L.A. Weekly's Scores

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For 3,750 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 46% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 51% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 8.7 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 56
Highest review score: 100 A Bread Factory Part Two: Walk With Me a While
Lowest review score: 0 Deuces Wild
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,540 out of 3750
  2. Mixed: 1,542 out of 3750
  3. Negative: 668 out of 3750
3750 movie reviews
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  1. The Amati Girls
    The cast, which includes Cloris Leachman as the sisters' mother and Paul Sorvino, Jamey Sheridan and Mark Harmon as their various men, emote like pros, even as they deplete any audience goodwill left over from past triumphs.
  2. Snatch.
    It all feels rather laddish and belabored, but it will eat up 90 minutes of your time without making you regret the loss.
  3. Panic
    Enigmas make Panic involving, and suspenseful.
  4. Double Take
    An ostensible action-comedy that can't seem to get either side of its genre equation right.
  5. Save the Last Dance
    It's pretty good, really.
  6. Antitrust
    As a film, it essentially bites.
  7. The Claim
    A superb film by any measure, as deep and harsh as the sin Dillon committed to become great.
  8. Chunhyangdyun
    The film is unabashedly sexy, and its heady romanticism feels as right and as unaffected as Im's bold use of color and his equally bold decision to tell the story through traditional pansori narration.
  9. Shadow of the Vampire
    Malkovich and Dafoe play off each other with a devilish hamminess.
  10. Traffic
    His (Soderbergh's) work has taken on echoes of a classier, bygone age of cinema, at once more literate and lighthearted.
  11. Thirteen Days
    A refreshing breakaway from both idolatry and cynicism.
  12. Vatel
    While the filmmakers are not above corset-drama bed-hopping and back-stabbing, it's delicious when the beds and backs belong to Uma Thurman, Tim Roth and Julian Sands.
  13. The House of Mirth
    Has a marvelous, pent-up passion.
  14. Cast Away
    Solid and inspiring will do nicely for Christmas, but it ought not to be good enough for the Oscar nominations that will almost certainly rain upon this movie's adequate head.
  15. Dracula 2000
    Although it's not half bad -- which doesn't mean it's half good -- this horror cheapie comes equipped with a few ideas, a little atmosphere and a couple of serviceable scares.
  16. The Family Man
    Has the airiness of a well-made souffle, springing delicate small surprises at calibrated intervals.
  17. The Gift
    Here, it's the creepily quiet stuff, the stuff that might be rushed over in a different movie -- Annie shivering alone in bed or being visited by her dead grandmother as she hangs out the wash -- that makes the film more than a generic distraction.
  18. What Women Want
    Narrow definitions of femininity limit the comedy and the romance.
  19. The Visit
    Performances that are natural yet weighted with history and frequently heart-wrenching.
  20. Pollock
    What Harris extracts from himself is nothing less than a psychological nude scene, sustained across two hours.
  21. Dude, Where's My Car?
    A film where everyone -- white, black, gay or otherwise -- is equally, lovably dumb.
  22. The Emperor's New Groove
    Plotwise, the movie's groove is more like a well-worn rut. Visually, too, the movie looks half-recycled.
  23. Chocolat
    While there are scenes of wrenching emotional openness and spontaneous charm -- largely due to the irresistible allure and impeccable craft of its ensemble cast -- the degree of calculation apparent in its plot and images undermines its efforts to move and seduce.
  24. South of Heaven, West of Hell
    Oxymoronic musings of a vain country singer.
  25. Vertical Limit
    A thriller that, at its best, has the gooney absurdity of an old Saturday-afternoon movie serial.
  26. Proof of Life
    Exactly the sort of good bad movie that Hollywood does best -- it's big, worthless fun.
  27. Strippers
    That clunky, God-awful bit of exposition-heavy dialogue perfectly encapsulates all that's wrong with this dismal film.
  28. Dungeons & Dragons
    A cheap "Star Wars" rip-off with swords instead of light sabers.
  29. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
    Has the sprawling canvas of an epic and the emotional heat of classical melodrama.
    • 23 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    Poor White Trash
    Essentially a single-gag movie: Namely, trailer trash are funny; we laugh at their bad taste and social ineptitude.
  31. Spring Forward
    A resonance that is moving beyond all measure.
  32. Boys Life 3
    More problematic is "Inside Out," starring Jason Gould, who also wrote and directed, based on his own experiences as the son of Barbra Streisand and Elliott Gould.
    • 35 Metascore
    • 10 Critic Score
    102 Dalmatians
    An unnecessary remake.
  34. Quills
    Remarkable energy and wit, and is probably the most purely enjoyable entry in Kaufman's suboeuvre of literary excursions.
  35. Unbreakable
    The movie feels oddly undercooked and aimless.
  36. How the Grinch Stole Christmas
    This new feature has replaced the original's benevolence, taste and wit with cynicism, armpit humor and manic, desperately unfunny padding.
  37. Bounce
    Thrillingly unpredictable.
  38. La bûche
    Sweet but slight pièce de fluff.
  39. Lies
    If Lies were better, the most obvious point of reference would be "In the Realm of the Senses," but the filmmaking isn't good enough to warrant such comparison, and the ideas are half-baked.
  40. The 6th Day
    Achieves a level of hypocrisy astounding less for its brazenness than for its sheer stupidity.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Rugrats in Paris: The Movie - Rugrats II
    A running spoof of "The Godfather" is especially hilarious, as are numerous, sly digs at all things Disney.
  42. One Day in September
    Macdonald's singular achievement is to restore -- through interviews and archival footage -- the dead to such vivid life, you weep for them and for their families, who have only memories to live off.
  43. Little Nicky
    Juvenile, sloppy and frequently, idiotically hilarious.
  44. Non-Stop
    Sabu takes an already wildly original concept and launches it toward brilliance.
  45. Restless
    Writer and director Gilfillan has an estimable biography, having studied at the Beijing Film Academy and worked as an assistant to John Woo, but there's nothing in her prosaic feature debut that suggests this means a thing.
  46. You Can Count on Me
    (Linney and Ruffalo) are just beautiful enough, in fact, to be in the movies and still remain convincing as authentic folk, and their performances are tremendously moving.
  47. Looking for an Echo
    Assante, restrained and thoughtful, reveals Vinnie's midlife bewilderment as much as his bred-in machismo. His performance is too delicate, though, to stand up to the rigidly formulaic schemes
    • 34 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Red Planet
    A fun movie. Not scary-fun. If you're a male over 10 years old, that should be enough.
  49. Men of Honor
    The main body of the film earns comparison with the military parables of John Ford, particularly "The Long Gray Line" and "The Wings of Eagles."
  50. Suzhou River
    A waterlogged little jewel of a Chinese movie that you must rush out and see at once or else.
  51. Blue Moon
    What this turkey produces in the way of hang-ups is a transparently phony class conflict.
  52. The Legend of Bagger Vance
    Leven's tepid screenplay and the passionless self-control of Redford's direction make this bloodless movie a chore to sit through.
  53. Boesman and Lena
    A labor of love -- a swan song repaying a lifetime of happy debts to the theater, by grace of two terrific performances.
  54. Kippur
    Though Kippur seems a creature radically different -- more nakedly autobiographical, more naturalistic, more forgiving -- from Gitai's highly conceptual and stylized body of work, there are clear thematic continuities.
  55. The Weekend
    Shrill and gloomy.
  56. Charlie's Angels
    Of course, it's terrible -- but did it have to be this bad?
  57. George Washington
    May turn out to be the finest American indie of the year.
  58. Vénus beauté (institut)
    Director Tonie Marshall has taken a very simple story and laced it with potent details that make the film a rich map of her lead character's inner life.
  59. The Sculptress
    A hodgepodge of psychosexual horror gimmicks, from the virginal psychic artist to the impotent psychotic actor.
  60. A Room for Romeo Brass
    Indeed, one of the nicest things about this jewel of a film is that there isn't much of a story at all -- just a handful of delicately drawn characters moving through life that is at once familiar and yet slightly elevated by a director who loves the good in people more than the bad.
  61. Once in the Life
    May lack any transcendent point that would make it exceptional, but it is certainly a worthy start, and worth catching.
  62. What's Cooking?
    Despite some grace- ful performances, especially from Ruehl and Kazan, the result is a tepid repast at best.
  63. Lucky Numbers
    Airless, joyless, worse than you could even imagine.
  64. A Time for Drunken Horses
    A central work in the new, boldly politicized Iranian cinema.
    • 36 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Stardom
    With Woody Allen's "Celebrity," Altman's "Prêt-à-Porter" and MTV's "House of Style" predating it by half a decade, this is kind of like clubbing harp seals in a meat locker.
  66. The Little Vampire
    Slight and goofy, this cut-rate attempt to mine "Harry Potterville" is undermined by its ostensible draw: the lead casting of Jonathan Lipnicki.
  67. Loving Jezebel
    What's meant to be a colorblind story, plays up age-old stereotypes.
  68. Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2
    A schizoid monster slapped together by uneasy bedfellows.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Sound and Fury
    Perfectly situated in the maelstrom of the personal and the political, Sound and Fury creates a space for serious, obstinate contention.
  70. Bedazzled
    It's nowhere near as funny, largely because of an exhaustingly hyperactive performance by Elizabeth Hurley.
  71. Calle 54
    Trueba reveals his subject organically, letting the music speak for itself.
  72. The Legend of Drunken Master
    A half-baked classic.
  73. The Yards
    There's so much that's right in it that its blunders are all the more frustrating.
  74. Just One Time
    Audiences will probably be miles ahead of the plot, but may not mind, since the cast bring a committed, lived-in quality to their performances.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    MVP: Most Valuable Primate
    Has its moments.
  76. Pay It Forward
    (Leder's) camera won't sit still long enough to complete a scene and tell a coherent story, skittering all over the map until you're dizzy from all the degrees of separation and spurious connection.
  77. Dr T and the Women
    About the only good thing to say about this mess is that it's rotten enough that even Altman cultists may be forced to reconsider their devotion.
  78. The Ladies Man
    The story sinks, along with any deeper laughs, under boringly formulaic motivations and plot twists.
  79. Cleopatra's Second Husband
    Reiss guides the film with a firm hand, ratcheting up the tension and ably guiding his actors. It's his protagonists that undo the film, making it a chore to sit through.
  80. Animal Factory
    What enrich the film are its layers of detail -- moronic racial protocols, turf wars, pecking orders, men as livestock -- the authenticity of the dialogue and the rich range of characters.
  81. Billy Elliot
    Good, colorful fun, and by virtue of its emphasis on escape through individual initiative rather than class solidarity, more likely to succeed with American audience.s
  82. Just Looking
    This sort of nostalgia-drenched, sexual-coming-of-age saga has been done to death.
  83. Lost Souls
    While Kaminski understands that movie terror comes in at the eyes, he has little skill for connecting sensation to hearts and minds.
  84. Ratcatcher
    Ramsay has made a movie in which a universe of hopelessness and decay is penetrated by shafts of light that remake these bleak surroundings in strange and beautiful ways.
  85. One
    Barbieri is a natural filmmaker, with an eye for film space and a gift for pacing. Both of his leads are wonderful, but it's Picoy who will break your heart.
  86. The Contender
    What Lurie has made is "The West Wing" without the constraining niceties of prime time.
  87. Get Carter
    If you've never seen the original, you may have no idea what's going on.
  88. Two Family House
    Tenderhearted Staten Island Christmas comedy.
  89. CyberWorld
    Until the IMAX 3-D format is used to produce effects that are not trivial, it will never be anything more than what it is right now: a grandiose amusement park attraction.
  90. Yi Yi
    Generous, soulful film.
  91. Taboo
    Above all, Oshima has fashioned a tale of men among men that feels familiar at first, then moves boldly into more enigmatic terrain.
    • 20 Metascore
    • 10 Critic Score
    Digimon: Digital Monsters
    Crude animation, shrill voicework.
  93. Bamboozled
    Spike Lee lost his nerve -- there are moments here, too, when it also seems like he lost his sense.
  94. Meet the Parents
    While Stiller and De Niro can play hilariously off one another, the film -- despite its happy ending -- feels unresolved.
  95. Requiem for a Dream
    Far too complex and provoking.
  96. Bootmen
    One expects razzle-dazzle dance sequences to lift this movie above its clichés, but they are few and far between, which is not only disappointing, it's downright baffling.
  97. Mercy Streets
    Writer-director Jon Gunn and co-writer John W. Mann can't fashion a meaningful parable from their knot of dangling plotlines and absurd scenarios.
  98. Girlfight
    Kusama leads with feminist empowerment, but her sucker punch is a sappy romance.
  99. The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy
    He (Berlanti) shoots for bland entertainment and scores.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Barenaked in America
    Surprisingly few insights from the quintet, and after 90 minutes we're more familiar with the furniture of their rooms.
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