The New York Times' Scores

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For 20,280 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 46% higher than the average critic
  • 5% same as the average critic
  • 49% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 4.2 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 61
Highest review score: 100 Short Cuts
Lowest review score: 0 Gummo
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9,381 out of 20280
  2. Mixed: 8,435 out of 20280
  3. Negative: 2,464 out of 20280
20280 movie reviews
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  1. The Importance of Being Earnest
    For all its distractions and additions, The Importance of Being Earnest is still a reasonably entertaining costume comedy. Wilde's satirical voice may be muffled, but at least it is audible.
  2. Pistol Opera
    Insanely likable but suffers from anemia.
  3. Mumford
    At heart a Frank Capra-style social fable for the '90s.
  4. The Sea
    The film's flamboyant portrayals of characters you love to hate have a malicious comic edge. If ever there were a movie to gladden the hearts of misanthropes, this is it.
  5. Mango Yellow
    For all the grimness and desperation on view in Mango Yellow, the characters emerge as robust, full-dimensional people in touch with their explosive feelings.
  6. Chunhyangdyun
    The extravagance of the sets and costumes increases the theatricality; Chunhyang is an almost childlike delight for the eyes.
  7. City of Ghosts
    Richly atmospheric and suspenseful.
  8. A Housekeeper
    Fits squarely into a Gallic tradition of wistful, worldly-wise comedies that reflect on the weakness of the flesh.
  9. The Backyard
    This stuff is much too strange and much too disturbing to be invented.
  10. Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns)
    Gigantic has the informal tone and structure of an illustrated scrapbook with excerpts from concert and television performances interwoven with lighthearted testimonials by friends, supporters, collaborators and admirers and augmented by witty animated segments.
  11. Edtv
    With down-to-earth comic instincts, it simply invests its story with a loud ring of truth.
  12. Stuart Little
    Sustains a lovely balance between enchantment and playfulness.
  13. The Source
    A stirring, kaleidescopic documentary.
  14. Boys Life 4: Four Play
    While previous editions have had six or seven short films, Boys Life 4: Four Play requires only four titles for its 87-minute running time, a sign of how much more substantial and ambitious work in the field has become.
  15. The Believer
    This willfully provocative film portrait offers lots of raging, vulgarity and shock but little insight into the character's psychopathology.
  16. Stevie
    Because Stevie has none of the glamour of "Hoop Dreams," with its portrait of gifted teenage athletes struggling for glory, it is not nearly as likable a film; but in its earnest, plodding way it is every bit as deep.
  17. The Hurricane
    Washington leans into an otherwise schlocky movie and slams it out of the ballpark.
  18. Sister Helen
    Using a fly-on-the-wall camera technique that suggests the cinéma vérité documentaries of Frederick Wiseman, Ms. Cammisa and Mr. Fruchtman vividly capture the dynamic of tenderness and rage that characterizes Sister Helen's relationship with the 21 men who live under her roof.
  19. The Contender
    A cast that chews the scenery with such obvious enjoyment that you're happy to put up with its tin-eared oratory and preposterous plot turns for the sake of a good ride.
  20. Juwanna Mann
    But even though, most of the time, you know exactly what will happen next -- you don't much mind. Nor do the many plot holes and improbabilities -- undermine its silly, raucous spirit.
  21. Gasoline
    Tautly acted, fairly sexy and atmospheric. Its vision of Stella and Lenni as defiant, doomed outsiders desperately racing toward an elusive paradise on a treacherous highway may be bleak, but it's also intensely and proudly romantic.
  22. Biggie and Tupac
    Whether or not you buy Mr. Broomfield's findings, the film acquires an undeniable entertainment value as the slight, pale Mr. Broomfield continues to force himself on people and into situations that would make lesser men run for cover.
  23. Margarita Happy Hour
    Ms. Chaiken isn't much interested in melodramatic plot developments. Her talent lies in an evocative, accurate observation of a distinctive milieu and in the lively, convincing dialogue she creates for her characters.
  24. Freeze Me
    The violent scenes veer vertiginously between slapstick, soft-core pornography and raw documentary, leaving you repelled and confused, as well as fascinated.
  25. Kiss of the Dragon
    Mr. Li will come out of Kiss of the Dragon smelling like a rose; the combat couldn't be better. But next time around, he should leave the script to more capable hands.
  26. Mondays in the Sun
    This slow, episodic film is held together by the galvanic presence of Javier Bardem.
  27. Mein liebster Feind - Klaus Kinski
    Serves as an eloquent coda to their unforgettable creative partnership.
  28. A Perfect Murder
    The story has enough nasty twists and tantalizing clues for its ingenious mechanics to remain engaging.
  29. Happy, Texas
    So soft-hearted it wouldn't hurt a fly.
  30. Nicholas Nickleby
    The director has produced a colorful, affecting collage of Dickensian moods and motifs, a movie that elicits an overwhelming desire to plunge into 900 pages of 19th-century prose.
  31. Get Bruce
    Endearing, very funny and utterly unpretentious.
  32. Madame Satã
    It is a voluptuous, hot-blooded portrait of a social outcast, a black, homosexual criminal who in acting out his gaudiest Hollywood dreams, transcendently reinvented himself.
  33. Bulworth
    Its best moments come from witnessing the Senator's inspired unraveling, not from watching where it will end.
  34. A Decade Under the Influence
    Has the undiscriminating temperament of a fan, blithely placing Mr. Coppola's magnificently made "Godfather" on the same plane as Mr. Hopper's slapped-together, and today all but unwatchable, "Easy Rider."
  35. The Third Miracle
    This intelligent, well-acted movie is not helped by the fact that its story in some ways parallels that of "Stigmata," the trashy supernatural spookfest that flared briefly at the box office earlier this year.
  36. The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course
    A curiously thrilling and often hilarious experience.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    One Day in September
    Given the power of its story, One Day in September seems at times to be pushing too hard.
  38. Cuba feliz
    In painting an unabashedly romantic picture of a nation whose songs spring directly from the lives of the people, the movie exalts the Marxian dream of honest working folk, with little to show for their labor, living harmoniously, joined in song.
  39. The Children of the Century
    Though well dressed and well made, ultimately falls prey to the contradiction that afflicts so many movies about writers. What makes them so fascinating, so representative, cannot really be shown on screen.
  40. Only the Strong Survive
    In its zeal to bring recognition to an underappreciated genre, it has an agenda similar to that of last year's revelatory documentary "Standing in the Shadows of Motown."
  41. Hey! Is Dee Dee Home?
    A rueful, reflective companion piece to "Born to Lose."
  42. Colors
    Though it all comes together, most tragically, at the conclusion, Colors is less notable for its plot than for its chilling urgency and its sense of pure style.
  43. Moonstruck
    The process whereby Loretta and Ronny fall in love is a lot less appealing than the large-family drama unfolding around the Castorinis' kitchen table. [16 Dec 1987, p.C22]
  44. Heathers
    As snappy and assured as it is mean-spirited. Its originality extends well beyond the limits of ordinary high school histrionics and into the realm of the genuinely perverse.
  45. Porn Theater
    Functions best in its voyeuristic, sociological mode, offering fragmentary glimpses of complicated lives and the complicated social rituals that shape them.
  46. Once Upon a Time in the Midlands
    What really separates "Midlands" from Leone's desiccated, terse genre work is Mr. Meadows's doting attention to his characters' decency. It gives a demonstrative bittersweetness to a likable but small story.
  47. Km. 0 - Kilometer Zero
    Unfolds, skipping blithely from comic to melodramatic vignettes and back again, it follows the classical structure of a Shakespearean forest comedy, sorting out the mismatched couples and finding appropriate mates (or at least appropriate friendships) for everyone involved.
  48. Apt Pupil
    Both actors play their roles so trickily that tensions escalate until the horror grows unimaginatively gothic.
  49. Big Animal
    Mr. Stuhr, an actor who worked frequently with Kieslowski and who plays the main character in this film, honors his old friend's memory, producing a minor but nonetheless charming footnote to his oeuvre.
  50. Menace II Society
    More acutely than any movie before, it gives cinematic expression to the hot-tempered, defiantly nihilistic ethos that ignites gangster rap.
  51. Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator
    A skillfully organized account of Mr. Rogowski's life and of the sport's boom period. But despite the earnest testimony of two former girlfriends, the movie maintains a chilly distance from its subject.
  52. Yom Yom
    An interesting, elusive hodgepodge of comedy, melodrama and implicit allegory, lighted by occasional sparks of formal bravado.
  53. Welcome to Collinwood
    What the movie lacks in polish, though, it makes up for in pluck, enthusiasm and slapstick shamelessness.
  54. Smoke Signals
    Shows colorful style and a wisdom beyond precocity about its setting and its people.
  55. Mystery Men
    A terrific offbeat cast operating on one shared, loony wavelength.
  56. Smoke
    An inviting but evanescent film that does have casualness, curiosity value and a lot of talent on its side.
  57. WTC the First 24 Hours
    A meditation on the scale of a catastrophe so enormous that all the assembled resources seem paltry and inadequate.
  58. Little Secrets
    Sunny, pleasant, squeaky-clean family film in which nothing surprising happens, and that is the point. Ms. Wood has a poise and wistfulness beyond her years, and she seems likely to follow the path of the child star Diane Lane into more nuanced adult roles.
  59. Albino Alligator
    Events are minor and they unfold slowly. The audience has plenty of time to get ahead of the game.
  60. Pootie Tang
    Pootie Tang may be raw and slovenly -- hey, it often is raw and slovenly -- but it succeeds as a laugh getter because of the spot-on satirical notes. You might say that the movie walks it like it talks it; I'm not sure what Pootie would say.
  61. Langrishe Go Down
    A teasing, oblique curiosity of a movie.
  62. Go Tigers!
    Never disrespectful. It leaves you liking and even admiring the people of Massillon for their spunk and their passionate commitment to carrying on a hallowed tradition.
  63. Fellini: I'm a Born Liar
    Mr. Pettigrew's affection for Fellini and his films animates this documentary and limits its appeal.
  64. Bones
    In exalting the very worst of humanity, Bones displays a special glee and an unusual density of scary imagery.
  65. Petits frères
    Captures the vulnerability and aimlessness of its unfortunate characters with a heart-in-your-throat rawness that recalls some of the more poignant moments of Italian neo-realist cinema.
  66. Center Stage
    Sexy and infectious in spite of itself.
  67. The Emperor's New Groove
    Exhibits a cheeky effervescence and spunk.
  68. Butterfly Tongues
    Delicate, quietly devastating.
  69. One Hour Photo
    Unfortunately One Hour Photo turns everyone but the central character into a cutout.
  70. Manna from Heaven
    A product neither of Hollywood nor the New York-Sundance indie axis, Manna From Heaven is a true outsider film, and while it would be easy to fault its lack of technical polish, somewhat discursive script and uneven performances, it is also refreshingly sincere, gentle and good-natured.
  71. The Thomas Crown Affair
    Hard to believe that real emotion was involved anywhere in this story.
  72. Intimacy
    If Intimacy does anything well, it portrays desperation, in many different forms.
  73. Hard Ball
    Its uplifting message about teamwork and caring wouldn't hurt a fly. You might even say, the movie is good for you.
  74. Love at Times Square
    For those looking for a vacation from the irony and the cruelty that have invaded so much of American popular culture, this scruffy little Indian film is a delightful getaway.
  75. Zero Day
    What gives the movie its power is that even the most innocuous scenes in the boys' lives are shadowed by dread.
  76. L'Auberge Espagnole
    Presents an appealing and persuasive picture of European integration, in which national differences, which once sparked military and political conflict, are preserved because they make life sexier and more interesting.
  77. Bossa Nova
    There must be a name for a picture so inconsequential, in which the music provides so much of the chemistry that you get the feeling Bossa Nova would be funereal without it.
  78. The Cuckoo
    There are subtitles to reduce everything to simple English declarative sentences. This gives the viewer a decidedly unfair advantage over the characters: we can understand what they cannot and are invited to laugh at their mutual incomprehension.
  79. Nowhere in Africa
    Despite a shaky narrative focus and dramatic reticence, its journey is consistently absorbing.
  80. The Embalmer
    The screenplay evokes this psychosexual power struggle with perfect accuracy and finely tuned performances.
  81. In the Company of Men
    It exaggerates real, recognizable attitudes in a manner that intends to be disturbing.
  82. Buddy Boy
    Even the walls seem to be sweating something viscous and unpleasant.
  83. Die Hard
    Has to be the most excessive film around. It piles every known element of the action genre onto the flimsy story. [15 July 1988]
    • The New York Times
  84. Together
    Together may not be overtly political, but its vision of contemporary Beijing, where brazen, fashion-crazed gold diggers like Lili bait their hooks to snare arrogant, slippery wheeler-dealers who end up playing her for a sucker, has bite.
  85. Bulgarian Lovers
    Superbly acted, without a trace of coyness and with considerable heat.
  86. Living Out Loud
    The filmmaker has borrowed from Chekhov the soul-baring introspection that can be so ineffable on the page or stage yet becomes so damply sensitive and dramatically vague on screen.
  87. Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer
    Presents itself as an anguished brief against capital punishment, especially the execution of people who are legally insane...But the timing of its release smacks of the very exploitation that Mr. Bloomfield condemns.
  88. Life
    Lawrence and Murphy make an entertaining team. And they are surrounded by a supporting cast that makes the prison setting more pleasant than it has any right to be.
  89. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
    It will help if, while watching The Naked Gun, viewers can assume a mental age of about 14. The jokes will seem fresher that way, and they will also, much to the writers' credit, seem screamingly funny at times.
  90. Frida
    At its best when it forsakes earnest psychological exposition for magic realism, when, instead of trying to explain Kahlo's life, it conjures the moods and sensations that fed her art.
  91. Music of the Heart
    An affirmation of the power of music to provide beauty, pleasure and a sense of accomplishment.
  92. Hollywood Homicide
    He (Ford) slips into the role as if it were a pair of well-worn loafers, the left inherited from Peter Falk, the right from Clint Eastwood, and then proceeds, with wry nonchalance, to tap-dance, shuffle and pirouette through his loosest, wittiest performance in years.
  93. Saturday Night Fever
    Fever beings to flag when, after an initial hour filled with high spirits and jubilant music, it settles down to tell its story; the effect is so deflating that it's almost as though another Monday has rolled around and it's time to get back to work.
  94. Spy Kids
    An enjoyable and charming if overactive fantasy.
  95. What's Cooking?
    It's a meal you may feel you've eaten before, but you nonetheless walk away stuffed and happy.
  96. Basic Instinct
    Basic Instinct transfers Mr. Verhoeven's flair for action-oriented material to the realm of Hitchcockian intrigue, and the results are viscerally effective even when they don't make sense. Drawing powerfully on the seductiveness of his actors and the intensity of their situation, Mr. Verhoeven easily suspends all disbelief.
  97. The Seagull's Laughter
    Mr. Gudmundsson has created a sleek, light and entertaining work, with a few contrasting pockets of darkness and mystery.
  98. I Capture the Castle
    The evident affection that the filmmakers bear toward Smith's novel, and toward the odd, spirited people who inhabit it, gives the film a modest, hardworking appeal.
  99. Muriel's Wedding
    Muriel's Wedding runs into trouble when it looks for poignancy too openly, working better at giddy moments than in its occasional sad ones. Most of the time, Mr. Hogan keeps his story light and surprising.
  100. The Sea Is Watching
    Fortunately, Mr. Kumai, who himself has shown no aversion to baroque melodrama, leans here toward a plain and direct style that is tasteful and intelligent, a boon, given the predictability of the story. He understands the difference between pitiable and pitiful.
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