Variety's Scores

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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
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  1. The Tollbooth
    Lack of perspective and shaky comic tone plague Tollbooth -- sinking it in a morass of whiny cliches.
  2. La scorta (re-release)
    Ricky Tognazzi's La Scorta topped the Italian box office charts for weeks, thanks to its skill in capturing the country's current political climate in an entertaining action film format. (Review of Original Release)
  3. Who Gets to Call It Art?
    Lively, intelligent collage, both richly complex and immediately accessible.
  4. Bubble
    Likeable if unexciting little tale.
  5. Annapolis
    James Franco and Tyrese Gibson scowl and strut and should make the hearts of teenage girls all atwitter, and that's about the only audience that won't see most of the punches telegraphed well in advance.
  6. Big Momma's House 2
    So episodic and flat it should be a letdown even to those amused by the original.
  7. Nanny McPhee
    Under the surface, the movie has a streak of Roald Dahl-style darkness that dilutes the sugar.
  8. Dai si gin
    An interesting idea comes over only half-formed in Johnnie To's Breaking News, an effective Hong Kong crimer that partly returns to the realistic style of some of his late '90s dramas, but never properly knits its theme of media manipulation into pic's punchy thriller format.
  9. Imagine Me & You
    A slick but slight Brit pic, chockfull with tart one-liners and pretty posh people, with one major twist: The romantic leads are both women.
  10. Little Jerusalem
    In what is arguably her best performance since "Van Gogh," Zylberstein brings Mathilde to life with grace and fervor.
  11. Manderlay
    The subject being race relations, Manderlay is bound to stir considerable debate in intellectual circles, but given the director's abstract style and use of characters to enact an agenda, it's a discussion that will exclude the general public, who will ignore it as they did "Dogville."
  12. Roving Mars
    Helmer George Butler correctly gauges his film's strengths, with the search for life in the universe becoming a heartfelt tribute to a couple of robots.
  13. Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story
    Cheating flagrantly, helmer Michael Winterbottom has pulled off the trick -- sort of -- with the wickedly playful Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story.
  14. Go for Zucker
    Picture lets loose an experienced cast of vets on a well-honed script that has broad appeal.
  15. Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World
    Though it risks political incorrectness every step of the way, film is more a pleasant laugher than a sharp-edged satire.
  16. Why We Fight
    Picture sets the gold standard for political documentaries.
  17. End of the Spear
    Although overly earnest and often stilted, the film should find great favor principally among religious auds.
  18. Underworld: Evolution
    Overall package is potent. A few rock-the-house scenes of slam-bang derring-do -- are nothing short of sensationally exciting.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Pizza
    Not for all palates, but it's laced with enough tasty ingredients to sustain a following. Scribe/helmer Mark Christopher has crafted a bittersweet, persuasively acted comedy whose tone recalls '80s teen films.
  20. How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoy It)
    Lively interviews from a wide range of people, a wealth of excerpted footage stretching over decades, and a story packed with legend are served up by helmer Joe Angio with a verve mirroring the restless creativity of the film's subject.
  21. Blossoms of Fire
    Results at times seem as much p.c. travelogue as serious docu inquiry.
  22. The Real Dirt on Farmer John
    Examines 50-odd years in the life of its eponymous subject -- a most compelling character -- and in doing so literally provides the viewer with food for thought.
  23. 24 Hours on Craigslist
    Picture is a colorful human mosaic.
  24. The Fall of Fujimori
    Ellen Perry seems keenly aware, there is really no need to embellish the Fujimori story, which has enough unlikely melodrama for six Italian operas.
  25. Glory Road
    Slick enterprise buoyed by a Motown-flavored '60s soundtrack and an appealing ensemble cast.
  26. Last Holiday
    Most successful when it is engaging, not uproarious. Glossy amusement is an updated remake of a well-regarded 1950 Brit comedy-drama starring Alec Guinness, improbably retrofitted as a star vehicle for Queen Latifah.
  27. Tristan and Isolde
    This understated period drama may lack sufficient star power and emotional wallop to score breakthrough success with mainstream auds during its domestic theatrical run, but pic could find a warmer response in the same international markets where "Kingdom of Heaven" redeemed itself last year.
  28. April's Shower
    The joys of farce are fumbled in April's Shower, star-director-writer Trish Doolan's arch and undernourished comedy about a bridal shower turned on its head by the bride's lesbian past.
  29. That Man: Peter Berlin
    Pic offers standard mix of digitally shot interview material with the elusive main subject himself, with archive footage and talking heads to assess Berlin's impact on gay culture.
  30. When the Sea Rises
    Modest but spot-on co-helming debut by actress Yolande Moreau (the concierge in "Amelie") and Gilles Porte is beguiling in the slightly surreal vein of the best of contempo Belgian cinema but without the typical nasty streak.
  31. Following Sean
    As fascinating as it is frustrating.
  32. State of Fear
    So strong are the perceived parallels between the Peruvian situation described in State of Fear and the sociopolitical dynamics of the current U.S. war on terror that filmmakers have trouble, in post-screening Q&As, returning the discussion to the historical subject at hand.
  33. Fateless
    Exquisitely modulated and superbly mounted, the directing debut of skilled cinematographer Lajos Koltai went through an extended, unpredictable production history to emerge as a genuinely new way of looking at the Holocaust that is markedly different in tone from other such stories including "Schindler's List" and "The Pianist."
  34. Hostel
    Hostel may become something of a classic among Fangoria magazine's readership, acolytes of George Romero and audiences who thought "Saw II" was for babies.
  35. Grandma's Boy
    Even Sandler diehards may pass on this mostly derivative paean to compulsive computer geekdom and male sexual dysfunction.
  36. Kill the Poor
    Result hovers a little uncertainly between dark comedy and urban drama, but remains compelling thanks to its gritty narrative texture, nervous energy and loose, jumpy structure, which fit well with the DV-shot production's no-frills approach.
  37. BloodRayne
    Anemic action-fantasy.
  38. I Am Taraneh, I Am Fifteen Years Old
    An appealing film thanks to its irresistible teenage heroine, I, Taraneh, Am Fifteen delivers the message that there's a new generation of strong-minded femmes out there who aren't afraid of bucking social norms.
  39. El carro
    Winning, consistently funny comedy, with lively script by veteran Colombian producer/scribe Dago Garcia ("Maximum Penalty"), The Car is driven by unusually sharp helming from newcomer Luis Orjuela, and a dynamite ensemble cast.
  40. Stryker
    Slapdash but strangely likeable.
  41. Tau man ji D
    Super-slick street-racing pic, based on a Nipponese manga series and set in Japan, is aimed squarely at the East Asian market, which it has conquered in spades since late June release.
  42. The Promise
    A mixed bag of near-risible storylines, second-rate CG effects, some fabulous set pieces, somewhat cartoonish martial arts fighting and difficult international casting.
  43. Match Point
    Well-observed and superbly cast picture is the filmmaker's best in quite a long time.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Ich hiess Sabina Spielrein
    Engaging doc should stir psychologists and feminists.
  45. Wolf Creek
    Essentially a worst-case-scenario white-knuckler executed with terrifically focused skill and realism.
  46. Casanova
    A handsome chunk of widescreen entertainment that's as nimble as its rakish hero.
  47. Rumor Has It...
    As muddled in most respects as its title, Rumor Has It... begins with an intriguing premise...but it devolves into a bland romance spiced with too little comedy.
  48. The New World
    Malick's exalted visuals and isolated metaphysical epiphanies are ill-supported by a muddled, lurching narrative, resulting in a sprawling, unfocused account of an epochal historical moment.
  49. The Matador
    Deftly maneuvering through audacious mood swings and tonal shifts, The Matador emerges as a quirky yet commercial commingling of black comedy, seriocomic psychodrama, heart-tugging sudser and buddy-movie farce.
  50. Munich
    Beautifully made pic will spur newsy media coverage and possible consternation on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian divide, but members of the general public will be glancing at their watches rather than having epiphanies about world peace.
  51. Caché (Hidden)
    A tightly plotted and paced thriller whose not-so-hidden agenda is to expose the bad conscience of the world's haves toward its have-nots, "Hidden" is one of Austrian helmer Michael Haneke's most watchable and pungent works.
  52. The Ringer
    Sometimes veering close to being a promotional film for the Special Olympics, pic will be applauded by the disability community and its advocates but quickly ignored by longtime fans of the Farrellys and Knoxville.
  53. The Intruder
    A beautiful, complex work that challenges viewers to mentally sift interior and exterior journeys.
  54. Cheaper by the Dozen 2
    Bland, canned but studiously professional sequel retains most of the principals from Fox's family-friendly 2003 hit, including the ever-reliable Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt.
  55. Fun with Dick and Jane
    The rare Hollywood remake that, by daring to reinterpret its source material within a fresh political context, actually has a reason to exist.
  56. The White Countess
    This final production from the team of James Ivory and the late Ismail Merchant is itself adrift in more ways than one, with a literate but meandering script by "The Remains of the Day" novelist Kazuo Ishiguro that withholds emotional payoffs to an almost perverse degree.
  57. The Family Stone
    Keaton embodies the formidable Stone matriarch with an offhand sense of humor that cuts like a knife.
  58. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
    Outstandingly realized on all levels.
  59. Electric Shadows
    A fairly conventional heartwarmer, lifted by likable performances, good-looking production values and (for movie buffs) a story centered on an outdoor cinema in rural China.
  60. The Producers
    So determinedly old-fashioned it makes a strong claim to being the best film musical of 1959.
  61. Hoodwinked!
    Little Red Riding Hood gets a cheeky CGI makeover in Hoodwinked!, a fast-paced, fitfully clever 3-D-animated feature that will entertain tykes.
  62. The Big White
    Snowed under by misjudgment on every level, The Big White is DOA. Despite a cast that generally reads like an indie production's wish list, pic's tendency to liberally borrow from the Coen Brothers playbook of comic mayhem is exceeded only by its lack of sense of what's actually funny.
  63. Angels with Angles
    Shrouded by memories of better times and better movies, Frank Gorshin and Rodney Dangerfield's final screen appearances are unfortunately in the thoroughly hapless and embarrassing comedy, Angels With Angles.
  64. King Kong
    Almost too much of a good thing, Peter Jackson's remake of the film that made him want to make movies is a super-sized version of a yarn that was big to begin with, a stupendous adventure that maximizes, and sometimes oversells, its dazzling wares.
  65. Happy Here and Now
    Isn't for everyone. It seems certain to confound as many viewers as it will inspire. But pic will foster a core critical contingent that will find itself transfixed and, ultimately, deeply moved by the film's ravishing power.
  66. The Grace Lee Project
    Trivial-sounding hook manages to float a funny but complex meditation on identity, ethnicity and cultural expectations that should be as accessible to teens as adults.
  67. Brokeback Mountain
    This ostensible gay Western is marked by a heightened degree of sensitivity and tact, as well as an outstanding performance from Heath Ledger.
  68. Memoirs of a Geisha
    From a filmmaking point of view, this is a work that the old Hollywood moguls themselves would have been proud to present.
  69. Mrs Henderson Presents
    A bigscreen feature executed with a cookie-cutter small-screen sensibility, this often charming but untextured fact-based period piece is buoyed along by the redoubtable Judi Dench.
  70. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
    An array of supporting craftspeople pull the viewer into a credible alternative world, even if the film itself is more prosaic than inspiring.
  71. Marebito (The Stranger from Afar)
    Japanese horror doesn't get more tedious.
  72. The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear
    A superb, eye-opening and often absurdly funny deconstruction of the myths and realities of global terrorism that is marked by a balance, broadmindedness and sense of historical perspective so absent from many recent political-themed documentaries.
  73. Moonlight
    Menacing atmosphere created by Dutch helmer Paula van der Oest ("Zus & Zo") does not make up for the weak script's multiple improbabilities, flat dialogue or the discomfort of watching children, the handicapped and even animals being abused onscreen.
  74. Isn't This a Time! A Tribute Concert for Harold Leventhal
    Timely and entertaining concert documentary.
  75. Neal 'N' Nikki
    Fluff is hardly the word for Neal 'n' Nikki, a mismatched romantic comedy that makes most Bollywood twosomes look like art movies.
  76. Days of Santiago
    Though convincingly set in the lower depths of Lima, the story embodies a universal truth about the experience of former soldiers in many times and places.
  77. The World's Fastest Indian
    Sometimes shticky biopic overcomes its cornball conventionality to become a genial entertainment, thanks to Anthony Hopkins' exceptionally engaging performance.
  78. No Pain, No Gain
    Painfully sincere yet hopelessly amateurish dramedy.
  79. Æon Flux
    The future looks alternately grim and hysterical in Aeon Flux, a spectacularly silly sci-fier that plays like "The Matrix" crossed with "The Island" and reinterpreted as a long-lost Michael Jackson video.
  80. Transamerica
    Laugh-out-loud funny, tartly off-color and ultimately touching.
  81. First Descent
    Pic displays filmmakers Kevin Harrison's and Kemp Curley's love of snowboarding, but suffers from an unjustifiably long running time, considerable repetition and a generally awkward structure.
  82. The Kid & I
    It's the weird proximity of fact and fiction that could push this Penelope Spheeris-directed comedy into another cultish realm entirely.
  83. Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt
    A dignified and wistful look at the unusual life, difficult career and lasting influence of singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt.
  84. The Boys of Baraka
    Feels achingly sad and frustratingly incomplete.
  85. Down to the Bone
    First-time feature director's disciplined objectivity is coupled with humanism in this collaboration with a gifted cast and cinematographer. The artistic success, though, may be a bit too cool.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Mrs Palfrey at The Claremont
    A low-key drama with comedic undertones that will appeal to older auds, arthouse patrons, and Joan Plowright fans.
  87. Seamless
    Unlike "Unzipped," with its single focus on the charismatic Mizrahi, Seamless follows three of the 10 finalists, furnishing a quietly fascinating contrast in persona, approach and design.
  88. The Ice Harvest
    Fine thesping in the service of characters as meaty as they are immoral makes this material a treat for grown up audiences with an ear for sardonic dialogue.
  89. In the Mix
    A pleasantly tuned vehicle for R&B star and budding actor Usher.
  90. Just Friends
    A surprisingly shrewd and energetic romantic comedy.
  91. Rent
    Director Chris Columbus has pasted the grungy "La Boheme" update onto film with slavish respect for the original material but a shortage of stylistic imagination and raw emotions.
  92. Yours, Mine and Ours
    Generally pleasant family-friendly fare.
  93. The Libertine
    Starting out seductive but ending up tiresome, debuting director Laurence Dunmore's pic is an honorable misfire.
  94. Syriana
    A weighty and deeply intriguing look at the many-tentacled beast that is the international oil industry. Wide-ranging and restlessly probing, Stephen Gaghan's second directorial effort uses the same mosaic storytelling technique as in his Oscar-winning screenplay for "Traffic."
  95. Streets of Legend
    Due to digital image manipulation that pushes the picture to the boundary between narrative and avant-garde filmmaking, slightly overlong effort is full of striking, fresh visual interludes showing cars, speed and the sensations surrounding the scene.
  96. 39 Pounds of Love
    Dani Menkin's documentary tracks his odyssey, which by nature is hard to be cynical about. Still, the feature feels padded even at 70 minutes.
  97. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
    Last year's "The Prisoner of Azkaban" seemed dark, but this excellent fourth film derived from J.K. Rowling's books is the darkest "Potter" yet, intense enough to warrant a PG-13 rating.
  98. Walk the Line
    Walk the Line is a strongly acted, musically vibrant, conventionally satisfying biopic of country/rock/blues legend Johnny Cash and his second wife, June Carter.
  99. Private
    Political realities are a powerful bonus to, rather than the only reason for, Private, an emotionally gripping drama.
  100. Unveiled
    Several large leaps of faith take some of the dramatic steam out of Unveiled, an otherwise well-acted and accessible lesbian drama that also flirts with issues like loss of identity and anti-Muslim tensions.
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