Entertainment Weekly's Scores

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For 7,797 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 68% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 30% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 2 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 67
Highest review score: 100 13th
Lowest review score: 0 Wide Awake
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4,958 out of 7797
  2. Mixed: 2,079 out of 7797
  3. Negative: 760 out of 7797
7797 movie reviews
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  1. Halftime
    Halftime is often hagiography, but a keen and sympathetic one too, designed to humanize a tabloid-headline life and remind us once again that where she comes from (the Block, the boogie-down Bronx) is as integral to her success as beauty or talent or sheer tenacity.
  2. Somewhere in Queens
    It's quiet and charming and has some beautiful, if also familiar things to say about fathers and sons, and the question of legacy. But it's not breaking any new or revelatory ground.
  3. Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths
    As an all-in-one viewing experience, Bardo is undeniably uneven, often maddening, and seems to have approximately 17 endings. Still, the movie is a marvel in its own way, dotted with pure cinephile delights and small unexpected pockets of profundity.
  4. Three Thousand Years of Longing
    It's a gentler, sadder movie than the dizzying trailer suggests, and less driven by plot than a stickler for storytelling like Alithea might prefer: a loopy little jewel-box reverie, slipped between two Furies.
  5. God's Creatures
    As an acting showcase, Creatures is more than admirable; as a tourism ad for Ireland, untenable. As a movie experience, alas, it's both intriguing and teasingly incomplete.
  6. Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
    Eric Appel's directorial debut essentially plays like a movie-length Funny or Die sketch — which it is, technically (or at least produced under that production umbrella): a giddy cameo-stacked satire propelled by murder, mayhem, Mexican drug lords, and athletic sex with Madonna. This is whole-cloth fantasy, of course, and that's the point: less Walk the Line than Walk Hard, with accordions.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming
    Still, the picture remains the only ”feel good” movie of the entire Cold War corpus.
  8. Smile
    Bacon is great fun as a girl on the verge of a nervous breakdown, chirping with increasing desperation that she's fine, and Finn is a pleasingly nervy stylist, letting the camera tilt and flip at seasick angles and ratcheting the tension as he goes. Smile is a pretty silly movie by any metric; still, it has teeth.
  9. Asteroid City
    Johansson and Schwartzman give two stellar performances within a galaxy of gripping ensemble work that treads the line between pastiche and pathos with ease.
  10. Thunderbolts*
    A lot of what works in the movie does so due to the talent of the performers. There aren't a lot of jokes or killer lines in this, but little bits of business that Pugh and Russell, in particular, make work. Harbour's loud, boorish Russian bear is funny at first, but alas, gets tiresome in a short amount of time.
  11. Captain America: Brave New World
    If this sounds a bit complicated, heavy on exposition, and jumbled, well, that’s because it is. It’s never a great sign when a screenplay has five credited writers, as Brave New World does...Still, Brave New World works significantly better than plenty of other Marvel films.
  12. The Fantastic Four: First Steps
    From its Saul Bass-inspired opening credits to its callbacks to Saturday morning superhero cartoons, it practically vibrates with its sense of time and place.
  13. Causeway
    It's nice to see actors like these do such subtle, sympathetic work for a gifted young director — and to find an outlet for storytelling that doesn't demand neat redemption, but still allows for grace.
  14. The Inspection
    Union's sour presence suggests the tougher film that could have been, bookending the movie with a double dose of viciousness; theirs is a relationship that won't be solved by a crisp uniform. If this is Bratton's calling card — and it should be — her scenes are the ones that suggest the real promise to come.
  15. The Rugrats Movie
    The inevitable heavy-handed life lessons about jealousy and responsibility are doled out — courtesy of writers raised with Dr. Spock and Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood as spiritual guides. But the creative team also dispatches overeducated parenthood and post-permissive childhood with wry, observant wit.
  16. The Pale Blue Eye
    Until [Cooper] loses his way in the cascading absurdity of the final twists, though, the movie is mostly a study in how good its two main actors can be: Bale's soulful, hollow-eyed conviction, and his odd-couple chemistry with Melling, isn't quite enough to sell The Pale Blue Eye's loopy improbabilities in the end, but it's still a pleasure to watch them try.
  17. Emily
    There's something gently intoxicating about O'Connor's dreamlike pastoral settings — oh, those wily, windy moors! — and her determination not just to rewrite Emily, but set her free.
  18. Trespass
    Hill knows how to zing the audience, and his ”existential” approach to action remains edgy and enjoyable. But it also seems guided, more than ever, by a blockbuster imperative: Whatever happens, don’t let that roller coaster stop.
  19. Emancipation
    [Smith's] conviction carries Emancipation a long way, elevating what is essentially a B movie to the realm of something better than its outsize premise: a blunt instrument, maybe, but a brutally affecting one too.
  20. A Haunting in Venice
    Amidst all this, Venice is also just a heck of a lot of fun, from its eerie Venetian mask costumes to the intriguing ways in which its central mysteries unfold. With heaps of atmosphere and a general spookiness, it's the perfect choice for a Halloween party.
  21. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
    In a summer movie landscape littered with cynical reboots and quippy superhero sequels, there’s something refreshing about Kingdom’s earnestness, following Noa on a true hero’s journey. Caesar may be gone, but Noa is a more than worthy successor.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Big Country
    William Wyler’s sprawling Western about iron-willed ranchers squabbling over desirable land, The Big Country, is one of the prime wide-screen epics of the late ’50s, but today it’s remembered mostly for composer Jerome Moross’ magnificent Big Sky score.
  23. Somebody I Used to Know
    There's a low-key charm to the movie's knowing spin on familiar beats, and far more chaotic non-sexual nudity than Julia Roberts would ever allow in her contract.
  24. The Pod Generation
    Ejiofor is eminently relatable as an analog man who can't seem to understand where it all went wrong, and Clarke's eyebrows knit with such pained expressiveness, it's as if they're having their own wriggling monologue throughout the movie.
  25. Joy Ride
    Even among all the sex jokes and vulgar one-liners, Joy Ride boasts a real beating heart. It's a raunchy (and occasionally familiar) ride, but it's well worth the trip.
  26. No Hard Feelings
    No Hard Feelings is a welcome addition to a dwindling genre — and a reminder that Lawrence is one Hollywood's best (and funniest) leads.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Land of the Pharaohs
    Joan Collins and her pointy bras are a hubba-hubba hoot.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Wild One
    Brando’s tight denims and defiance prefigured James Dean’s archetypal rebellion.
  29. Priscilla
    Priscilla is incisive in its portrayal of its central relationship, but it needs a little less conversation, a little more action when it comes to its heroine's path to self-determination.
  30. Rustin
    The broader recognition of Rustin's efforts may be long overdue, but that doesn't mean a cinematic rendering of his life should feel as dated as our nation's own historical shortcomings.
  31. The Bikeriders
    Though the panoply of accents the actors choose could easily fill out a Midwestern grocery store checkout line, there's not a performance here that isn't admirable for its sheer chutzpah. Nichols has assembled an estimable ensemble, and they bring to life the antics and erratic violence of their characters with great authenticity.
  32. Mean Girls
    As it did in 2004, Mean Girls is a playground for a melange of fresh, new talent for whom we hope the limit does not exist. Did we really need another film version? No. But it’s pretty grool that the one we got is such fun.
  33. The Outrun
    Without Ronan's towering talent, The Outrun could easily be a trite addiction drama. But Ronan, cast against the backdrop of the sublime, evocative Orkney Island landscapes, elevates the film to a moving tale of overcoming one's demons and learning to savor life as it comes.
  34. Longlegs
    What’s most impressive is how Perkins collects his simple component parts and somehow transforms this into such an unnerving film. Longlegs is definitely a step above the others.
  35. The Union
    All of the action is shot cleanly, and I could always tell where everyone was in relation to one another during the setpieces — which may not sound like much of a win, but if you think that, you clearly haven't watched too many direct-to-streaming movies. If you want something done efficiently, hire a union man.
  36. Emilia Pérez
    Despite a slow start and its wildly varying tones, Emilia Pérez works best when you give yourself over to its harried, shaggy magic. It's an ambitious, provocative, big swing of a picture — and if it's not always a home run, at least it manages to consistently get on base.
  37. M3GAN 2.0
    The actual plot of this movie is confusing and idiotic (I really had no idea what the main baddie was trying to accomplish), but luckily, this is not an obstacle to having fun.
  38. F1: The Movie
    For flash and rumble, F1 doesn't have an equal this summer. Roll down the windows and enjoy the ride.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Double Dragon
    This irrepressibly action-packed adventure may be based on a computer program, but it gets its real kick from martial- arts acrobatics, comic-book-vivid art direction, and a future-shock vision inspired by The Road Warrior, Robocop, and Escape From New York. What 12-year-old could resist?
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    The Tales of Hoffmann
    A logical distillation of Powell and Pressburger’s Red Shoes, Tales‘ splendid excess sometimes tilts toward gaudiness. What’s nectar to some is syrup to others, an overcooked reduction that can be too thick to swallow.
  41. The Order
    The film is also a chilling slice of historical memory in the ways it studies one of the earliest iterations of the version of white nationalism currently insinuating itself into American politics — and its haunting understanding of the insidious creep of such beliefs.
  42. Better Man
    Better Man is beautifully emotional and engaging, and it’s an admirably big swing. But it would have a greater shot at making audiences go ape if the primate concept were used more judiciously.
  43. How to Train Your Dragon
    There’s honestly no real reason for this iteration to exist. At least, though, it doesn’t cheapen its source material, trusting in the good (dragon) bones that have always been there.
  44. Sommersby
    If Sommersby is finally more pleasant than exciting, that may be because its post-Civil War setting robs the story of much of its exoticism.
  45. G20
    If you do not find yourself hootin’ and hollerin’ at Viola Davis — excuse me, President Viola Davis — packing automatic weapons, tossing grenades, and charging into a helicopter, well, your loyalty to good, idiotic fun might be questioned.
  46. Key Largo
    Key Largo is heaps of fun if you’re willing to go along for the ride, but perhaps slightly more silly than audiences might expect (or creators intend).
  47. The Accountant 2
    The ludicrousness on display here is enormous.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Blackmail
    The director's most literal signature elements are almost all on display in his first talkie — dizzying camerawork, endless staircases, and fast-paced chase scenes make the movie's best moments distinctly engaging.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Murder!
    After the introduction of the titular crime and a proto-12 Angry Men jury scene, the film becomes a playful meta-commentary on the inherent silliness of watching actors go through the motions of detective work, with numerous charming visual embellishments.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Young and Innocent
    One of Hitchcock's lighter thrillers, Young and Innocent is a straightforward wrong-man film elevated by the chemistry of its leads, Derrick De Marney as fugitive and Nova Pilbeam as a young woman roped into his antics. Despite being relatively underwritten, their romantic dynamic crackles as the two easily find the comedy in every scenario without undermining the dramatic tension.
  51. Straw
    Straw is not exactly subtle, but the emotions are so raw and the performances are so earnest that you’ve really got to have a heart of stone not to care for these people.
  52. Sherlock Holmes
    Sherlock Holmes is an odd amalgam, a top-heavy light entertainment that keeps throwing things at you and doesn't seem too concerned with whether they stick.
  53. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
    As is so often the case since his "Monty Python" days, Gilliam is best at visual games and weakest at storytelling.
  54. The White Ribbon
    Shot in vivid black and white, the movie is like "Village of the Damned" directed by Ingmar Bergman, only without Bergman's intensity.
  55. The Road
    There's enough foreboding in America right now to make sitting through a movie such as The Road seem like one more heavy burden that, frankly, no one needs.
  56. It's Complicated
    It's Complicated is middle-aged porn, the specialty of Meyers, who also set ladies and interior decorators drooling over homes and gardens in 2006's “The Holiday.”
  57. Leap Year
    Leap Year could have used more pizzazz.
  58. Moon
    The double role suits Rockwell perfectly -- in fact, it suits him a little too well.
  59. The Girl on the Train
    Téchiné has made a half-captivating, half-baffling tease of a movie in which one woman's destructive whim has the effect of making anti-Semitism look like a myth. It's a distortion that Téchiné, with a passivity bordering on perversity, does nothing to dispel.
  60. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
    Goes down easy enough at first. But even at a svelte 81 minutes, this meal drags on too long.
  61. Me and Orson Welles
    Has so little fire that Welles himself would have wondered out loud what he was doing stuck in the middle of it.
  62. Couples Retreat
    Thanks to Vaughn, Favreau, and the stray sharp lines that pop out of everyone else, the film at least offers the lively sound of egos that still know how to swing.
  63. Public Enemies
    As filmmaker Michael Mann takes pains to emphasize in his handsome, underheated gangster drama Public Enemies, the gent may have been murderous, but he had style.
  64. A Perfect Getaway
    Steve Zahn makes full use of the many varieties of hyper in his acting arsenal, while Timothy Olyphant has a heckuva good time telegraphing macho mania.
  65. The Time Traveler's Wife
    Bana and McAdams are sweet together, with matching dimples and starry eyes, and we grow eager to see them remain in the same place. In the end, that's all there is to the movie, really. It's a time-travel fantasy in search of a cozy love seat.
  66. Watchmen
    Even Watchmen fanatics may be doomed to a disappointment that results from trying to stay THIS faithful to a comic book.
  67. Terminator Salvation
    It's basically a zombie movie with machines instead of the walking dead.
  68. Life Is Beautiful
    Starts out as sentimental whimsy and ends as sentimental kitsch.
  69. Sin Nombre
    Whenever Sin Nombre turns violent, it seizes you with its convulsive skill, but the film's images vastly outstrip its imagination.
  70. Away We Go
    A gilded entry in the cinema du quirk. It's a movie that invites you, all too often, to feel superior to the people on screen.
  71. Departures
    Departures is tender and, at times, rather squishy. It's sure to squeeze the tear ducts of anyone who has lost a parent.
  72. Babel
    Measured in anything other than biblical cubits, the sum of Babel's many parts turns out to be a picture that suggests Americans ought to stay home and treat their nannies better.
  73. Revanche
    As long as Revanche focuses on the relationship between Tamara (Irina Potapenko), an indentured Ukrainian prostitute, and Alex (Johannes Krisch), the ex-con gofer and would-be tough guy who wants to help her escape, it's riveting.
  74. Che
    As political theater, Che moves from faith to impotence, which is certainly a valid reading of Communism in the 20th century. Yet as drama, that makes the second half of the film borderline deadly.
  75. Pirate Radio
    Pirate Radio is, in the end, about as rock-revolutionary as a tea break. But the choppy production floats on a great soundtrack (the real pirates are the Rolling Stones) and is buoyed by an inviting cast.
  76. Sunshine Cleaning
    This peachcolored comedy about a wacky family who shove their sadness into a bulging closet is being marketed as ''from the producers of Little Miss Sunshine'' All that's missing from the formula is a Volkswagen Microbus.
  77. Spider-Man 3
    Spider-Man 3 has terrific moments, but after the danger and majesty and romantic brio of "Spider-Man 2," those adrenalized rooftop ballets feel, more than ever, like sequences.
  78. The Boys Are Back
    With those piercing eyes, Owen makes a lovely, soulful Joe, of course. But it's not the nice papa we want to understand here, it's the unapologetically naughty one.
  79. Travelers and Magicians
    The (mild) intrigue of Travellers & Magicians is that its central figure, Dondup (Tshewang Dendup), rolls his eyes at Buddhist karma.
  80. Head-On
    Propelled by ferocious sex, nasty violence, and coy interludes of traditional Turkish love songs.
  81. Diary of a Mad Black Woman
    A bad movie so over-the-top that at moments it's almost good - or, at least, more arresting than it has any right to be.
  82. The Jacket
    Director John Maybury has a feel for shock rhythms, and he's skillful at keeping you guessing, but after a while you want your questions to cohere into compelling answers, and in The Jacket they don't, quite.
  83. Gunner Palace
    The film's fragmentary structure, though, is suspect. It says that the soldiers find no real meaning in their combat actions, yet Gunner Palace presents the operations we're seeing in so little context, reducing them to a random hash of ''sensational'' moments, that Tucker at times appears to be exploiting the war to create a didactic canvas of manic military unease.
  84. Melinda and Melinda
    The best reason to see Melinda and Melinda is Radha Mitchell, who has her grabbiest role (or two of them) since she broke through with "High Art."
  85. Steamboy
    It's nifty to behold, but about the only drama in Steamboy lies in waiting for this colossal hovering machine-monster to blow a gasket.
  86. Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous
    Isn't exactly good - like "Legally Blonde 2," it's a more exaggerated, less buoyant sequel to what should have been a one-off comedy - but it's enjoyable.
  87. The Game of Their Lives
    Coaching from the same playbook with which they made "Rudy" and "Hoosiers," director David Anspaugh and screenwriter Angelo Pizzo create a reverent fable.
  88. Ladies in Lavender.
    His (Charles Dance) cinematic style mixes the scent of mothballs with that of the lavender in which these ladies are preserved.
  89. Kingdom of Heaven
    Scott, working from a script by William Monahan, is so busy balancing our sympathies, making sure no one gets offended, that he has made a pageant of war that would have gotten a thumbs-up from Eleanor Roosevelt.
  90. Jiminy Glick in Lalawood
    In his curdled-butterball way, Jiminy Glick may be the most acidic showbiz send-up since Andy Kaufman's Tony Clifton. This movie, though it has its moments, is a pedestal he didn't need.
  91. Kicking & Screaming
    Kicking & Screaming may be a prefab cartoon out of the "Bad News Bears" cookie cutter, but Ferrell doesn't just save this junk -- he rules it.
  92. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
    The one figure in Revenge of the Sith who taps the true spirit of Star Wars is Ewan McGregor: With his beautiful light, clipped delivery, he plays Alec Guinness' playfulness, making Obi-Wan a marvel of benevolent moxie.
  93. Saving Face
    The writer-director, Alice Wu, fudges a lot of the basics -- I never believed the heroine was really a physician -- but the final, proudly public girl-on-girl smooch still jerks a tear.
  94. Mr. & Mrs. Smith
    For all the nimbleness of its first half and the chemical zing of Pitt and Jolie, the film devolves into a fractious and explosive mess, hitting the same note of ''ironic'' violence over and over.
  95. 5x2
    Feminist sanctimony, it turns out, looks much the same forward and backward.
  96. Dark Water
    A shudder-by-numbers pseudo-J-horror gothic, full of supernatural stunts you feel as if you've seen before the movie even gets to them.
  97. November
    The depth of the story and the characters is awfully slight to bear the weight of such fancy editing. But the performances are crisp and in focus, with Cox in particular showing a photogenic feel for expressing grief.
  98. Sky High
    The flick is best in its bittier moments (watch for the stellar cameos), and there's nothing to trouble the tots.
  99. The Memory of a Killer
    A lot of thrillers have asked us to identify with assassins -- but I'd be hard-pressed to name one that makes a hitman as sympathetic, if not sentimental, as The Memory of a Killer.
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