Variety's Scores

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For 17,847 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: 9,172 out of 17847
  2. Mixed: 7,036 out of 17847
  3. Negative: 1,639 out of 17847
17847 movie reviews
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  1. Winged Migration
    Visually stunning, practically dialogue-free and very family-friendly.
  2. 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.
  4. Malibu's Most Wanted
    Ultimately implodes, letting down the 'hood, hip-hoppers and Jamie Kennedy fans looking forward to his first major starring role.
  5. 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.
  6. Love and Diane
    Tremendous emotional force and uncompromising honesty.
  7. 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.
  8. 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
  10. 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.
  11. XX/XY
    Chick agreeably captures the feel and flow of on-the-move young professionals in New York.
  12. 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.
  13. Khab-e sefid
    Gentle, touching tale.
  14. 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.
  15. 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.
  16. Going Down
    There seems to be no bottom to Going Down, a lame also-ran in the rapidly declining teen gross-out comedy genre.
  17. House of 1000 Corpses
    A cobwebbed, mummified horror entry that makes obvious, cartoonishly grotesque demands for attention.
  18. Marion Bridge
    Sensitive directorial bow by editor Wiebke von Carolsfeld and solid performances lend conviction if not quite distinction to the drama Marion Bridge.
  19. 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.
  20. 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.
  21. The Man Without a Past
    Enormously satisfying, superbly crafted.
  22. 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.
  23. 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.
  25. What a Girl Wants
    It feels much more like a shameless reshuffle of "The Princess Diaries."
  26. 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.
  27. 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.
  28. Cowboy Bebop the Movie: Knockin' on Heaven's Door
    Though it isn't the entirely original creation "Metropolis" was, Bebop is more satisfying.
  29. 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.
  30. The Good Thief
    Sure, it's all been done before, but seldom with this degree of vigor and panache.
  31. Stevie
    A forceful, affecting experience.
  32. 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.
  33. 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.
  34. 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.
  36. 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.
  38. Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie
    Unlikely to draw new fans but destined to please followers who couldn't catch the live act.
  39. Unknown Pleasures
    As lethargic as the characters it portrays, the film requires greater staying power than many audiences will possess.
  40. Piglet's Big Movie
    Fine new chapter in the long-running franchise should score well with family audiences.
  41. Chuen jik sat sau
    High-octane plunge into pop gangster psychology.
  42. Down and Out with the Dolls
    Unaffectedly hip and affably manic, Down & Out With the Dolls picks up where "Singles" left off.
  43. 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.
  44. Gaudi Afternoon
    Silly, childish fun and as relaxing to watch as good American TV fiction -- and with a very similar world view.
  45. View from the Top
    Flubs nearly every opportunity to be the comedy it wanted to be.
  46. 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.
  47. 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.
  48. Japan
    Its powerfully visual storytelling delivers great rewards as the meditative drama moves into increasingly complex, at times confrontational territory.
  49. Zhantai
    Thoughtful, melancholy drama.
  50. Willard
    Strictly for the birds.
  51. 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.
  52. The Hunted
    Routine, superficial manhunt stuff.
  53. 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."
  54. Spun
    Outrageously grungy and whacked-out walk on the wild side.
  55. 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.
  56. Laurel Canyon
    The dramatic trajectory is frightfully obvious, the characters tediously one-dimensional, the dialogue banal.
  57. Nowhere in Africa
    Easy on the eye and effortlessly entertaining across almost 2½ hours.
  58. 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.
  59. The Safety of Objects
    A genuine and tangible fondness and respect for the characters and their eccentricities.
  60. Irreversible
    A demanding but rewarding emotional odyssey in a challenging visual package.
  61. 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.
  62. Journey to Western Xia Empire
    A slowly inspiring saga of blood, sweat and horse dung, played with conviction.
  63. Ten
    10 dazzling and perceptive snapshots of women with which femmes everywhere can identify.
  64. 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."
  65. 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.
  66. Foreign Sister
    Unfortunately, Wolman's flat direction accentuates the predictable course of his soft narrative.
  67. 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.
  69. 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.
  70. 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.
  71. Lawless Heart
    This slyly humorous, cleverly constructed comedy-drama wends its way through different takes on similar time frames to a warm, inclusive ending.
  72. 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.
  73. Old School
    This year's kinder, gentler "Animal House."
  74. The Life of David Gale
    Punches the expected buttons without being entirely convincing.
  75. From the Other Side
    While it's clear where the filmmaker's sympathies lie, the view presented is relatively balanced.
  76. Amandla! A Revolution in Four Part Harmony
    Exhaustively informative and powerfully emotional.
  77. The Ballad of Bering Strait
    Pleasant if slightly pokey documentary.
  78. Ordinary Sinner
    Its central theme being the struggle between Christianity and homophobia -- though what's onscreen is far too vanilla in both content and execution to spark much enthusiasm.
  79. Painted Fire
    Grounded by a vigorous, physical performance from Choi Min-Sik, who brings both earthiness and grandeur to the central role, the film vividly evokes the world of an obsessive natural talent.
  80. The Jungle Book 2
    The feel of a direct-to-video title that's been upgraded to theatrical status in the hopes of wringing a few extra bucks out of it and improving its not-too-distant homevid marketability.
  81. Gerry
    Defiantly uncommunicative picture.
  82. He Loves Me... He Loves Me Not
    Turns on an intellectual gimmick in the vein of "Memento," weaving down sinister byways, the better to click with satisfying symmetry.
  83. All the Real Girls
    Director David Gordon Green has created some fresh, penetrating, beautifully drawn scenes of one-on-one intimacy…But some of what surrounds these interludes is variously misguided, fuzzy and borderline pretentious.
  84. Daredevil
    This franchise-hungry champion of the underdog brings no sense of fun to his pursuit of bad guys; it's just the fate he's stuck with.
  85. Stone Reader
    A debut of enormous craft, surety and resourcefulness -- a superlative, soul-baring non-fiction work that will generate torrential word-of-mouth among auds lucky enough to catch it.
    • 36 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    America So Beautiful
    Pictures general subject matter was given a more intimate and graceful treatment in last year's Los Angeles Film Festival entry "Maryam." This comparatively jumbled, unevenly paced item lacks nuance or distinction.
  87. Zus & zo
    About as vigorous and intricate as a glossy romantic comedy can get without collapsing under the weight of its own merriment.
  88. Deliver Us from Eva
    Well-cast relationship comedy-drama is played too broadly in the early going, but gradually settles into a more appealing groove as a glossy date-movie.
  89. Kedma
    A largely dull history lesson…stripped of any backgrounding, peopled with archetypes rather than fully-drawn characters, and features self-consciously arty direction that gets in the way of story-telling.
  90. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
    This is the kind of movie that was doomed on the page, both by an inherently problematic premise and ill-conceived character motivations.
  91. Shanghai Knights
    A hugely entertaining and more lavishly mounted follow-up to 2000's "Shanghai Noon," the high-concept East-meets-Western that first teamed top-billed duo, pic rides even taller in the saddle as a fleet and funny crowd-pleaser.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Baraka (re-release)
    Words can't do justice to the visual masterpiece Baraka.
  93. Biker Boyz
    Never really busts out of second gear.
  94. Lost in La Mancha
    There's no shortage of disaster stories in the history of film production, but none have been recorded with such frankness, immediacy and aching sense of disappointment.
  95. The Guru
    A generally entertaining but rather old-fashioned romantic comedy.
  96. Final Destination 2
    Suffers from the same rancid dialogue and acting problems as the original but with a much funnier pulse. The real progenitor here is less the previous pic than the sick-funny horror cinema of George Romero.
  97. The Recruit
    The whole picture may be hokey, but the first part is agreeably so, the second part not. At the very least, one comes away with a new appreciation of the difficulty of inner-office romance at the CIA.
  98. Suddenly Naked
    Well-acted, sharp-looking pic seems more interested in sitcom diversions.
  99. Chaos
    A breathlessly involving tale of urban indifference, rampant hypocrisy and the difference a little human decency can make, superbly played pic is a black comedy that's frequently funny but never frivolous.
  100. Darkness Falls
    It's an instantly disposable and shamelessly derivative piece of work -- call it petit guignol, and you won't be far off the mark -- but first-time feature helmer Jonathan Liebesman shows a savvy flair for atmospheric visuals.
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