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. Down with Love
    Stars Zellweger and McGregor are too knowingly nudge-wink in their performances, too much contrived constructs to become real characters, let alone fuel the romantic comedy engine and make an audience care much whether they end up together.
  2. Reno: Rebel Without a Pause
    Nancy Savoca's workmanlike record of a La Mama stage performance taped last December finds the comic spinning some not-especially-interesting anecdotes about her bewildered actions that day, before turning toward more incisive political commentary.
  3. Charlotte Sometimes
    The deft shading he (Byler) elicits from his thesps is of a piece with his dramatics and his understated, artful approach to compositions and movement.
  4. X2: X-Men United
    About twice as good as the original...bigger and more ambitious in every respect, from its action and visceral qualities to its themes.
  5. The Dancer Upstairs
    The film is powered by a superbly controlled performance from Javier Bardem. While it lacks economy and could have used a firmer hand in shaping the key central relationship, this intelligent, arrestingly sober drama packs a cumulative punch.
  6. Owning Mahowny
    Philip Seymour Hoffman and John Hurt give compelling performances... But the coldly unrewarding drama is as distant and joyless as its protagonist, representing a disappointment for director Richard Kwietniowski.
  7. Blue Car
    This melancholy, insightfully scripted coming-of-age drama is moving without being manipulative and makes an assured calling card for writer-director Karen Moncrieff.
  8. The Lizzie McGuire Movie
    Just two weeks after successfully targeting boys with "Holes," Disney is giving girls something they want with this mild, quasi-romantic romp.
  9. New Suit
    Another satirical view of the everyday insanity of working within the Industry, slickly made New Suit adds no special insight to the subgenre.
  10. Spellbound
    Docu dispassionately examines this strange phenomenon of anachronistic Americana, created as a newspaper promotion in 1925.
  11. Returning Mickey Stern
    Undone by an idea capable of hanging together for 30 minutes at best.
  12. The Real Cancun
    Unabashedly tasteless, wholly trashy and, also, hugely entertaining.
  13. House of Fools
    Has the comically grotesque appeal of a Fellini film and could reach out to auds in specialized release. It lacks the originality and invention to go much beyond that.
  14. City of Ghosts
    Despite a name cast, with Dillon playing an insurance crook, pic is holed by a plot-heavy script that's unsatisfying at a character level and plays like a cut-down version of a much longer, more ambitious saga.
  15. A Decade Under the Influence
    An entertaining, deeply respectful assessment of the directors and actors who rode the countercultural wave of the 1970s.
  16. The Scoundrel's Wife
    A bland gumbo of wartime intrigue and home-front soap opera in the bayou country of Louisiana.
  17. Confidence
    Stylish, compelling crime caper full of smoothly navigated plot twists.
  18. Identity
    Some fancy footwork in the writing and directing can't disguise the hoary "Ten Little Indians" origins of Identity.
  19. It Runs in the Family
    Uneasily pivots between comedy and drama, with its best parts strongly reminiscent of Schepisi's previous, British-made drama about aging and dying buddies, "Last Orders."
  20. People I Know
    Compelling 24-hour odyssey into the life of a world-weary Gotham publicist, driven by a vivid performance from Al Pacino.
  21. Mr. and Mrs. Iyer
    A drama of impeccable intentions flawed by arch dialogue and only OK direction.
  22. Jersey Guy
    The unfocused writing makes the film increasingly less convincing as it stumbles toward an awkwardly structured resolution -- closing on a conga line that makes "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" seem cutting-edge.
  23. Onmyoji: The Yin Yang Master
    The effects prove extremely uneven, with sub-par touches alongside astonishing and truly unforgettable shots.
  24. Winged Migration
    Visually stunning, practically dialogue-free and very family-friendly.
  25. Holes
    Holes will no doubt speak clearly and appealingly to its intended early teen audience.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Lilya 4-Ever
    Hard-hitting, dark and tragic story that rarely lets up.
  27. Malibu's Most Wanted
    Ultimately implodes, letting down the 'hood, hip-hoppers and Jamie Kennedy fans looking forward to his first major starring role.
  28. Venus and Mars
    Thesping and production values are solid and sometimes even attractive, but pic's overall American-style gloss becomes extremely odd and discomforting given the setting.
  29. Love and Diane
    Tremendous emotional force and uncompromising honesty.
  30. A Mighty Wind
    The gifted repertory company again creates an amusing gallery of incisively observed characters, riffing off each other with enjoyment levels that frequently prove contagious.
  31. Bulletproof Monk
    Not surprisingly based on a comic book series by Brett Lewis and R.A. Jones (whom pic fails to credit), pic hurtles along at a pace designed by vet music vid and ad helmer Paul Hunter to engage short attention spans.
    • 33 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Chasing Papi
    For the most part, the fast-moving pace, thankfully slight running time, attractive leads and infectious soundtrack distract from its many inconsistencies
  33. The Young Unknowns
    A strident, painfully repetitive and hopelessly stage-bound drama about self-indulgent twentysomethings on the fringes of the L.A. film scene.
  34. XX/XY
    Chick agreeably captures the feel and flow of on-the-move young professionals in New York.
  35. Better Luck Tomorrow
    Lin's nicely turned out picture is sometimes both predictable and a bit far-fetched narratively, but still provides a generally absorbing look at a slice of society normally taken for granted, both in life and onscreen.
  36. Khab-e sefid
    Gentle, touching tale.
  37. Ghosts of the Abyss
    Though quite routine on the logistics of deep-sea exploring, pic develops a visual style as it replays the events of the sinking that some viewers may find more visually exciting and satisfying than what Cameron staged in his original mega-blockbuster.
  38. Anger Management
    The antics here are strained, graceless and tiresomely crude, the sorts of things audiences feel they're supposed to laugh at rather than well-developed situations that generate genuine amusement.
  39. Going Down
    There seems to be no bottom to Going Down, a lame also-ran in the rapidly declining teen gross-out comedy genre.
  40. House of 1000 Corpses
    A cobwebbed, mummified horror entry that makes obvious, cartoonishly grotesque demands for attention.
  41. Marion Bridge
    Sensitive directorial bow by editor Wiebke von Carolsfeld and solid performances lend conviction if not quite distinction to the drama Marion Bridge.
  42. The Rose Technique
    Scheide's feature never quite seizes the potential for full-on "Stepfather" thrills or "Serial Mom"-style black comedy, leaving pic diverting but too mild.
  43. DysFunktional Family
    The attempt to draw certain connections between Griffin's material and its autobiographical origins feels slapped together, shortchanging both aspects of the film.
  44. The Man Without a Past
    Enormously satisfying, superbly crafted.
  45. Phone Booth
    Gussied up with a host of filmmaking tricks in an attempt to keep things lively, this intensely acted little exercise just doesn't have enough going for it, with the exception of gradually growing interest in lead Colin Farrell.
  46. Manna from Heaven
    This family affair is a squeaky-clean cable-ready comedy, unabashedly retro fluff.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion [re-release]
    Balkan probably gives her best performance to date to create a woman tormented by instability, sexual drive and psycho demons -- disjointedly portrayed in the script.
  48. What a Girl Wants
    It feels much more like a shameless reshuffle of "The Princess Diaries."
  49. Levity
    Despite an effectively low-key performance by Billy Bob Thornton in the leading role, pic is no more spiritually insightful or illuminating than Sunday School instructional story, and a lot less dramatically coherent.
  50. A Man Apart
    Diesel makes a violent bid to align himself with the Clint Eastwood-Charles Bronson-Steve McQueen tradition, but he lacks the charisma, emotional strength and humor to do so.
  51. Cowboy Bebop the Movie: Knockin' on Heaven's Door
    Though it isn't the entirely original creation "Metropolis" was, Bebop is more satisfying.
  52. Cet amour-là
    A limp-to-wilted film version of Duras' 16-year-long love affair with a young man who became her secretary and literary executor.
  53. The Good Thief
    Sure, it's all been done before, but seldom with this degree of vigor and panache.
  54. Stevie
    A forceful, affecting experience.
  55. Assassination Tango
    On just about every level -- as a thriller, as a romance and as a character study of a complicated man nearing the end of his professional life -- the film fails, and the meandering, sub-Cassavetes approach is likely to be a turnoff for all but the most indulgent viewers.
  56. The Core
    More palatable than most pictures of its ilk due to its keen awareness of its own preposterousness, a self-knowledge exuberantly expressed by a mostly live-wire cast.
  57. Head of State
    So beneath the considerable talents of its star, Chris Rock, it's dismaying to note Rock is also the movie's director, producer and co-scenarist. Not unlike Richard Pryor a generation ago, Rock has yet to land a movie vehicle that captures the sparky energy and subversive bent of his excellent stand-up performances.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Night and the City (re-release)
    Jules Dassin, in his direction, manages extraordinarily interesting backgrounds, realistically filmed to create a feeling both of suspense and mounting menace.
  59. Basic
    The teasing tale is told with such dispatch it will carry willing audiences along; genre staples of action, macho attitude and corruption through the ranks are delivered intact.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Flickering Lights
    Jensen helms with assurance and maturity, with rapid but unhectic pacing, plenty of dark humor and deft action sequences that turn cliches from U.S. action-comedies into something very Danish.
  61. Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie
    Unlikely to draw new fans but destined to please followers who couldn't catch the live act.
  62. Unknown Pleasures
    As lethargic as the characters it portrays, the film requires greater staying power than many audiences will possess.
  63. Piglet's Big Movie
    Fine new chapter in the long-running franchise should score well with family audiences.
  64. Chuen jik sat sau
    High-octane plunge into pop gangster psychology.
  65. Down and Out with the Dolls
    Unaffectedly hip and affably manic, Down & Out With the Dolls picks up where "Singles" left off.
  66. Boat Trip
    Washout. Lacking the mojo even to be offensive in its stereotypical view of gays and women, this excruciating cocktail of sitcom plotting and gross-out humor makes a clunky cheesefest like "The Love Boat" look like breezy, sophisticated fun.
  67. Gaudi Afternoon
    Silly, childish fun and as relaxing to watch as good American TV fiction -- and with a very similar world view.
  68. View from the Top
    Flubs nearly every opportunity to be the comedy it wanted to be.
  69. Dreamcatcher
    Overlong and unwieldy grab-bag of vintage monster-movie elements starts intriguingly as a snowbound deep-woods chiller, but gradually dissolves into a mess of other-worldly invasion and military counter-offensive.
  70. Decasia
    Lacking any obvious thematic or emotional arc, compilation pic succeeds as a pure exercise in visual stimulus, its narcotic effect much amplified by Michael Gordon's thunderous, dissonant orchestral score.
  71. Japan
    Its powerfully visual storytelling delivers great rewards as the meditative drama moves into increasingly complex, at times confrontational territory.
  72. Zhantai
    Thoughtful, melancholy drama.
  73. Willard
    Strictly for the birds.
  74. Journeys with George
    A golden opportunity to witness the "unplugged," after-hours George W. Bush at his most congenial. "George" offers a portrait of a gregariously charming and self-mocking fellow who's perfectly at ease in his own skin, and who's no less slick and savvy a politician for being willing to make himself the butt of jokes.
  75. The Hunted
    Routine, superficial manhunt stuff.
  76. Agent Cody Banks
    As a spy pic, it has more pizzazz than the last few Bond adventures, "The Sum of All Fears" or "The Recruit."
  77. Spun
    Outrageously grungy and whacked-out walk on the wild side.
  78. Bend It Like Beckham
    Writer-helmer Gurinder Chadha assembles a gallery of broadly played stereotypes into a movie about social attitudes that's more rooted in small-screen sitcom than anything deeper.
  79. Laurel Canyon
    The dramatic trajectory is frightfully obvious, the characters tediously one-dimensional, the dialogue banal.
  80. Nowhere in Africa
    Easy on the eye and effortlessly entertaining across almost 2½ hours.
  81. Bringing Down the House
    There are certainly good laughs to be had. But the contrived script and bland direction prevent the film from ever developing a comic life of its own, leaving what fun there is seeming like the foundation to a rumpus room that's never finished.
  82. The Safety of Objects
    A genuine and tangible fondness and respect for the characters and their eccentricities.
  83. Irreversible
    A demanding but rewarding emotional odyssey in a challenging visual package.
  84. Tears of the Sun
    This is one of those pictures that unavoidably becomes part of the zeitgeist due to its coincidental arrival at a precise moment in history when its themes play into current events.
  85. Journey to Western Xia Empire
    A slowly inspiring saga of blood, sweat and horse dung, played with conviction.
  86. Ten
    10 dazzling and perceptive snapshots of women with which femmes everywhere can identify.
  87. Cradle 2 the Grave
    Choreographed by long-term Li collaborator Corey Yuen, the martial arts confrontations supply plenty of spark, though they lack the more exhilarating stylistic flourishes of those in "Romeo."
  88. Poolhall Junkies
    Callahan mostly overcomes its grungy technical quality with entertaining dialogue, nervy confrontation scenes, decent thesping and some truly spectacular shooting on the green velvet.
  89. Foreign Sister
    Unfortunately, Wolman's flat direction accentuates the predictable course of his soft narrative.
  90. Bolivia
    A dignified second film for Caetano.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Open Hearts
    Poignant, thoughtful and utterly absorbing, Susanne Bier's Dogme film Open Hearts is a gem.
  92. Till Human Voices Wake Us
    This dank, gloomy essay into the supernatural tries hard to create an intriguing mood in which fate guides the lives of its wounded protagonists, but few will be interested in the outcome.
  93. Dark Blue
    Refreshingly devoid of flashiness or artificially pumped-up action, this consistently gripping, well-constructed police thriller… showcases a tightly controlled performance from Kurt Russell.
  94. Lawless Heart
    This slyly humorous, cleverly constructed comedy-drama wends its way through different takes on similar time frames to a warm, inclusive ending.
  95. Gods and Generals
    Gods and Generals is American history transformed into a museum movie, consistently making the flawed human characters at the heart of the Civil War into flawless figures Olympian in their statuesque remoteness.
  96. Old School
    This year's kinder, gentler "Animal House."
  97. The Life of David Gale
    Punches the expected buttons without being entirely convincing.
  98. From the Other Side
    While it's clear where the filmmaker's sympathies lie, the view presented is relatively balanced.
  99. Amandla! A Revolution in Four Part Harmony
    Exhaustively informative and powerfully emotional.
  100. The Ballad of Bering Strait
    Pleasant if slightly pokey documentary.
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