Los Angeles Times' Scores

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For 16,520 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 56% higher than the average critic
  • 6% same as the average critic
  • 38% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 2.3 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 63
Highest review score: 100 Sand Storm
Lowest review score: 0 Saw VI
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8,697 out of 16520
  2. Mixed: 5,806 out of 16520
  3. Negative: 2,017 out of 16520
16520 movie reviews
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  1. L'ennui
    Such a rigorous exploration of sexual obsession that it proves to be a most demanding film.
  2. The Source
    An ambitious and largely successful documentary testimony-tribute to the founders of the so-called Beat movement.
    • 14 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    The Omega Code
    A hokey doomsday/millennialist thriller.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Joe the King
    Antisentimental to a fault.
  5. The Straight Story
    Too mannered and weird around the edges to be convincing.
  6. Defying Gravity
    A straightforward drama done with a maturity and conviction impressive for a first film.
  7. Fight Club
    What's most troubling about this witless mishmash of whiny, infantile philosophizing and bone-crunching violence is the increasing realization that it actually thinks it's saying something of significance.
  8. New Rose Hotel
    No place for literalists, but Ferrera fans should be pleased with this tale.
  9. Whiteboyz
    Documents accurately the capacity of pop culture to make mongrels of its consumers. But it doesn't quite know (or want to know) what to make of it.
  10. Random Hearts
    The film's underlying concept is so irredeemably screwy and far-fetched that no amount of fine work can hope to make it convincing.
    • 26 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Mating Habits of the Earthbound Human
    The film's greatest strength is the deadpan narration of Hyde Pierce.
  12. The Grandfather
    A wise and beautiful film.
  13. Beyond the Clouds
    A shimmeringly beautiful and wise reverie on love and desire.
  14. The Limey
    A solid genre film that offers the satisfactions of the familiar while deriving its resonance through its specific and telling references to the '60s.
  15. Superstar
    If Superstar were meatloaf--and that would be an improvement--the recipe would be 4 pounds bread crumbs to 3 ounces sirloin. Make that chuck.
  16. Boys Don't Cry
    An exceptional--and exceptionally disturbing--film from a first-time director and writer (with Andy Bienen) named Kimberly Pierce. Unflinching, uncompromising, made with complete conviction and rare skill.
  17. Molly
    It is moving and has been well-crafted with much care.
    • 44 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Plunkett & Macleane
    Everything is stunningly photographed by John Mathieson, but to paraphrase Gertrude Stein, a cockroach is a cockroach is a cockroach.
  19. Mystery, Alaska
    It is Australian Crowe, a previous non-skater, who gives the film's standout performance.
  20. The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland
    It looks as if no one bothered to deliver more than the minimum requirement of magic or artistry.
  21. Happy, Texas
    A hoot, a hilarious comedy that's smart and caring, yet sexy and ingenious enough that it just might stir up some of that elusive "Full Monty"-style box-office appeal.
  22. Bandits
    An emotion-charged tale that's also an edgy commentary on women's destinies and how they're still so largely affected by men.
  23. Three Kings
    Off-and-on cynical and sentimental, Russell's darkly comic tale shows how much can be done with familiar material when you're burning to do things differently and have the gifts to pull that off.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Drive Me Crazy
    Like the song, the movie is bouncy and catchy but disposable pop material.
  25. Double Jeopardy
    For all its familiar conventions and hoary improbabilities, Double Jeopardy is a relatively efficient model of its kind.
  26. On the Ropes
    In recording life as it unfolds in the course of a year, On the Ropes not only defies prediction as to its outcome but is in some ways downright confounding...as involving and suspenseful as the best fictional films.
  27. One Man's Hero
    Has the stuff of a cavalry classic...but it lacks the vision and personality to attain such a level of artistry.
  28. Mumford
    Those who enjoy the old-fashioned Hollywood pleasure of seeing divergent threads neatly pulled together will be more than satisfied.
  29. Jakob the Liar
    The latest in what feels like an endless string of movies ... in which the actor's parts have ruinously overdosed on sentimentality and schmaltz at the expense of humor and even sanity.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    Dog Park
    Peel away the layers of contrivances, however, and the leftover plot barely fills a doggy bag.
  31. Simon Sez
    A lackluster international action adventure.
  32. Guinevere
    We have a right to yawn, but we don't, and Sarah Polley is the reason.
  33. The Jaundiced Eye
    As compelling as it is illuminating.
    • Los Angeles Times
  34. Taxman
    Has the hit-machine aura of something whipped together by L.A. studio execs over avocado sandwiches and banana smoothies.
  35. Splendor
    The pleasing Splendor is surely more likely to appeal to a wider audience than any of Araki's previous films.
  36. Marcello Mastroianni: I Remember
    The kind of full-length career portrait that every great actor deserves but rarely receives.
  37. Sugar Town
    Diverting and sometimes humorous but sticks to the superficial ...not distinctive enough to make much of an impression.
  38. Breakfast of Champions
    This starry ensemble dazzles, but the film never comes fully alive until its climactic 20 minutes, which are deeply moving.
  39. Lucie Aubrac
    Lucie Aubrac has it all: a tender romance, acute suspense, terrific acting, and a camera style and and score that are beautiful yet understated...a major work, possessing breadth, depth and passion.
  40. Get Bruce
    An accurate sense of how today's Hollywood works.
  41. Blue Streak
    (Lawrence) has every right to be proud of carrying this rickety film on his stooped shoulders.
  42. For Love of the Game
    Those who have even a small soft spot for baseball's soothing rhythms will be hard-pressed to resist it.
  43. Romance
    As pretentious as it is hard-core specific, this fiercely anti-erotic film makes even the chilly "Eyes Wide Shut" play like "The Big Easy."
  44. American Beauty
    A blood-chilling dark comedy with unexpected moments of both fury and warmth, a strange, brooding and very accomplished film that sets us back on our heels from its opening frames.
  45. The Minus Man
    Eerie, quietly compelling... a fresh and mesmerizing experience...such an unsettling experience you find yourself still taking it all in well after the lights have gone up.
  46. Earth
    Telling things through the eyes of a spoiled, precocious, troublemaking 8-year-old narrator is both an overdone device and not a particularly engaging one.
  47. B. Monkey
    As skilled, resourceful actors, (Argento and Harris) make...a more believable couple than you would have thought possible.
  48. Love Stinks
    Low comedy doesn't get any lower than Love Stinks.
  49. Stigmata
    Essentially a late-'90s MTV version of "The Exorcist," a half-serious, half-silly piece of business that keeps us involved despite (or maybe because of) being more than a little overdone.
  50. Best Laid Plans
    A fine mood piece with lots of atmosphere and boasts terrific performances from its stars.
  51. Black Cat, White Cat
    Kusturica works marvels with his endlessly amusing cast, and his film has an appealingly free and easy tone.
  52. All the Little Animals
    There's something plodding and uncomfortably strident about Little Animals that keeps the audience from sharing, much less understanding, Bobby's enchantment.
  53. Outside Providence
    Corrente's gift for evoking the lives of blue-collar men that made his debut film, "Federal Hill," so appealing blends perfectly with the antic sensibility of the Farrellys.
  54. Chill Factor
    Melts swiftly...don't expect a shred of credibility.
  55. The Muse
    The sharpest inside Hollywood comedy in quite a while.
  56. The Astronaut's Wife
    A moderately diverting thriller that builds suspense and entertains effectively... strongest selling point is Charlize Theron.
    • Los Angeles Times
  57. The Very Thought of You
    Glowing, amusing movie that's a good bet to lift your spirits.
  58. A Dog of Flanders
    This is a movie for younger children -- they won't notice that the children deliver their lines with all the conviction of an airline flight boarding announcement.
  59. The 13th Warrior
    Thinking too much about the contents will ruin what little pleasure there is in the experience.
  60. Dudley Do-Right
    Tiresome, inept farce that's not even a fraction as clever or entertaining as it likes to imagine it is -- a complete waste of time.
  61. In Too Deep
    Script resounds throughout with astringent dialogue and stark authenticity.
  62. Mickey Blue Eyes
    With preposterously convoluted plot twists, not even Grant is enough to make us smile all the way through the end.
    • Los Angeles Times
  63. Teaching Mrs. Tingle
    In his knockout directorial debut writer Kevin Williamson taps into such universal memories with his shrewd and energetic dark comedy.
  64. Universal Soldier: The Return
    Sleek...This is one "return" that's surely welcome.
    • Los Angeles Times
  65. Perfect Blue
    Adapted by Sadayuki Murai from Yoshikazu Takeuchi's novel, "Perfect Blue" creates an increasingly terrifying world and pulls you into it with the effectiveness of a Hitchcock suspense classic. [07 Oct 1999, p.F16]
    • Los Angeles Times
  66. Brokedown Palace
    Just another lurid, contrived, xenophobic tale about Americans trapped in hideous foreign prisons.
  67. Bowfinger
    Has it's share of downtime.
    • Los Angeles Times
  68. Detroit Rock City
    This aggressively stupid film is merely business as usual, a compendium of all the current obsessions and fixations that make so many of these films such unhappy experiences.
  69. Better Than Chocolate
    Even though you could wish that Better Than Chocolate was a little more substantially developed, it nonetheless brims over with good humor and high spirits and has some moments of stunning yet tasteful eroticism. [13 Aug 1999, p.F10]
    • Los Angeles Times
  70. Autumn Tale
    Droll and delicious.
  71. Mystery Men
    It's clever, amusing, clever, visually inventive, clever, well-cast .
  72. The Thomas Crown Affair
    A moderately diverting entertainment as sleek and aerodynamically sound as the glider its characters tool around in, it takes no extraordinary chances and delivers no major surprises.
  73. The Acid House
    A virulent but thoroughly entertaining trilogy of tales about the besieged lower classes of Edinburgh, ripe with vulgarity, self-loathing, violence and economic disorder.
  74. Illuminata
    Everything falls into place and seems exactly right: the brisk tempo, the crisp, witty performances, the slightly sooty touch.
  75. The Iron Giant
    Both a step back and a step forward from the trends of modern animation, it feels like a classic even though it's just out of the box.
  76. The Sixth Sense
    So disarmingly eerie it's virtually guaranteed to rattle the most jaded of cages.
  77. Dick
    So sharp and funny it should appeal to all ages.
  78. Twin Falls Idaho
    A graceful mood piece that is infinitely moving.
  79. Runaway Bride
    Runaway Bride's Josann McGibbon & Sara Parriott script is so muddled and contrived, raising issues only to ignore them or throw them away, you wonder why so many people embraced it.
  80. Deep Blue Sea
    An example of how expert action filmmaking and up-to-the-minute visual effects can transcend a workmanlike script and bring excitement to conventional genre material.
  81. Drop Dead Gorgeous
    Occasionally heavy-handed and overdone -- and scarcely free from a self-congratulatory tone -- this latest spoof is nonetheless lots of fun, clever and fearless, and loaded with wicked lines and touches.
  82. Inspector Gadget
    Gadget instead ends up as another mindless, noisy thrill ride that gorges its audience on bright effects and leaves it queasy from overconsumption.
  83. The Haunting
    Haunting almost serves as a reverse image of a successful film, demonstrating by what it lacks exactly what is needed to do things right. [23 July 1999, p.F15]
    • Los Angeles Times
  84. The Wood
    An across-the-board delight featuring a spot-on ensemble cast that treats the most awkward and embarrassing moments in the rites of passage with affectionate hilarity.
  85. Eyes Wide Shut
    This is finally a film that is better at mood than substance, that has its strongest hold on you when it’s making the least amount of sense.
  86. The Blair Witch Project
    A clever, entertaining stunt, no more, no less.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Muppets from Space
    Smart and winning, this sixth Muppet feature film comes closest to recapturing the pure joy of the 1979 original, "The Muppet Movie." Kids will like it; parents who grew up with the Muppets may like it even more. [14 July 1999, p.F6]
    • Los Angeles Times
  88. Arlington Road
    Arlington Road belongs to that splendid Hollywood tradition of dealing with serious, timely issues in the form of a suspense thriller.
  89. American Pie
    Unusual in its ability to mix bodily functions humor with a sincere and unlooked-for sense of decency.
  90. Late August, Early September
    An insightful film that takes us on a nuanced emotional journey with a group of friends trying to make sense of the romantic choices they've made, it has the sympathy and psychological acuity we've come to recognize as the hallmark of French cinema at its best. [20 Aug 1999, p.F14]
    • Los Angeles Times
  91. Summer of Sam
    A glum and unpleasant experience, caught between what it wants to do and how it has chosen to do it.
  92. Wild Wild West
    The film sacrifices playfulness and humor to concentrate on a relentless display of elaborate but ho-hum gadgets and gizmos.
  93. South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut
    So gleefully vulgar, so eagerly offensive, it's tough not to get down on all fours and beg for more.
  94. Big Daddy
    There's no doubt Sandler is talented, but if he persists in believing that, like Elvis, his presence alone covers a multitude of omissions and inconsistencies, he will squander his gift and make a series of forgettable films in the process.
  95. Tarzan
    We may have seen it all before, but when it's done up like this, experiencing it all over again is a pleasure. [16 June 1999, Calendar, p.F-1]
    • Los Angeles Times
  96. An Ideal Husband
    Parker has shaped the play to make it more film-friendly and relevant, but he has done so with such subtlety you would have to be a Wilde authority even to notice.
  97. Run Lola Run
    As essential in its own way as Anton Karas' celebrated zither work was to "The Third Man," Lola's music is perfectly suited to the film's aims and just about addictive in its throbbing, insinuating rhythms.
  98. The General's Daughter
    A middling, so-so thriller about a murder investigation on an Army base, it falls to Earth somewhere between failure and success, inconclusive to the end.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The Red Violin
    While it's possible to view this movie like a short-story collection, putting check marks beside the selections one likes best, to do so would deny the pleasure of experiencing this beautifully crafted, intricately designed story the way it was intended, as an organic whole. [11 June 1999, Calendar, p.F-8]
    • Los Angeles Times
  100. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
    Myers has a singular talent for skit humor… You can get away with an awful lot of gross, juvenile humor if you've got that to fall back on. [11 June 1999, Calendar, p.F-1]
    • Los Angeles Times
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