TV Guide Magazine's Scores

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For 7,979 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 5 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 60
Highest review score: 100 Badlands
Lowest review score: 0 Terror Firmer
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3,504 out of 7979
  2. Mixed: 3,561 out of 7979
  3. Negative: 914 out of 7979
7979 movie reviews
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    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Batman
    Despite its interesting, grim tone and undeniably striking visuals from director Burton and production designer Furst, the film fails to synthesize its strengths into a compelling whole.
  2. Spanglish
    Surprisingly heartfelt tale.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    In Satmar Custody
    Offers a rare glimpse into the hermetic world of the Satmars.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Manito
    Eason balances the clichés of a fairly standard story with convincing realism and a powerful momentum that never flags.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Star Chamber
    Taut, if occasionally silly, the film is hampered by ideological confusion. Director Peter Hyams doesn't seem to know if he's making a reactionary Death Wish" clone or a liberal problem film.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Muppet Treasure Island
    This adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic adventure novel features plenty of not-too-menacing pirates, and exactly the sort of schtick one expects from the Muppets. It will provide an entertaining diversion for children and adults.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
    while many reviewers were put off by Splinter's rheumy-eyed philosophizing and the Turtles' ninja antics, the movie's youthful target audience squealed with delight.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Arthur
    The highly polished production is well paced and imaginatively directed, although the happy union of prince and pauper is harder to swallow in 1981 than it would have been in 1931, when cinematic escapism brought relief to depression-era audiences.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Human Traffic
    Brimming with fun and a few great ideas, it's little more than a foggy memory the minute it's over.
  10. The Strange Case of Señor Computer
    This DIY oddity is both quirkily funny and strangely poignant, and does justice to the same themes that underlie the far more lavishly produced "A.I.: Artificial Intelligence."
  11. Scarlet Diva
    Actress-turned-writer/director Asia Argento's angry, outspoken, semi-autobiographical rant of a film is strident and occasionally juvenile, but it packs an undeniable wallop.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Dumb and Dumber
    Underlying the slapstick, however, is an extravagant parody of American culture--bad taste, bad manners, the gushing sentimentality of Lloyd's daydreams, or the classic westward road trip, complete with diner scenes and archetypal rednecks.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    White Oleander
    While the film may drop a few of the novel's more disturbing moments, it still travels some emotionally rocky territory, and each of those actresses -- particularly Alison Lohman, who carries most of the movie on her young shoulders -- turns in a first-rate performance.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Hiding Out
    Cryer does an admirable job of pulling off both ages, and Coogan is even better just playing one. Director Bob Giraldi gives it all a good deal of energy, especially in the first part, shot in a gray and ominous New York that takes on new menace under Giraldi's slick visual style.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Red Dust
    The second pairing of Clark Gable and Jean Harlow is a steamy drama of infidelity, set against an exotic background and peppered with dialog and situations that pushed the boundaries of Hollywood self-censorship as far as they would go.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    The Gatekeeper
    John Carlos Frey's tough social drama has a slightly sensationalistic edge, but the disturbing fact is that all too much of his worthy film hews closely to the real-life experiences of undocumented immigrant workers.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    The Blonds
    It's a complex new approach toward putting memory to tape, and the result can be at times too theoretical, too personal and too opaque, but it's a consistently challenging work that's often sharply poignant.
  18. Saints and Sinners
    Would be as tedious as a home movie if the couple, Edward DeBonis and Vincent Maniscalco, weren't gay men and their nuptials not colored by the clash between their personal faith and their rejection by the mainstream church.
  19. Shall We Dance
    Only Lopez, the film's ostensible star, seems to be struggling; she's a lovely dancer, but the only reason Lopez's expressionless performance isn't this sweet picture's downfall is that the script makes so few demands on her.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland
    It's strictly for the kids, and they'll be tickled.
    • 35 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    The End of the Road
    Meeske does offer insight into a way of life that may be finally gone for good.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Leaving Las Vegas
    Leaving Las Vegas is special. A courageous plane wreck of character study.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Solas
    The acting is superb.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Marathon
    It's hard to believe that this oddly mesmerizing film, set in large part in the vast subway system that snakes its way through Manhattan and its outer boroughs, wasn't made by a native New Yorker.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Ref
    If THE REF lived up to its early scenes, it would be a very funny movie indeed, but it soon sinks into a blandly commercial rut that slowly drains away what bitter energy it has.
    • 35 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Perfect Weapon
    It's not perfect, but PERFECT WEAPON at least furnishes action aficionados with a hero who has a life beyond the floormat of a kung fu school. Speakman may augur a new breed of action hero--a 90s kind of fella who's survived both martial arts classes and sensitivity training sessions. Men will be enthusiastic over his fast footwork; women will be impressed by his ability to carry on an intelligent conversation.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Requiem for a Dream
    Aronofsky has given us a well-acted, gorgeously overwrought and luridly entertaining exploitation flick -- a midnight movie for future generations.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    What's Eating Gilbert Grape
    The film is heavy on character and atmosphere and light on action, though what does happen is so bizarre as to verge on the ridiculous.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Autumn Tale
    (Rohmer's) simple script and methods capture a sense of place and character that eludes far more conspicuously stylish directors.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Evelyn
    While Brosnan, an Irishman by birth, lays it on bit thick, his performance is surprisingly effective.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Dopamine
    An uncommonly smart and bittersweet romantic comedy.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    For Whom the Bell Tolls
    Cast mostly with Russians in all the Hispanic roles, this glamourfest is Hollywood politics at its most apolitical, lacking even the energy of a good B movie.
  33. Flavors
    The cast, a mix of beauty-contest winners, models, veteran actors and newcomers, is as diverse as the characters they play and work together surprisingly smoothly.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Magic
    Aside from the obligatory shots of the dummy looking sinister, director Attenborough fails to evoke an effectively eerie mood, concentrating instead on the "drama" between Hopkins and Ann-Margaret.
  35. Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion
    Rather than rage, Peosay's film radiates sadness over a singular way of life in danger of imminent obliteration.
  36. The Passion of the Christ
    The film is never dull -- no mean feat, given that it spends two hours telling a story whose end is widely known -- and features performances that range from coarsely effective to phenomenal.
  37. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
    The film is wickedly funny and a first-rate showcase for Ferrell.
  38. Reconstruction
    Though ultimately the film is all smoke and mirrors, the sensibility it reflects is rich and exciting.
  39. Mystery Men
    This loving parody is steeped in comic book trivia and lore: The more you know, the more heartfelt your response to the film is likely to be.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Die Hard
    A triumph of slick direction and lowbrow thrills, marred but not spoiled by a sour aftertaste.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Multiplicity
    Despite the obvious potential for comic disaster, the results are only intermittently amusing. Keaton's Kinney is such a selfish, lemon-lipped wet blanket, you can't help wishing he'd been diminished a little with each cloning, until there was nothing left of him at all.
  42. War of the Worlds
    It unfolds in the angst-haunted shadow of the 9'11 terror attacks and teeters on a thin edge of sheer panic.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    The Virgin Suicides
    The soundtrack (Heart, ELO, Todd Rundgren, and an original score by the French duo Air) is spot-on and the costume design (pukka shells and knee-socks) is hideously accurate.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Trespass
    Here, some striking ideas, themes, and symbols never quite gel; the main problem is the plot, which never overcomes the implausibility of its premise. Yet the performances are solidly above average for the genre and, while TRESPASS might have been more compelling, it still displays far more style and intelligence than the average contemporary action thriller.
  45. Get Over It
    Anonymously titled and packaged like a vulgar teen sex comedy, this candy-colored trifle is so precious it nearly floats away on a cloud of fairy dust.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Eureka
    Full of the lush, confusing images one comes to expect in a Nicolas Roeg film.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Nicholas Nickleby
    On the whole, it all goes down rather smoothly. Those left wanting more are referred to the RSC's monumental production, now available on DVD, or better yet, to Dickens's original novel.
  48. The Iron Ladies
    It's a frequently funny diversion that doesn't have a mean-spirited bone in its body.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Nico and Dani
    Breezy, surprisingly poignant Spanish film.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Everybody Says I'm Fine!
    Though the film's fanciful premise seems more naturally suited to comedy, Bose exploits its more sinister implications surprisingly skillfully until the combined weight of narrative threads involving incest, suicide and murder eventually bog the story down.
  51. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
    Driven equally by big questions and the abiding desire for small pleasures, like a decent cup of tea, it's an eccentric, mind-bending head trip that greets every catastrophe with an endearingly goofy smile that embodies Hitchhiker's Guide's Zen mantra: Don't Panic!
  52. Made
    The film's a trifle, but a beautifully crafted one.
    • 36 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Stardom
    For all the film's cleverness -- and it's often very clever -- it's as thin as its heroine.
  54. A Real Young Girl
    Neither cheerfully naughty nor suffused with gauzy prurience, it evokes a time of turbulent (and often ugly) emotions with disquieting intensity.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    À cause d'un garçon
    Screenwriter Vincent Molina takes into account changing attitudes towards homosexuality and the resulting film never feels like the kind of thing we've seen time and again in the '80s and '90s.
  56. Cowboys & Angels
    Like the fresh-faced leads, the film is an unexpected charmer.
  57. A Sidewalk Astronomer
    An amateur in the best sense of the word, Dobson is an engaging ambassador for a life of the mind lived firmly in the real world.
  58. Time and Tide
    So crammed with plot twists that it's hard to follow, simultaneously ludicrous, sappy and casually dismissive of all the things Hollywood holds dear.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
    The dialog is wonderful, but at times director Mazursky sacrifices the human element of his story to indulgent camerawork.
  60. Freaky Friday
    Harmon and Murray are cardboard cutouts of ideal boyfriends; the only male performer allowed to shine is newcomer Ryan Malgarini, who nearly steals every scene he's in.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Needful Things
    As with many Stephen King adaptations, the problem no doubt partially lies in the necessity to condense the lengthy source novel, with material that might have given the story more depth lost in favor of packing in the horrific highlights
    • 52 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    The Red Stuff
    A fascinating, often tragic history of a program the Soviet Union held up to the rest of the world as communism's ultimate technological achievement.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Phantom of the Opera
    Universal Studios' elaborate and expensive remake of their classic 1925 silent horror film The Phantom of the Opera boasts fabulous sets, gorgeous costumes, and stunning Technicolor photography--but fails in the horror department, because of an excess of music and low comedy.
  64. The Middle of the World
    Although not what American studios generally mean by "family fare," this drama is actually excellent family viewing -- it both opens a window onto another culture and, through Antonio, speaks the universal language of teen angst.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Tomorrow War
    The first hour of The Tomorrow War is really quite dumb fun. The second half pumps the brakes on the wacky sci-fi and just goes in for gross-out action.
  66. Warriors of Heaven and Earth
    Thoroughly old-fashioned entertainment.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    State of Grace
    Visually, State of Grace joins Miller's Crossing as one of the best-looking movies in ages. But, as it nears its bloody ending, the film just gets dumber and dumber.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Money Buys Happiness
    The Sisyphean ordeal at the heart of the film strongly recalls Roman Polanksi's 1958 short "Two Men and a Wardrobe," while Lachow's loose, improvisatory approach -- as well as the occasional self-indulgence -- feels more like Henry Jaglom.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Irreconcilable Differences
    Shyer's direction was on the money most of the time but was just a little flabby occasionally--perhaps because he cowrote the script with Meyers and hated to lose a precious word.
  70. Baadasssss!
    The movie is at its best when it's most straightforward. Flights of fancy like the child angel perched on Melvin's ceiling or his conversations with the black-clad Sweetback, who appears to undermine his confidence at crucial junctures, seem forced and pointless.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    A Dry White Season
    Palcy, in what amounts to the casting coup of the year, enlisted the reclusive Brando to make his brief but memorable cameo appearance--his first film role since 1980--for union scale. His performance alone is worth the price of admission to this earnest, somewhat predictable, but moving and significant film.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    The Aristocrats
    But if you stick around for those final credits, you'll also have the opportunity to hear Robin Williams deliver a clean but nonetheless hilarious joke, a reminder of how funny Williams can be when he's not trying so hard.
  73. Auggie Rose
    Screenwriter Matthew Tabak's directing debut is carefully plotted, well acted and surprisingly free of cheap thrills.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Summer of '42
    People who actually recall 1942 will more greatly appreciate the waves of nostalgia that bathe this affectionate coming-of-age drama, set on a tiny island off New England.
  75. Harrison's Flowers
    Making such a tragedy the backdrop to a love story risks trivializing it, though Chouraqui no doubt intended the film to affirm love's power to help people endure almost unimaginable horror.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme
    Begun over seven years ago and described by the filmmaker as a work-in-progress, the documentary still feels a bit incomplete.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Merci Pour Le Chocolat
    The film is ridiculously overplotted, and very little of the plot serves any purpose other than to motivate what you can pretty well guess is going to happen from the outset.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    The Slaughter Rule
    The film's real strength lies in two excellent performances, from veteran Morse and up-and-comer Gosling.
    • 44 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Three Men and a Cradle
    An engaging French comedy about three bachelors who find an abandoned baby at their door.
  80. Sister Helen
    The unspoken question that underlies their struggles is whether a facility run by sheer force of personality can survive when that personality is gone; the film ends on a cautiously hopeful note.
  81. Romy and Michele's High School Reunion
    A candy-colored, superficially fizzy revenge fantasy with a startlingly corrosive undercurrent of bitterness and frustration.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Monsieur N.
    Even when the script takes a turn for the chatty, there's always something pretty to look at.
  83. Robots
    Though the script is best described as mechanical and it takes a while to get into gear, this computer-generated "reach for the stars" story is a well-calibrated piece of entertainment.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    The Importance of Being Earnest
    Everett remains a perfect Wildean actor, and a relaxed Firth displays impeccable comic skill.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    The Barbarian Invasions
    If the banter lacks the often brilliant and erudite -- if showy -- sparkle of its predecessor, the acting is still first-rate, and the film will be best enjoyed by fans eager to spend another 90 minutes with a group of old friends.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Bottle Rocket
    This lightweight road picture about a group of inept thieves has an uneven beginning but ends up charming and satisfying.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    National Lampoon's European Vacation
    Director Amy Heckerling is gentler than Harold Ramis was, and the result is a slightly more cohesive picture that is far less mean-spirited. Lighthearted fun, pretty scenery, lots of chuckles, a few guffaws, and a lilting score by Charles Fox all contribute to making this movie a pleasant surprise.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    James and the Giant Peach
    As you'd expect from Disney, the film's a technical tour de force, with flawless stop-motion animation and some imaginatively realized live-action sequences. What's surprising here is how much of Dahl's misogyny is allowed to surface. James's elderly aunts are unconscionably grotesque.
  89. Justifiable Homicide
    A disturbing examination of what appears to be the definition of a "bad" police shooting.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Sunburn
    Fawcett is given little to do other than get a suntan and try to look captivating, leaving the comic chores up to seasoned professionals Grodin and Carney, who are just great.
  91. A Beautiful Mind
    The success of this effect, which helps elevate the movie above a classy disease-of-the-week saga, rests firmly on Russell Crowe's performance, and it's a strikingly good and moving one.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Sleeping with the Enemy
    Sleeping With The Enemy teeters constantly on the verge of silliness but director Joseph Ruben keeps the cornball melodrama scaled down to a pleasant lull.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    A Few Good Men
    The final scene, when Kaffee locks horns with Jessep, more than makes up for the predictability of what's come before.
  94. My Mother's Smile
    It's a sly, subtle portrait of systematic hypocrisy.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Keep the River on Your Right: A Modern Cannibal Tale
    Fascinating, if slightly unfocused, film.
  96. Frailty
    Paxton is impressively subtle and elicits remarkable performances from O'Leary and Sumpter.
  97. A Love Divided
    While the film's exploration of Irish religious intolerance takes it to many familiar areas, the specifics are unfamiliar and fine performances -- especially those of leads Cunningham and Brady.
    • 37 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Girl Play
    Too many musical montages break the momentum, but overall it's an engaging piece of work, regardless of which team you play for.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 60 Reviewed by
      Ken Fox
    Butterfly
    Concise and well-researched documentary does a fine job of presenting a complicated issue clearly while maintaining a fairly objective middle ground.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Parents
    PARENTS concentrates heavily on Michael's Freudian pathology; however, in its emphasis on psychological themes, the film loses sight of its story and becomes a confused collection of isolated vignettes. In adopting the boy's single-minded perspective, it prevents its characters from developing, so that Quaid hovers and glowers, Hurt giggles and flirts, and Madorsky lurks in dark recesses without variation from beginning to end.
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