Ruthe Stein

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San Francisco Chronicle
For 411 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 55% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 43% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 1.9 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Ruthe Stein's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 64
Highest review score: 100 The Visitor
Lowest review score: 0 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 244 out of 411
  2. Mixed: 111 out of 411
  3. Negative: 56 out of 411
411 movie reviews
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    • 40 Metascore
    • 25 Ruthe Stein
    Sleepwalking
    A slow-moving family drama guaranteed to induce a nap if not somnambulism.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 50 Ruthe Stein
    Peaceful Warrior
    The film is better than it has any right to be, considering the prosaic source.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 50 Ruthe Stein
    Twist
    Although the acting is uneven and the movie's dead spots make it feel far longer than its running time, the twist in Twist' is certainly clever.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 50 Ruthe Stein
    Never Back Down
    A junior version of "Fight Club," only with no movie stars and different moves.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 50 Ruthe Stein
    When Will I Be Loved
    Another art film that's more pretentious than it needs to be.
    • 38 Metascore
    • 25 Ruthe Stein
    The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green
    With words streaming out of their mouths instead of into bubbles, Ethan and his gang of past, present and future lovers sound laughingly unbelievable. They're on the road to inanity.
    • 38 Metascore
    • 75 Ruthe Stein
    Never Die Alone
    That the film finds its own groove is due largely to the eye of director Ernest Dickerson. Not surprisingly, he began his career as a cinematographer, working on Spike Lee’s early films.
    • 38 Metascore
    • 75 Ruthe Stein
    Laws of Attraction
    Brosnan and Moore display a knack for fast delivery of smart dialogue both in court and in bed. Their verbal sparring is the main attraction of Laws of Attraction and helped me overlook plot holes of massive proportions.
    • 38 Metascore
    • 50 Ruthe Stein
    Raising Helen
    Far from the worst cookie-cutter film to come off the Hollywood assembly line, merely the latest.
    • 38 Metascore
    • 50 Ruthe Stein
    The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising
    A mostly entertaining movie with built-in appeal to young audiences. The good news for parents is that it won't put them to sleep.
    • 38 Metascore
    • 25 Ruthe Stein
    What the #$*! Do We (K)now!?
    The biggest puzzlement about "What'' is what it's doing in major movie theaters around the country when it so clearly belongs on one of those small cable channels given to peculiar programming.
    • 38 Metascore
    • 25 Ruthe Stein
    Yours, Mine and Ours
    A turkey.
    • 38 Metascore
    • 25 Ruthe Stein
    The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3-D
    Sharkboy relies almost entirely on 3-D for its kicks. The novelty, however, quickly wears thin with the thinnest of stories to project.
    • 37 Metascore
    • 25 Ruthe Stein
    The United States of Leland
    As bad as its title.
    • 37 Metascore
    • 25 Ruthe Stein
    All the King's Men
    Recalling the earthiness Broderick Crawford brought to the original, I couldn't help thinking Gandolfini should have been cast as Willie.
    • 36 Metascore
    • 50 Ruthe Stein
    Employee of the Month
    This will never be the movie of the month, but you could do a lot worse at the multiplex.
    • 36 Metascore
    • 50 Ruthe Stein
    The Wicker Man
    Well intentioned, but only occasionally creepy.
    • 36 Metascore
    • 50 Ruthe Stein
    The Jackal
    Amusing performances -- especially from Willis, who takes on a new personality with each new hairstyle -- can't disguise the fact that the film is basically a pastiche of recent movies.
    • 36 Metascore
    • 50 Ruthe Stein
    Diary of a Mad Black Woman
    Harris and particularly Elise give over-the-top performances that bring Diary to the edge of soap opera.
    • 36 Metascore
    • 50 Ruthe Stein
    Swing
    Well-intentioned but frequently inert.
    • 36 Metascore
    • 25 Ruthe Stein
    The Reaping
    Although The Reaping' borrows elements from classics of the genre -- rips them off might be more accurate -- it fails to build the psychological tension that made them so creepily good.
    • 35 Metascore
    • 75 Ruthe Stein
    How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
    A sharp-witted satire of celebrity journalism.
    • 33 Metascore
    • 75 Ruthe Stein
    Raise Your Voice
    Raises the bar for movies geared to teens.
    • 33 Metascore
    • 50 Ruthe Stein
    Welcome to Mooseport
    But the jury is still out on Romano's future in movies. Hackman blows him off the screen.
    • 33 Metascore
    • 50 Ruthe Stein
    The Amityville Horror
    The truly shocking thing about the new version is that it's not bloody awful.
    • 33 Metascore
    • 0 Ruthe Stein
    Dear Wendy
    Annoyingly simplistic.
    • 33 Metascore
    • 25 Ruthe Stein
    Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen
    The movie [Sugarman] made gives little indication that she understands teen girls, dramatic or plain. Much of Confessions seems clueless and -- even worse for moviegoers of any age -- listless.
    • 33 Metascore
    • 50 Ruthe Stein
    New York Minute
    It lives up to its title, flying by in fast motion. Even the first-wave MTV generation may find the pace exhausting, but this piece of fluff wasn't made for them.
    • 31 Metascore
    • 25 Ruthe Stein
    Gray Matters
    Every once in a while you catch glimpses of originality and see what Gray Matters might have been if it hadn't gone soft and safe.
    • 31 Metascore
    • 50 Ruthe Stein
    Deception
    An overwrought and ultimately silly thriller.
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