Variety's Scores

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For 17,765 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: 9,125 out of 17765
  2. Mixed: 7,004 out of 17765
  3. Negative: 1,636 out of 17765
17765 movie reviews
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  1. Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There
    Rick McKay's exceptional new documentary Broadway: The Golden Age presents a veritable avalanche of interviews with some of the biggest names in the history of the American theater, preserving for posterity their wise words and disarming anecdotes.
  2. The Chronicles of Riddick
    May not quite gain entry to the hallowed pantheon of interstellar cheese of a "Battlefield Earth," but it's not far behind.
  3. The Stepford Wives
    Another "remake" that merits the title in name only, The Stepford Wives isn't the "troubled" disaster that media reports have suggested it might be, yet nor do its oddly matched parts ever congeal into a fully formed creation.
  4. Garfield
    Only very small children still easily impressed by interaction of human actors and CGI quadrupeds will be amused by Garfield.
  5. Napoleon Dynamite
    An absurdist piece about a rural community of clueless cretins who careen through life like poorly played pinballs, Napoleon Dynamite represents the definition of the comedy of condescension and ridicule.
  6. Imelda
    A balanced, evenhanded film about a subject who has always managed to provoke intemperate reactions.
  7. The Story of the Weeping Camel
    The film spins a beguiling web of detail that builds to a surprisingly throat-clutching finish.
  8. Deadline
    Potent docudocu by Katy Chevigny and Kirsten Johnson makes a strong case against capital punishment by pointing up the fallibility of the justice system, while offering an inspiring portrait of one politico who actually seems guided foremost by conscience.
  9. The Corporation
    A surprisingly cogent, entertaining, even rabble-rousing indictment of perhaps the most influential institutional model for our era.
  10. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
    Visually dazzling and considerably darker than the prior incarnations, the story suffers from a slightly disjointed feel that will prove less accessible to those not intimately familiar with every corner of author J.K. Rowling's world.
  11. I'll Sing for You
    Educational value aside, pic is exciting for its extended performance sequences, with the most notable finding Traore and Farke strolling with guitars through the acoustically amazing atrium of an abandoned mud schoolhouse.
  12. Firedancer
    Film struggles to balance its past-present memory drama and a rather standard take on an American immigrant family. Although accented by fine cinematic flourishes, pic is harmed by an abrupt conclusion and technical glitches.
  13. Carlos Castaneda: Enigma of a Sorcerer
    Though interviews here are primarily with former camp followers and pic was made by one, overall perspective is just critical enough to satisfy both New Age types and curious skeptics.
  14. Bukowski: Born into This
    Makes a compelling case for raising him (Bukowski) from cult status to the top rank of 20th century U.S. literary figures -- while providing ample evidence of a very colorful life and times.
  15. Soul Plane
    Begins as a high-spirited romp before running out of gas and ideas about halfway up the tarmac.
  16. Saved!
    The spirited comedy ultimately kneels before an all-embracing deity, which could appease the God squad provided they get through all the wickedly funny zealot-bashing that comes first.
  17. The Mother
    A portrait of a contempo British family drifting apart because of generational differences, The Mother ends up an uneasy brew of too many competing tastes and themes.
  18. The Day After Tomorrow
    A disarmingly pulpy, eye-popping disaster movie during its first half, and an increasingly dull survival melodrama during its second.
  19. Union Square
    Its unvarnished look at life in the slow lane exerts a hypnotic fascination that could hook reality mainliners.
  20. Wake
    Though the characters are not particularly interesting in themselves, their dynamic remains consistently engrossing.
  21. Frankie and Johnny Are Married
    Beyond the participants' friends and co-workers, it's hard to imagine an audience for this professionally packaged exercise in navel gazing.
  22. The Five Obstructions
    Though billed as a documentary, The Five Obstructions doesn't easily fall into any category. Perhaps it's best described as a game, in which a pair of Danish film directors from different generations spar with one another in a highly civilized, and surprisingly entertaining, fashion.
  23. Raising Helen
    An undemanding dramedy.
  24. My Mother Likes Women
    Lightness of touch, vibrant performances and a sharp script are the hallmarks of this delightful femme comedy.
  25. The Rage in Placid Lake
    Melds an insightful observational style with some rather clunky satire and the resulting mix is uneven at best.
  26. Stateside
    Partially biographical story of a rich kid's unplanned encounter with the Marines and his even more random romance with a schizophrenic movie starlet is contrived and emotionally incomplete, and strained further by self-consciously cockeyed dialogue.
  27. Love Me If You Dare
    Valiant attempt to create a modern fairytale ends up being frustratingly creepy instead of haunting and memorable.
    • 100 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Fanny and Alexander (re-release)
    Emerges as a sumptuously produced period piece that is also a rich tapestry of childhood memoirs and moods, fear and fancy, employing all the manners and means of the best of cinematic theatrical from high and low comedy to darkest tragedy with detours into the gothic, the ghostly and the gruesome. (Review of Original Release)
  29. Control Room
    Compelling docu about the independent Arab news service, Al Jazeera.
  30. Twist
    Shot on location in subdued colors, Twist offers much less hope for its troubled characters than Dickens did. Its very downbeat vision may turn off auds, which is a pity because the film has a great many qualities, not least the admirable performances of Stahl, Close and Pelletier.
  31. The Youth
    Well worth a look, despite its flaws.
  32. S21: The Khmer Rouge Death Machine
    There's no shortage of existing docus on the subject, and Panh's doesn't bring either a fresh enough angle or enough new material to the table to justify its length.
  33. Shrek 2
    Lightning strikes twice, but not as brilliantly as before, in Shrek 2. The welcome sequel to the monster 2001 Oscar winner about an ogre's unlikely romance with a beautiful princess successfully recycles many of the qualities that made the first one an instant animated classic and worldwide smash.
  34. With All Deliberate Speed
    In choosing to cover the smaller picture of what has been little publicized, alongside the larger picture of what is generally known, pic loses momentum but gains depth.
  35. Carandiru
    A low-structure, high-involvement Brazilian free-for-all destined to take its place among hellish prison films, Carandiru plants a fist in the viewer's stomach.
  36. Breakin' All the Rules
    Manages to amuse as a cleverly concocted hybrid of conventional romantic comedy and mistaken-identity farce.
  37. A Slipping-Down Life
    A curiously bland drama that fails to fulfill the promise of its early scenes.
  38. Strayed
    A taut, suspenseful, linear approach, and a trio of excellent performances.
  39. Springtime in a Small Town
    Exquisitely made love story.
  40. A Day Without a Mexican
    Darkly amusing idea delivers an early salvo that fades as the film swings across a range of styles and tones director Sergio Arau gamely tries to corral. Even at its half-realized level, pic will anger some as it amuses others.
  41. After Freedom
    Compensating for the technical faults is the writer-director's unmistakable and undiluted need to express the issues he feels are at the heart of his community.
  42. Coffee and Cigarettes
    Holding the film together are simple but strong B&W visuals of offbeat types sitting around a table smoking and drinking java while they talk.
  43. Troy
    Despite a sensationally attractive cast and an array of well-staged combat scenes presented on a vast scale, Wolfgang Petersen's highly telescoped rendition of the Trojan War lurches ahead in fits and starts for much of its hefty running time, to OK effect.
  44. Off the Lip
    Rich in its love of surfing but curiously short on such footage, well-meaning directorial debut by producer Robert Mickelson is boosted by winning performances, but ultimately about as memorable as a day of 3-4 foot swells.
  45. The Mudge Boy
    Sensitive direction and a touching performance from Emile Hirsch in the title role help counter some dramatic naivete and awkward, at times unintentional, humor in The Mudge Boy.
  46. A Foreign Affair
    An odd concoction: an English-language movie made by Dutch filmmakers working with an American cast on location in Russia and Mexico. That strangeness, combined with sharp casting and affectionate performances, is a big part of "Affair's" charm.
  47. Valentin
    The choice to have Valentin narrate the tale and make philosophical observations beyond his years becomes irritating at times; ditto the cartoon humor.
  48. Oasis
    An eloquent expression of both unorthodox romance and bitter disillusionment with the hypocritical institutions of family and society.
  49. Super Size Me
    Primarily humorous in a believe-it-or-not fashion.
  50. Van Helsing
    The sense of evil overkill is entirely representative of the picture itself, which repeatedly looks ready to blow all its fuses due to sensory overload.
  51. Seeing Other People
    While lacking originality, pic is a case of cogent moviemaking that really knows its business. Traces of early Steven Soderbergh and recent Larry David enhance one of the most satisfying comedies in a fallow season.
  52. New York Minute
    After a string of direct-to-video excursions, this latest film remains an off-putting assault of too-screwball comedy with glints of pathos.
  53. A Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake
    Beautifully evokes the enduring appeal of English singer-songwriter Nick Drake.
  54. Superstar in a Housedress
    Fan, friend and documentarian Craig Highberger delivers the goods with rare clips of the inimitable Jackie in Off-Off Broadway shows written by the star. The shaky, blurry quality of this never-before-seen archival footage shot by the helmer only adds to pic's surreal shoestring mystique.
  55. The Clay Bird
    Accomplished, emotionally involving film.
  56. Bulgarian Lovers
    Full of charm, entertaining enough as it unfolds, good looking, but not especially memorable in retrospect.
  57. Laws of Attraction
    While slight comic concoction is so airy it seems in danger of floating right off the screen, the pleasant retro vibe and a handful of effervescent moments carry this film no self-respecting heterosexual male would dare see except on a date.
  58. Since Otar Left
    The film is traditionally and effectively made; it also is superbly acted.
  59. Godsend
    Solid performances, handsome production values and a few genuinely creepy scenes are not enough to save Godsend.
  60. Envy
    Can't decide whether to be an eccentric black comedy or a middle-of-the-road diversion.
  61. Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius
    This exceedingly long-winded but classy drama could appeal to the same strain of infrequent, regional moviegoers looking for righteous entertainment that flocked to "The Passion of the Christ."
  62. The Saddest Music in the World
    Almost as much an art piece as a film, this playful Prohibition-era tale is visually inventive and initially amusing but, at feature length, becomes somewhat wearing in its cacophonous eccentricity.
  63. Mean Girls
    This sassy if wildly uneven comedy navigates the treacherous high school jungle that separates cool cliques from wannabes, wading through some nasty behavior before delivering its moral message.
  64. People Say I'm Crazy
    Fascinating and frustrating in nearly equal measure.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands
    Has a certain raw charm but does not quite achieve the needed cohesion and directorial finesse it calls for. (Review of original release)
  66. The Agronomist
    Melds a great cause and Dominique's incandescent charisma with care using research from nine years of filming and reporting.
  67. MC5*: A True Testimonial
    Draws on extensive archival materials to etch an absorbing portrait of a singular counterculture mini-phenom that will be manna to music fans.
  68. Close Your Eyes
    An enjoyable throwback to the occult psychological horror-thrillers of the late 1970s. While it flirts often with campy excess, the film remains compelling thanks to its chilly mood, stylish visuals and polished production values.
  69. Faster
    An often thrilling, always compelling intro to the sport.
  70. Man on Fire
    One of the more absorbing and palatable entries in the rather disreputable "Death Wish"-style self-appointed vigilante sub-genre.
  71. The Twilight Samurai
    A mellow, stately, contemplative study of a stoic, brave man, but it doesn't deliver in the action department.
  72. 13 Going on 30
    A star vehicle composed of second-hand parts that nevertheless gets great mileage (and big laughs) from its recycled plot.
  73. Rhinoceros Eyes
    Not sufficiently compelling.
  74. Morlang
    A sleek, highly stylized arthouse thriller.
  75. Sacred Planet
    Respecting Mother Earth should never be as dull as watching Sacred Planet, a repetitive, globe-hopping Imax project that dresses up well-known ecological truisms with pretty nature photography.
  76. This So-Called Disaster: Sam Shepard Directs the Late Henry Moss
    Not as insightful as "Topsy-Turvy" or "Vanya on 42nd Street" about the process of putting on a show, it's nonetheless a fascinating meeting of the minds -- between iconic New York indie filmmaker Michael Almereyda and laconic American cowboy and dramatist Shepard.
  77. Lana's Rain
    It ends up a grinding, ludicrous depiction of a thuggish Bosnian's abuse of his sister.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Annie Get Your Gun (re-release)
    Annie Get Your Gun is socko musical entertainment on film, just as it was on the Broadway stage. (Review of original release)
  79. Kill Bill: Vol. 2
    Originally conceived as one film, the two-parter that has finally emerged can now be seen as a truly epic work.
  80. The Punisher
    Fires blanks. Thoroughly routine, pic plays like a paint-by-numbers pilot for bygone basic-cable teleseries.
  81. Gypsy 83
    Couldn't be less involving and more sentimentalized.
  82. Connie and Carla
    It takes chutzpah to borrow from comedy maestros Billy Wilder and Blake Edwards, and Nia Vardalos would seem an unlikely candidate to get away with it unpunished.
  83. Young Adam
    All of the promise that was evident in Scottish helmer David Mackenzie's flawed freshman feature, "The Last Great Wilderness" (2002), is richly achieved in his second pic, Young Adam, a resonant, beautifully modulated relationships drama.
  84. Close Call
    This cautionary melodrama about a Korean-American teen girl's slide into depravity is too inconsequential and too earnest to belong in the So Bad It's Good category; rather, it's merely bad.
  85. A Thousand Peace Clouds Encircle the Sky
    Handsome but dramatically static drama.
  86. The Middle of the World
    Debuting helmer Vicente Amorim provides a determined forward movement, which, while lacking in cultural explanation, gives the saga uplift and punch.
  87. Shade
    In the end, under-realized direction and characters deliver less than a full deck.
  88. Showboy
    It's a rich idea for a comedy, even if the filmmakers seem timid about making the pic the full-on satire it might have been.
  89. Twentynine Palms
    Fails to captivate or intrigue at the most basic level.
  90. The Girl Next Door
    A tickle-and-tease teen sex comedy that plays like a late-night channel-surf through soft-core sitcoms, "American Pie" wannabes and '80s Brat Pack romances.
  91. The Whole Ten Yards
    The strain needed to extend The Whole Ten Yards a yard -- and to feature length -- is so painfully evident it breaks new pic's comedy spirit, making it a particularly dubious member of the Sequel Hall of Shame.
  92. I'm Not Scared
    While another director might have imbued the story of a Sicilian boy awakened to his parents' involvement in child abduction with more emotional weight and thematic depth, Salvatores' classically illustrative treatment should open arthouse doors for the visually sumptuous production.
  93. The Alamo
    Refreshingly revisionist in the sense that it takes a relatively clear-eyed view of the messy lives and equivocal circumstances of many of the key participants.
  94. Ella Enchanted
    The glue that holds the sweet teen-fantasy together is star Anne Hathaway, who continues to evolve into a luminous young lead.
  95. Johnson Family Vacation
    Mostly squanders some very gifted performers. Guided by a slapdash script, this vehicle for Cedric the Entertainer is tantamount to embarking on a cross-country journey without a map, making the ride predictably uneven.
  96. The Blonds
    Treads a delicate line between documentary and fiction to reconstruct the kidnapping and murder of director Albertina Carri's parents during the military dictatorship.
  97. Okraina
    Lutsik takes aim at reckless capitalism --- as well as the increasing Westernization of Russian filmmaking --- with a disquieting allegory that in both themes and aesthetic is an audacious throwback to pre-WWII Soviet cinema formalism.
  98. Walking Tall
    Moves along at a clip and provides a terrific action lead for Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson.
  99. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring
    A sublime, witty, gritty and transcendental movie reflecting one man's life journey.
  100. The Prince and Me
    Totally cliched and nearly two hours long, pic takes forever to get to hopelessly obvious places.
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