USA Today's Scores

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For 4,670 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 61% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 36% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1 point lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 64
Highest review score: 100 Fruitvale Station
Lowest review score: 0 Amos & Andrew
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,963 out of 4670
  2. Mixed: 1,021 out of 4670
  3. Negative: 686 out of 4670
4670 movie reviews
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  1. Payback
    Marvin leavened his sociopathy with a hint of little boy naivete or innocence -- Gibson is merely a frequently funny thug. {5 February 1999, Life, p. 11E]
    • USA Today
  2. She's All That
    What starts as a bright and bouncy time-waster that at least borrows from the best of its genre-defining ilk -- "Fast Times at Ridgemont High", "Clueless", "Carrie", "The Breakfast Club" -- eventually stumbles into sappy message-movie territory. [29 Jan 1999, p. 09E]
    • USA Today
  3. Gloria
    Poor Sharon Stone! Poor Sidney Lumet! [22 January 1999, Life, p.11E]
    • USA Today
  4. Playing by Heart
    It's a good actors' showcase, yet not a particularly satisfying movie. [22 Jan 1999]
    • USA Today
  5. At First Sight
    If "You've Got Mail" jangled your nerves with its Starbucks-fueled cuteness, here's a romance that goes down like instant decaf. [15 January 1999, Life, p.18E]
    • USA Today
  6. Virus
    The movie was postponed from 1998 and shielded from critics. (They were ot allowed to see the movie before the opening, usually a bid sign.) [15 January 1999, Life, p.8E]
    • USA Today
  7. Affliction
    James Coburn plays father in what may be the best performance of his career. [30 December 1998, Life, p.3D]
    • USA Today
  8. Down in the Delta
    This is a movie that makes it exclusively on star power -- when it's making it at all. [22 Dec 1998, p.4D]
    • USA Today
  9. The Prince of Egypt
    DreamWorks' story of Moses raises the bar on the art of cartooning to the top of Mount Sinai and beyond.
    • USA Today
  10. The General
    At 65, Boorman flawlessly handles his actors and expertly orchestrates action in one of the widest-looking black-and-white Panavision frames since 1967's In Cold Blood. [18 Dec 1998, p.13E]
    • USA Today
  11. A Simple Plan
    The plan in A Simple Plan grows exponentially complex once the first dollar is purloined, an act that makes this unpretentious parable one of the season's better 'what's-going-to-happen-next?' movies.
    • USA Today
  12. Shakespeare in Love
    Accessibly brainy screen charmer.
  13. Rushmore
    With the astonishingly assured newcomer Jason Schwartzman to bounce off of, Murray has his best comic foil since those feisty rodents in Groundhog Day and Caddyshack. [5 February 1999, Life, p.11E]
    • USA Today
  14. Jack Frost
    The movie's opening half-hour is merely dull, but the final hour is brain-damaging. [11 Dec 1998]
    • USA Today
  15. Little Voice
    Engagingly offbeat. [4 December 1998, Life, p.13E]
    • USA Today
  16. Psycho
    Untantalizingly reverent remake. [7 December 1998, p.4D]
    • USA Today
  17. Very Bad Things
    No comedy this vile should be brazenly foolish enough to give itself this title. [25 November 1998, p. 3D]
    • USA Today
  18. Babe: Pig in the City
    One of the strangest sequels of all time, director George Miller's wildly imaginative vision of animals loose in a dangerous urban dreamscape at times seems much closer to his work on the Mad Max series than to the bucolic charms of the original, which he produced but did not direct. [25 Nov 1998, p.1D]
    • USA Today
  19. Enemy of the State
    The picture is solidly crafted, performed to the hilt and full of humor.
  20. I Still Know What You Did Last Summer
    Suspense takes a vacation in sequel. [13 November 1998, p. 6E]
    • USA Today
  21. Elizabeth
    A notably undynamic treatment of Protestant Elizabeth I's ascension to the British throne.
  22. The Waterboy
    As funny as it can be, this underdawg comedy isn't much more than Sandler's golf-oriented "Happy Gilmore" with a Cajun accent. [6 November 1998, p. 10E]
    • USA Today
  23. Gods and Monsters
    Chances are, the more you love classic cinema, the more you will find Gods is your cup of tea.
    • 36 Metascore
    • 38 Critic Score
    Belly
    Williams' use of shadows, offbeat angles and slow-motion makes the violence-induced fear and anger palpable. Less convincing is the story itself, which unravels as Tommy and Sincere choose their destinies. [20 Nov 1998]
    • USA Today
  25. American History X
    While this movie is sometimes overbaked, it is the first major studio release in a while to engross wall-to-wall.
  26. Vampires
    Anemic. [30 October 1998, p.8E]
    • USA Today
  27. Life Is Beautiful
    To see someone even attempt bittersweet treatment of this subject is surprising, but to largely pull it off is a major feat.
  28. Pleasantville
    Glum and preachy.
  29. The Last Days
    Though the power of some Holocaust documentaries is in part a product of their epic scope and epic running times, The Last Days overwhelms at just 87 minutes. [05 Feb 1999]
    • USA Today
  30. Happiness
    One of the most challenging movies in years.
  31. Beloved
    Often a cinematic marvel and often the year's most pungent movie medicine, Beloved always feels as if it's carrying the world's weight, and maybe it is. [16 October 1998, p. 7E]
    • USA Today
  32. Antz
    Think "Animal Farm" redone as Ant Farm. [2 October 1998, p. 11E]
    • USA Today
  33. Clay Pigeons
    The young Pigeon turks who no doubt think they've made a hip black comedy should be forced to see it in a theater of non-sycophants, where only an occasional exasperated exhale signifies the audience isn't dead yet. [25 Sept 1998]
    • USA Today
  34. Rush Hour
    There's a familiar feeling to the movie even beyond its twinkle-eyed martial arts melees.
  35. One True Thing
    When we first see Meryl Streep's happy homemaker in One True Thing, she's a domestic dinosaur circa late '80s, a regular mommy monster. [18 September 1998, p.3E]
    • USA Today
  36. A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries
    The movie grows on you, lingers in the mind and may pick up a cult. Take away Heat and Dust, Howards End and The Remains of the Day, and it's as satisfying as any movie the filmmaking team's ever made. [18 Sep 1998, Pg.03.E]
    • USA Today
  37. Permanent Midnight
    The movie, lacking snap and sarcasm, fails to convey the book's tone. [16 Sep 1998, p.3D]
    • USA Today
  38. Rounders
    Most novel is Rounders' message that the real sin isn't giving into vice but denying your God-given talents and not risking it all.
  39. Without Limits
    A worthy companion to Towne's underrated 1982 portrait of female runners (Personal Best), Limits may face a similar challenge attracting mass moviegoers, which was certainly the case of the barely released Prefontaine. [11 Sep 1998]
    • USA Today
  40. Blade
    Director Stephen Norrington is more keen on finding new ways to explode the fiends... than developing a credible story. So the movie flits from one gore-laden assault to another with little suspense.
  41. Snake Eyes
    Snake Eyes sports some of the most breathtaking filmmaking of De Palma's career -- and Nicolas Cage is the one actor who cannot be upstaged by it. [18 September 1998, p. 11E]
    • USA Today
  42. BASEketball
    Sports-satire misfire. [31 July 1998, p. 2E]
    • USA Today
  43. Ever After
    Too much talk, not enough wooing. In the end, Ever After's spell is only half cast. [31 Jul 1998, Pg. 07.E]
    • USA Today
  44. The Governess
    Though not exactly dynamic, the movie offers insights into a specific culture. Ashley Rowe's photography is exquisite, and Driver has never been better. [14 Aug 1998]
    • USA Today
  45. The Parent Trap
    Young girls will enjoy Lohan's matchmaking antics. But nostalgia-craving oldsters should stick to fond memories of Hayley [Mills]'s heyday.
  46. Saving Private Ryan
    The rawest, most sustained screen portrayal of 20th century combat.
  47. There's Something About Mary
    A gut-busting blast of tasteless tomfoolery.
  48. Dr. Dolittle
    Dr. Dolittle does do a lot of stuff right. [ 26 June 1998, p. 12 E]
    • USA Today
  49. Out of Sight
    The low-key approach probably gets closer to the soul of Leonard, but it lacks zip. As a result, Out of Sight sometimes runs out of gas.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The X Files
    I entered the screening for The X-Files: Fight the Future with myriad questions... I left with disappointing answers. [19 June 1998, p. 7E]
    • USA Today
  51. Can't Hardly Wait
    Seeing gawky Charlie Korsmo, one-time movie moppet, as a superbrain whose introduction to alcohol leads him to do a rip-roaring rendition of Guns N' Roses' Paradise City, is worth a smile or two. But even that can't save [the] film.
  52. Six Days Seven Nights
    Glorious picture-postcard photography. [10 July 1998, p.8E]
    • USA Today
  53. The Truman Show
    Funny... and the payoff is the most provocative Hollywood concoction in a while.
  54. The Last Days of Disco
    It all feels about as spontaneous as a concrete blueprint.
  55. The Opposite of Sex
    The opposite of entertainment, a self-satisfied soap opera from hell. But anyone itchy to see Ricci in her fleshy glory will adore her femme fatale for the Jerry Springer age, a Stanwyck stoked on steroids and SweeTarts.
  56. Bulworth
    Warren Beatty's uproariously rude Bulworth is 90% triumph.
  57. Les Misérables
    Handsomely mounted, strikingly photographed in wide screen and exquisitely acted, director Bille August's new version of Les Miserables is at least the 21st adaptation for the movies or television. [01 May 1998]
    • USA Today
  58. The Big Hit
    Far from redundant. That's because (Kirk) Wong deftly balances the outrageous stunts. [24 April 1998, p. 6E]
    • USA Today
  59. Nightwatch
    It's dreadful, despite a solid cast that includes art-house heartthrob Ewan McGregor, Nick Nolte, Patricia Arquette and Josh Brolin. [17 Apr 1998]
    • USA Today
  60. Mercury Rising
    And though young Miko Hughes does a fine job as the traumatized Simon, this ain't no "Rainboy". [3 Apr 1998, p.SE]
    • USA Today
    • 70 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Primary Colors
    Perhaps Nichols and May's greatest accomplishment is capturing perfectly on film the mysterious, complex, compromised relationship the public has with today's political leaders.
  62. U.S. Marshals
    You don't get the sense that too many enthusiasts are hanging up wanted posters for the ho-hum-ish U.S. Marshals. [6 March 1998, pg. 04.D]
    • USA Today
  63. Hush
    t's far too soon for an actress as vital as Jessica Lange to stoop to Bette Davis-Joan Crawford horror-hag histrionics. [6 Mar 1998, pg.04D]
    • USA Today
  64. The Big Lebowski
    Truth be told, Joel and Ethan's game is a little off, inconsistent and at times just plain incoherent. But they roll enough solid laughs and eye-tickling camera tricks to satisfy. [6 March 1998]
    • USA Today
    • 66 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Dark City
    Fascinating, visionary filmmaking. With its amber-tinged palette and its distinctively dystopian view of life, it may be the most unique-looking film we've seen in ages...[but] defies logic and makes frightening and unexpected leaps.
  66. Dangerous Beauty
    Based on the days and especially nights of Venice's 16th century courtesan Veronica Franco, this alternately dull, lively, sexy and silly costumer lightens the locks of brunette Braveheart dish Catherine McCormack. [27 Feb 1998]
    • USA Today
  67. Sphere
    Waterlogged trip to nowhere. [13 February 1998, p. 3D]
    • USA Today
  68. Nil by Mouth
    Nil is harrowing and soul-sapping, a look into the heart of darkness of London's underclass.
  69. Blues Brothers 2000
    The foot-stomping, hand-clapping, ear-electrifying soundtrack, courtesy of such pros as B.B. King and Eric Clapton plus newcomers like Erykah Badu, in Blues Brothers 2000 (# # 1/2 out of four) rectifies many a movie-making sin in this near-Xerox sequel to the 1980 Saturday Night Live-spun hit starring Dan Aykroyd and the late John Belushi. [06 Feb 1998]
    • USA Today
  70. Great Expectations
    Transforms Charles Dickens into a Chuck. Ground Chuck, unfortunately. [30 January 1998, p. 7D]
    • USA Today
  71. Phantoms
    Until it coughs up a ridiculously convoluted explanation of why an isolated town in Colorado suddenly goes deader than a weekday matinee of "The Postman," Phantoms delivers the shivers.
  72. Hard Rain
    Washed away by drippy plot. [16 January 1998, p. 4D]
    • USA Today
  73. Fallen
    This is a slow if stylish slog through familiar terrain.
  74. Oscar and Lucinda
    But for an epic set up to trace two life stories, there's a lack of dramatic focus, and the leads fail to evince any particular chemistry as friends who come to have a deeper emotional connection. [31Dec1997 Pg.02.D]
    • USA Today
  75. Afterglow
    Were this movie a naval battle, it would be Lord Nelson vs. Judd Nelson, so decisively do the older actors knock the younger off the screen. [26Dec1997 Pg03.D]
    • USA Today
  76. Jackie Brown
    Between Jackson's opining and De Niro's hopeless alibis when he messes up, Jackie is good for a bundle of bloody ho-ho-hos.
    • USA Today
  77. Kundun
    Stately but static. [23 December 1997, p.3D]
    • USA Today
  78. Mr. Magoo
    The best acting in Mr. Magoo actually comes courtesy of his resourceful bulldog, Angus. As pooches go, he has a better pedigree than this dog of a flick. [23 Dec 1997, p.3D]
    • USA Today
  79. As Good as It Gets
    It's a case of actors and strong writing coming together, and it's uncommon in contemporary movies.
  80. Titanic
    His (Cameron) movie may not be perfect, but visually and viscerally, it pretty well is.
  81. Mousehunt
    Wacked-out and warped. [19 December 1997, p. 3D]
    • USA Today
  82. Tomorrow Never Dies
    Though Bond may never die, this time he's on life support. [19 Dec 1997, p.3D]
    • USA Today
  83. The Apostle
    A good little movie dominated by a great central performance that's likely to endure. [30 Jan 1998, p.D2]
    • USA Today
  84. Amistad
    Sheer power, moral and otherwise. It possesses a massively majestic hero. [10 Dec 1997, p.D1]
    • USA Today
  85. Good Will Hunting
    Damon convincingly matches Williams recrimination for recrimination in this portrayal of mutual tough love, even with the latter giving what may be the best performance of his career.
  86. Flubber
    Writer/producer John "Home Alone" Hughes, the Marquis de Sade of kidcom, and director Les Mayfield manage to squeeze the very bounce out of what should have been a can't-miss update. [26Nov1997 Pg09.D]
    • USA Today
  87. Welcome to Sarajevo
    Shot in semidocumentary fashion, it builds to a more visceral climax than one initially expects. [26Nov1997 Pg.09.D]
    • USA Today
  88. The Sweet Hereafter
    A little movie almost perfectly realized.
  89. Anastasia
    Flawed but not fatally, this ambitious epic's strength lies not just with its haunting melodies, pretty pictures, star voices and kid-friendly sidekicks - the usual shtick that makes Disney tick. [14 Nov 1997, p.D6]
    • USA Today
  90. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
    Regrettably, it's the movie version of John Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, a book still thumping its chest on the hardback best-seller list after more than three years.
    • USA Today
  91. Starship Troopers
    This twisted space opera serves up carcasses in six-digit figures but is foremost a sendup for the ages.
  92. Bean
    At a certain point, Bean goes beyond awful to surreally awful, like the rug Burt Reynolds sports in a cameo. The last-ditch plunge into pathos does nothing to redeem the feeling. Let's hope no sequel is in the offing. The only thing worse than Bean would be a hill of Beans. [07Nov1997 Pg08.D]
    • USA Today
  93. Eve's Bayou
    Indeed, Eve's milieu is fresh and specific enough to make even Jackson subordinate to Kasi Lemmons, the writer (and sometimes actress) who dreamed up this story for her directorial debut. [07Nov1997 Pg08.D]
    • USA Today
  94. Mad City
    A blanket indictment like this has to be either satirically trenchant or a roundhouse punch to the gut. Tom Matthews' script takes a mushy middle ground, and the result seems less mad than just a bit addled or hacked off. [07Nov1997 Pg08.D]
    • USA Today
  95. An American Werewolf in Paris
    The computer animation of the monsters here is a herky-jerky cartoon blur that is anything but scary.
    • USA Today
  96. A Life Less Ordinary
    Flippantly hip without any solid laughs, Life strains to be the flick more offbeat. [24Oct1997 pg06.D]
    • USA Today
  97. I Know What You Did Last Summer
    Predictably, the derivative title here is a jumping-off point for another derivative slasher-revenge pic. [17 October 1997, p.5D]
    • USA Today
  98. Boogie Nights
    With its ceaseless music, large canvas, shrewd casting and flawless ensemble acting and the dexterity of its whiplashing mood switches, the movie recalls Robert Altman's "Nashville" more than any subsequent movie has.
  99. The House of Yes
    With its Rocky Horror meets Camelot aura, this little black movie reeks of self-satisfied smugness and pretentious perversity as only a Sundance Festival favorite can -- especially one that squanders the considerable quirky charms of indie-film darling Parker Posey. [10Oct1997 pg 04.D]
    • USA Today
  100. Year of the Horse
    The focus is limited to Young's longtime Crazy Horse colleagues -- in other words, forget Buffalo Springfield or Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young -- but even on this level, there's a lot of rambling and disinclination to answer questions. A substantial number of viewers will likely be ground down, and certainly there's nothing here to make Young's 1979 concert film, Rust Never Sleeps, an obsolete view. [07 Oct 1997, p.3D]
    • USA Today
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