Variety's Scores

Select another publication »
For 17,760 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 52% higher than the average critic
  • 4% same as the average critic
  • 44% 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 IMAX: Hubble 3D
Lowest review score: 0 Divorce: The Musical
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9,121 out of 17760
  2. Mixed: 7,003 out of 17760
  3. Negative: 1,636 out of 17760
17760 movie reviews
view
per page
  1. 1408
    For star John Cusack, it's a perfect fit.
  2. Evan Almighty
    It's mildly diverting for kids and families in a way that would be perfectly fine as an ABC Family cable project.
  3. A Mighty Heart
    In his first studio venture, Michael Winterbottom coaxes forth a staggering wealth of detail from this terse, methodical account of Pearl's kidnapping and murder in Pakistan.
  4. Black Sheep
    Endearingly amusing horror pic.
  5. Broken English
    A pitch-perfect lead performance by Parker Posey and debuting feature writer-helmer Zoe Cassavetes' deft, low-key approach raise Broken English a couple notches above the usual run of lonely-single-woman-seeking-romance-in-the-big-city yarns.
  6. You Kill Me
    With an eclectic mix of strong-minded thesps all pulling in slightly different directions, this shape-shifting genre hybrid successfully commingles 12-step therapy, romantic comedy and hit-man thriller.
  7. Klimt
    Billed as a phantasmagoria rather than a biopic, Klimt falls into the philosophical conundrum it attempts to resurrect -- whether portrait and allegory can coexist. Notwithstanding moments of great beauty, in this case the answer is clearly "no."
  8. Longing
    Big emotional themes come hidden in a deceptively small package in Longing, a mightily impressive feature debut by German writer-director Valeska Grisebach.
  9. Manufactured Landscapes
    This landmark glimpse into China's modern-day industrial revolution becomes something more -- a profound, open-ended meditation on man's physical impact on his environment.
  10. White Palms
    An uncommonly resonant sports drama in which a talented yet troubled gymnast comes to terms with a turbulent past.
  11. DOA: Dead or Alive
    So insubstantial that it practically evaporates on screen.
  12. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
    At a time when tortured superheroes like Spider-Man, Superman and Batman would benefit from some serious psychotherapy, it's almost refreshing to see a comicbook caper as blithe, weightless and cheerfully dumb as Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    Nancy Drew
    Purportedly an attempt to modernize the young detective's adventures for a new generation of tweens, the pic instead serves up stale mystery-movie cliches and overcooked red herrings in a thoroughly wooden adaptation.
  14. Eagle vs Shark
    Result is still innocuously mild and inconsequential.
  15. Fido
    Brightly packaged and steadily amusing.
  16. When the Road Bends: Tales of a Gypsy Caravan
    A potent combination of ethnography and concert film, Brit helmer Jasmine Dellal's joyous celebration of tzigane music follows the 2001 U.S. "Gypsy Caravan" tour, which showcased five bands from four countries.
  17. Strike
    Continuing the late-career renaissance of historically urgent, politically engaged fiction filmmaking that began with 1999's "The Legend of Rita" and 2004's "The Ninth Day" German vet Volker Schloendorff stumbles slightly, but doesn't fall, with Poland-set Solidarity saga Strike.
  18. The Trials of Darryl Hunt
    Advocacy cinema at its most searingly direct, The Trials of Darryl Hunt is a powerful and unsettling chronicle of the 20-year struggle to free a man twice convicted of a crime he didn't commit.
  19. Beyond Hatred
    Verite docu Beyond Hatred movingly accompanies the family of Francois Chenu, a gay man murdered by three skinheads in 2002, down the road to forgiveness.
  20. Macbeth
    Something indeed wicked this way comes in a mangled Macbeth set in contempo gangland Melbourne.
  21. Noriko's Dinner Table
    Although told through a cascade of flashes forward and back, the puzzle doesn't quite form a complete picture by the end, which may leave genre fans frustrated but the arthouse crowd intrigued.
  22. Lights in the Dusk
    Lights in the Dusk finds veteran Finnish helmer Aki Kaurismaki treading water with an amiable but very undercooked noirish fable about a security guard done wrong by a femme fatale.
  23. Ocean's Thirteen
    As smooth as a good mojito, as stylish as an Armani suit and as meaningful in the grand scheme of things as yesterday's Las Vegas betting odds, Ocean's Thirteen"continues the breezy good times of the first two series entries without missing a beat.
  24. Hostel: Part II
    In this twist-filled sequel, the real shocker is just how smart and satisfying such degradation can be. There's no question "Part II" outgrosses the original "Hostel" in the blood-and-guts department.
  25. Surf's Up
    Every bit as entertaining as the early Christopher Guest efforts.
  26. The Last Confederate: The Story of Robert Adams
    Undone by a thorough lack of visual craft.
  27. Miriam
    Despite troubling sexual themes (while in hiding, Miriam is raped by her protector), this remarkable, albeit unpolished, personal history may prove appropriate for religious or teaching purposes.
  28. 12:08 East of Bucharest
    The buoyant little comedy 12:08 East of Bucharest puts its finger on the problem in the best tradition of East European humor, savvy but concrete, gentle but sharp as a knife.
  29. Knocked Up
    Uproarious. Line for line, minute to minute, writer-director Judd Apatow's latest effort is more explosively funny, more frequently, than nearly any other major studio release in recent memory.
  30. Gracie
    Modestly engaging but thoroughly predictable.
  31. Mr. Brooks
    Mr. Brooks is most effective when it's dealing with Earl and his conscience. Hurt and Costner are terrific together as two sides of the same personality and, again, the casting is what it's all about.
  32. Crazy Love
    While the competent filmmaking package lacks much of its own personality, the sheer fascinating strangeness of the people documented could earn the picture a minor cult following a la "Grey Gardens."
  33. Day Watch
    Bursting with incident and FX, Day Watch will delight fans of its predecessor, "Night Watch," but further annoy those antipathetic to the Russkie-made supernatural franchise.
  34. I'm Reed Fish
    Pitch-perfect dialogue, quietly dynamic helming and small-scale action on a widescreen canvas make for a very appealing film.
  35. Ten Canoes
    Anthropology and entertainment are marvelously married in Rolf de Heer's Ten Canoes. The first feature in an Australian Aboriginal language feels authentic to the core as it tells a cautionary tale set 1,000 years ago.
  36. Radiant City
    In the end, helmers have some nifty tricks up their verite sleeves.
  37. Bug
    A ranting, claustrophobic drama that trades in shopworn paranoid notions, William Friedkin's overwrought screen version of Tracy Letts' play assaults the viewer with aggressive thesping and over-the-top notions of shocking incident, all to intensely alienating effect.
  38. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
    The third voyage in the "Priates" trilogy could be touted as "The biggest, loudest and second-best (or second-worst) 'Pirates' ever!" -- not necessarily a ringing endorsement, but honest.
  39. Angel-A
    For his (Besson) fans, Angel-A is an achingly sincere but protracted effort to trade mostly action for mostly dialogue.
  40. Golden Door
    An imaginative, intelligent and attractive Italo pic precisely when the country needs it most, Emanuele Crialese's Golden Door reps a solid piece of cinema that neither panders nor preaches.
  41. Paprika
    With its brainy scientist heroine, and surreal, super-kitsch imagery, above-average Japanese anime sci-fi pic Paprika has a better chance than most Nipponese toons of breaking out of the specialty ghetto by appealing to femme auds as well as the genre's core constituency of fanboys.
  42. Amu
    Admirably idealistic but dramatically awkward.
  43. Steel City
    Its honest, unshowy performances and textured depiction of life in a working-class community in a nowhere Southern Illinois town make this modest indie feature an affecting experience.
  44. 9 Star Hotel
    In dangerous and downright cruddy conditions, the personable Palestinians share stories, lodgings and camaraderie with the young Israeli filmmaker, whose handheld camera follows them everywhere.
  45. The Boss of It All
    For all its slightness, pic is helmer's least pretentious and most sheerly enjoyable for years.
  46. Orange Winter
    The documentary works best when it simply offers a concise and cogent account of epochal events.
  47. Shrek the Third
    After a buoyantly funny first half-hour, stylish animated comedy takes a breather before ramping it up again for a rambunctious, girrrl-power finale that provides a convenient springboard for further adventures to come.
  48. In Search of Mozart
    A beautifully lensed but ploddingly paced tribute.
  49. Brooklyn Rules
    A sometimes funny, occasionally maudlin coming-of-age dramedy that wants to be "Goodfellas" but might have been called "Mild in the Streets."
  50. Even Money
    Standard-issue directorial approach is perfectly in keeping with a script whose natural berth is on the tube.
  51. Flanders
    A somber, beautifully acted reflection on the barbarity of war and the bestiality of man.
  52. The Last Time
    Although this "Sopranos" writing vet delivers several flashes of that show's dark humor and irony, the pic leaves a hollow feeling at the end.
  53. Severance
    Escalating blend of black humor and grisly goings-on in the wilds of Hungary fully delivers in its latter half.
  54. Fay Grim
    A strange international odyssey that becomes more complicated and loony by the moment. Some viewers will undoubtedly tune out early, others will follow as far as they can -- and a privileged few might make it all the way.
  55. The Wendell Baker Story
    A loose-knit, character-driven comedy that percolates with good-vibe amusement, often earning industrial-strength guffaws with sneaky one-liners and tossed-off non-sequiturs.
  56. Private Property
    Boasting a script so clear and airtight that shrinks could use it for family therapy courses, the sole caveat is the unrelenting unpleasantness of the stronger-willed son.
  57. Hollywood Dreams
    Though it boasts slightly more narrative structure than his other work, Jaglom's script still serves as a catalyst for wild improvisation, suggesting the inside-jokey result was more fun to make than to watch.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Memories of Tomorrow
    Pulses with firm conviction and gentle sincerity. For Western audiences, opening reels may seem a tad melodramatic, but by journey's end there won't be a dry eye in the house.
  59. Once
    Winningly unpretentious tale uses a wispy romantic narrative as a vehicle for attractive original tunes.
  60. The Changeling
    As a stripped-to-essentials "canned theater" version of a classic Jacobean drama, The Changeling likely will prove most useful as a teaching tool in college-level drama courses.
  61. 28 Weeks Later
    A full-bore zombie romp that more than delivers the genre goods.
  62. Delta Farce
    If three of "The Magnificent Seven" had been Gomer Pyle, the result might have looked like Delta Farce, a movie rife with fat, fart and Fallujah jokes, but with a subcutaneous wit that has a lot to do with Iraq war fatigue.
  63. Georgia Rule
    No offense to either of them, but Georgia Rule suggests an Ingmar Bergman script as directed by Jerry Lewis. The subject matter is grim, the relationships are gnarled, the worldview is bleak, and, at any given moment, you suspect someone's going to be hit with a pie.
  64. Casting About
    Film's warm disposition and deliberate lack of razzmatazz will hook discerning, mature viewers.
  65. The Hip Hop Project
    A beat-driven, inspirational organism that develops and blossoms along with its subjects, "Word.Life" tells the story of a once-homeless Brooklynite who prods, pushes and propels his aspiring young rappers to think first and rhyme later.
  66. Chalk
    Filtering one school year through the eyes of three young instructors and a rookie administrator, this loosely scripted satire mostly steers clear of cheap shots and over-the-top gags, balancing its comic observations with a real measure of affection for teachers and students alike.
  67. The Ex
    A half-baked comedy torn between sincere emotion and over-the-top outrageousness.
  68. Provoked: A True Story
    Mixed Indian and Western cast --turn the true story of a case that changed British law into an old-style melodrama (in the best sense) complete with a feel-good ending.
  69. Duck
    A small, affecting road movie peopled with sharp vignettes.
  70. The Parallel
    Writer-director Jack Piandaryan appears as tone-deaf to his miscalculated dialogue as he is unable to eke out convincing perfs from his cast.
  71. Allegro
    Sophomore effort by Danish helmer Christoffer Boe offers a mix of cerebral sci-fi conceits, baroque visual texture and romantic melancholy similar to that in his Cannes kudo-reaping debut, "Reconstruction." Still, pic is remarkably original and reps further evidence of a unique directorial vision.
  72. Day Night Day Night
    Context and psychological insight are the major casualties of Day Night Day Night, a dramatically limited but strangely powerful portrait of a young would-be terrorist.
  73. I Don't Want to Sleep Alone
    With a pronounced Baroque palette and his usual astonishing use of light, picture looks ravishing -- individual scenes make a deeper impact than the characters themselves.
  74. Brand Upon the Brain!
    Billed as a silent film, Guy Maddin's Brand Upon the Brain! is actually closer to a live theatrical event -- a feature-length motion picture screened with the accompaniment of a live orchestra, plus Foley artists, sound effects technicians and assorted vocalists, too. Together, they provide the elaborate soundscape for a typically frenetic, Maddin-esque amalgam of the autobiographical, Freudian and willfully absurd.
  75. Hana
    Kore-eda keeps the tone mostly light and frothy, infusing the proceedings even at their darkest moments with humor. Although at times it feels like two or three characters too many have been crammed into its two-hour running time, every one of them is likable to some degree, maintaining the generosity of spirit Kore-eda displayed in his previous films.
  76. Away from Her
    What Away From Her achieves is quite admirable-- a low-key, intelligent setting for performances marked by those same qualities.
  77. Spider-Man 3
    A sense of strain envelops the proceedings this time around. One can feel the effort required to suit up one more time, come up with fresh variations on a winning formula and inject urgency into a format that basically needs to be repeated and, due to audience expectations, can't be toyed with or deepened very much.
  78. Lucky You
    The result is dull and lifeless.
  79. Civic Duty
    Unfolding largely within the confines of a single apartment complex, the well-structured scenario is arresting but ill-served by an overly fussy visual treatment from helmer Jeff Renfroe, while Peter Krause's increasingly psychotic performance as an amateur snoop frequently threatens to cross the line between forceful and off-putting.
  80. L'iceberg
    A brave but doomed attempt to revive the art of pure physical comedy, the willfully eccentric, practically dialogue-free, Iceberg sets itself a high standard with an opening 15 minutes of the most delicious slapstick, but thereafter only a few moments of gentle surrealism and the occasional poetic image justify the ride, with only 10% of the pic's potential laughs evident above the surface.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Paris, je t'aime
    Uneven but quite pleasant as a two-hour experience that acknowledges the idealized Paris people carry in their heads while wisely veering off the beaten track.
  82. The Treatment
    This offbeat charmer succumbs to the same airless artificiality that has claimed many recent efforts in the genre.
  83. Inlaws & Outlaws
    Lovingly rendered talking-heads effort puts emphasis on basic tenets on basic human connection, not on sexual orientation or social attitudes.
  84. Waitress
    While aspects verge on sitcom terrain, this tale of a pregnant small-town woman caught between a bad marriage and a risky affair is mostly as funny and charming as intended.
  85. Jindabyne
    Never obtains the full impact of its potentially powerful inner core.
  86. The Condemned
    Picture aims for nonstop thrill ride, but for all its brainless brawn, it has plenty of stops and few real thrills.
  87. The Invisible
    That rare mystery in which auds know everything upfront and the characters, rather than investigating, simply wait for the culprit to turn herself in. Previously adapted as Swedish thriller "Den Osynlige," Mick Davis' script brings out director David S. Goyer's emo side.
  88. Kickin It Old Skool
    An inauspicious feature debut for director Harv Glazer and all three scenarists, the "Big"-meets-breakdancing comedy will be kickin' it to ancillary by swimsuit season.
  89. Next
    What starts out as a mildly diverting thriller blows itself to smithereens in the final reel.
  90. Snow Cake
    Boosted by a delish performance from Carrie-Anne Moss as a local vamp who helps unthaw the Englishman, but holed beneath the waterline by a gratingly miscast Sigourney Weaver as the persnickety autistic.
  91. Election
    Some general viewers may feel let down by the relatively scant action.
  92. Les amitiés maléfiques
    A movie so unrepentantly French that viewers who enjoy truly Gallic pics can start (tastefully) salivating now.
  93. The Wedding Weekend
    Trite, sententious and generally unfunny.
  94. The Far Side of Jericho
    Far too aggressively seamy (and ferociously foul-mouthed) to please diehard fans of traditional sagebrush sagas, this misfire offers nothing in the way of wit, innovation or even marquee allure to interest auds accustomed to edgier revisionist oaters.
  95. Wind Chill
    This intermittently effective thriller serves as a rickety vehicle for its two perfectly cast leads, working better as a slow-thawing two-hander than as a chilly ghost story.
  96. Diggers
    Basically "Diner" in wading boots, it feels very familiar in conceit and unadventurous in execution, but offers the undeniable pleasures of a well-observed, well-played modest seriocomedy.
  97. The Short Life of José Antonio Gutierrez
    Sensitively and methodically tells the story of the first U.S. soldier killed in the 2003 Iraq invasion.
  98. Fakers
    Despite engaging performances from a cast led by Matthew Rhys and Kate Ashfield and pro direction by first-timer Richard Janes, yarn about art grifters lacks real snap, which ultimately stems from the so-so script and lack of real coin.
  99. Disappearances
    A frequently mesmerizing if exceedingly strange coming-of-age odyssey.
  100. Zoo
    A breathtakingly original nonfiction work by Seattle-based filmmaker Robinson Devor (whose "Police Beat" was among the highlights of Sundance's 2005 dramatic competition).
Page:

Top Trailers

See all »
See all trailers »