-good finale -- an ending even less in doubt than that of the most predictable Hollywood fare -- is as rousing as you'd hope and the fast-paced, on-ice action is satisfyingly authentic.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 75 Megan Lehmann
    Being Julia
    A pleasantly diverting period romp that Annette Bening turns into a wickedly funny tour de force.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 75 Megan Lehmann
    Knafayim Shvurot
    There is much sadness in this finely wrought drama, winner of nine prizes at the Israeli Academy Awards, but the family's hard-won escape from emotional lock-down is ultimately uplifting.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 50 Megan Lehmann
    How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog
    Without Branagh's pitch-perfect comedic skills the entire movie could have been crushed under the avalanche of quips and wisecracks tumbling from Kalesniko's too-clever-by-half pen.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 75 Megan Lehmann
    Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
    Metallica brought back the rights and funded the project, and it's their honesty and willingness to front the cameras, warts and all, that makes this well-edited, often very funny, documentary so compelling.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 50 Megan Lehmann
    S.W.A.T.
    S.W.A.T. boasts the kernel of a good idea - but it gets buried in the chaff of half-baked plot threads, partly realized characters and unstructured pandemonium.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 63 Megan Lehmann
    Revolution #9
    McCann weaves in a somewhat toothless condemnation of a bureaucracy that forsakes the mentally ill, but Revolution # 9 works better as an inside look at one person's slide into madness -- and, more particularly, the impact of that on his loved ones.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 88 Megan Lehmann
    Maria Full of Grace
    More than a ripped-from-the- headlines drug drama, Maria Full of Grace is like a horror movie made real.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 75 Megan Lehmann
    Open Water
    While immersed in the horror of their plight, you might forget to breathe.
    • 94 Metascore
    • 100 Megan Lehmann
    Sideways
    A sublime variation on the buddy road movie, infusing the midlife crises of the two main protagonists with hope and poetry.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 25 Megan Lehmann
    Martin Lawrence Live: Runteldat
    It wouldn't matter so much that this arrogant Richard Pryor wannabe's routine is offensive, puerile and unimaginatively foul-mouthed if it was at least funny.
    • 44 Metascore
    • 25 Megan Lehmann
    It Runs in the Family
    An exercise in drudgery... The whole thing is so patently uninteresting it's hard to see it as anything but a Douglas family vanity project.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 75 Megan Lehmann
    Stage Beauty
    Sometimes teeters on the verge of going completely over the top, but it's mostly saved by its own self-awareness.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 50 Megan Lehmann
    De-Lovely
    Twinkles and glows, but all the surface razzle-dazzle fails to mask the emptiness at its core.
    • 22 Metascore
    • 12 Megan Lehmann
    Mr. Smith Gets a Hustler
    Kicks off with an inauspicious premise, mopes through a dreary tract of virtually plotless meanderings and then ends with a whimper.
    • 32 Metascore
    • 50 Megan Lehmann
    Alex & Emma
    From the incessant rain that blurs the joyless Boston setting to the mysterious decision to make a brunette Hudson look as plain as possible, it's an evanescent fancy devoid of sparkle.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 63 Megan Lehmann
    Piglet's Big Movie
    When the world gets too big and scary, the Hundred Acre Wood remains a clearly delineated comfort zone.
    • 15 Metascore
    • 0 Megan Lehmann
    The Cookout
    Nasty, borderline bigoted, stunningly amateurish film.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 75 Megan Lehmann
    Chaos
    There's a carnivalesque medley of subplots scampering about the screen, but Serreau manages to emerge triumphant with all the threads nimbly stitched together.
    • 14 Metascore
    • 25 Megan Lehmann
    Dischord
    The promising tension between Gypsy and the arrogant Lucian never amounts to much, and the climax is comically melodramatic.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 38 Megan Lehmann
    Wonderland
    The problem is that there's not a sympathetic character among the nasty, brutish males. And the women, except for a flashy cameo by a swimsuit-clad Paris Hilton, are given short shrift.
    • 35 Metascore
    • 25 Megan Lehmann
    Stateside
    Anselmo handles sensitive issues not with kid gloves, but with a metaphorical baseball mitt, fumbling with tone and obviously laboring to force quirks upon characters and situations.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 38 Megan Lehmann
    The Cockettes
    Indulgent, tedious documentary.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 63 Megan Lehmann
    Club Dread
    This genre-busting hybrid is a scattershot affair - bad jokes land with a thud that seems to echo, but the winning ones prompt hearty laughs.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 63 Megan Lehmann
    Postmen in the Mountains
    It's a simple tale of father-and-son bonding that director Huo Jianqi injects with a quiet power, and it benefits greatly from the gorgeous lushness of its backdrop.
    • 36 Metascore
    • 50 Megan Lehmann
    Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star
    The majority of Dickie Roberts winds up looking like a tame episode of the "Brady Bunch" -- spiked with Spade-esque crudity.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 50 Megan Lehmann
    30 Years to Life
    Middleton deals with the various male and female perspectives in an even-handed way, concocting a slice of New York life that's frothy as meringue pie.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 38 Megan Lehmann
    All My Loved Ones
    "Schindler's List" it ain't, and the whole is rendered occasionally surreal by Janusz Stoklosa's laughably heavy-handed score.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 75 Megan Lehmann
    A Mighty Wind
    A hilarious, pitch-perfect comedy.
    • 33 Metascore
    • 25 Megan Lehmann
    Crazy as Hell
    The script is so overstuffed with painfully obvious clues (the constant patina of sweat on the cocky doctor's face, for one) that we don't need the ominous rumbles on the soundtrack to tell us where we're headed.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 100 Megan Lehmann
    In America
    It's a wistful yet penetrating film, shot through with magic realism and life-affirming humor, that gets you deep down where you live.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 75 Megan Lehmann
    Bukowski: Born into This
    The dirty old man who became a cult poet and author was a true original, and every minute he's on screen, whether it's reading from his brutally honest work or musing on a hard-lived life for the cameras, it's hard to look away.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 50 Megan Lehmann
    Malibu's Most Wanted
    Has laugh-out-loud moments of inspired idiocy. The problem is that this one-joke skit (done first and better by Britain's Ali G) has been given the Hamburger Helper treatment and stretched to feature length.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 75 Megan Lehmann
    I Heart Huckabees
    The frantic nuttiness of the stylistically dynamic Huckabees is often laugh-out-loud funny, but amid the pandemonium there's a sense of truly rigorous soul-searching.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 50 Megan Lehmann
    Manna from Heaven
    Hokey, overstuffed plot and a messily hand-stitched, often illogical script.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 63 Megan Lehmann
    Welcome to Collinwood
    Doesn't have the polish of "Ocean's Eleven" - but it does have George Clooney.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 75 Megan Lehmann
    Die Another Day
    Aside from a jarringly fake computer-generated avalanche scene that momentarily challenges the necessary suspension of disbelief, the big-bang set pieces are superbly crafted.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 50 Megan Lehmann
    The Trip
    Much of the action is strident and cartoonish -- but the romance at the core remains tender and true.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 75 Megan Lehmann
    Once Upon a Time in Mexico
    It's the addition of Depp's corrupt CIA agent, Sands, that really makes this violent, over-the-top action film, with its maze-like plot, sing.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 50 Megan Lehmann
    Just a Kiss
    Stevens has a keen sense of the absurd, but the whole thing is too forced - and his use of "rotomation" (last used in Richard Linklater's "Waking Life") to give a Timothy Leary-swirl to key dramatic moments winds up looking incongruous.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 50 Megan Lehmann
    The Event
    A good edit would have allowed the film's worthy, obviously heartfelt, message to shine.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 88 Megan Lehmann
    The Good Girl
    A comedy as black as the asphalt desert of a mall parking lot.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 63 Megan Lehmann
    Hey! Is Dee Dee Home?
    Essentially an hour-long monologue, but this talking head is so engaging that you can't blame director Lech Kowalski's camera for not wanting to stray from the late Dee Dee Ramone's party-ravaged face.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 63 Megan Lehmann
    The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course
    Possibly the most unintentionally hilarious film since Ed Wood's "Plan 9 from Outer Space," Steve Irwin's big-screen debut is destined to become an instant cult classic.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 50 Megan Lehmann
    Reno: Rebel Without a Pause
    The tiny stage can barely contain Reno's gale-force personality, as she paces and rants a stream-of-conscious monologue.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 63 Megan Lehmann
    Red Satin
    A sensual performance from Abbass buoys the flimsy story.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 63 Megan Lehmann
    The Sea
    An exploration of the way the sins of the father trickle down to his offspring, is dense with quirky characters and subplots all woven into a rather heavy-handed meditation on the evils of globalization.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 75 Megan Lehmann
    Laurel Canyon
    Bale, one of the most intriguing actors of his generation, plays a young man rebelling against his liberal upbringing with a mix of bemusement and lost-puppy anguish, making this film as much about mothers and sons as struggling couples.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 63 Megan Lehmann
    Looney Tunes: Back in Action
    The meta jokes come thick and fast - some clunk, but there's no time to mourn - and the references are far from limited to the Warner Bros. world (at one point, Bugs exclaims, "Whaddya know - I found Nemo!").
    • 52 Metascore
    • 38 Megan Lehmann
    Made-Up
    Tries to be many things -- romantic comedy, mockumentary, a satire on beauty and aging -- but ends up succeeding at none.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 50 Megan Lehmann
    The Transporter
    Another big, dumb action movie in the vein of "XXX," The Transporter is riddled with plot holes big enough for its titular hero to drive his sleek black BMW through.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 50 Megan Lehmann
    The Weight of Water
    All the elements are in place for an entertaining murder mystery, but as Bigelow meanders aimlessly back and forth through time, the plot becomes increasingly water-logged.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 63 Megan Lehmann
    What Alice Found
    Bell has added unexpected shadings to what could have been simply a sordid tale of highway prostitution, gradually revealing surprises to the characters that keep a murmur of unease thrumming throughout.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 12 Megan Lehmann
    Confusion of Genders
    The only feeling the character seems capable of is lust -- and when he hits on the male nurse looking after his newborn baby in the hospital, this hollow, unfunny "comedy" moves from merely tedious to nasty.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 38 Megan Lehmann
    Jim Brown: All American
    Lee gives his childhood hero altogether too much face time to defend himself against the numerous allegations and charges of assault, both physical and sexual.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 75 Megan Lehmann
    Charlotte Sometimes
    It's a hushed work of restrained emotions, elliptical storytelling and spare dialogue, peopled with smart, authentic characters who have drawn you into their lives before you know it.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 75 Megan Lehmann
    Rain
    Some of the visual flourishes are a little too obvious, but restrained and subtle storytelling, and fine performances make this delicate coming-of-age tale a treat.
    • 29 Metascore
    • 50 Megan Lehmann
    Without a Paddle
    A likable trio of actors struggles valiantly but ultimately fails to keep this dopey buddy comedy afloat.
    • 33 Metascore
    • 38 Megan Lehmann
    New York Minute
    In trying to straddle both the grown-up and kiddie worlds with this inappropriately sexualized effort - their first theatrical release since 1995's "It Takes Two" - the Olsens have lost their footing.
    • 44 Metascore
    • 38 Megan Lehmann
    Frankie and Johnny Are Married
    Self-indulgent folly.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 100 Megan Lehmann
    Before Sunset
    Chance encounters and fated love are the stuff of fairy tales, which is what makes the deliriously romantic sequel Before Sunset a small miracle.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 63 Megan Lehmann
    Swimming Pool
    Along with co-writer Emmanuele Bernhein, Ozon...has crafted a contemplative blend of fantasy and reality that illuminates the mysteries of the creative process.
    • 36 Metascore
    • 63 Megan Lehmann
    This Thing of Ours
    It's not surprising that This Thing of Ours -- the title refers to the literal translation of La Cosa Nostra -- rings with authenticity and solid acting.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 100 Megan Lehmann
    City of God
    Like a bomb exploding in a fireworks factory: It's fierce and shocking and dazzling and wonderful.
    • 29 Metascore
    • 25 Megan Lehmann
    The 24th Day
    Boasts one of the most ludicrous plots ever committed to digital video.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 75 Megan Lehmann
    Lost in La Mancha
    When Gilliam is finally forced to admit defeat, it is nothing short of heartbreaking - for audiences, too, as the few shots that made it into the can hold such promise.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 63 Megan Lehmann
    Facing the Music
    Makes a powerful case against the wisdom of budget cuts at universities everywhere.
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