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. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
    Darker and more dramatic, this account of Harry's troubled second year at Hogwarts may be a bit overlong and unmodulated in pacing, but it possesses a confidence and intermittent flair that begin to give it a life of its own apart of the literary franchise, something the initial picture never achieved.
  2. Bánk bán
    While it creaks along at times, director Csaba Kael's new film version of a Hungarian opera masterpiece, Ferenc Erkel's Bank Ban, is ultimately an invaluable entry in the opera-on-film library.
  3. Hush!
    Meandering melodrama about gay relationships, friendship, loneliness and the elastic notion of family is considerably overlong and hampered by too many superfluous scenes.
  4. The Rising Place
    An ultra-touchy-feely race-relations, civil-rights drama as imagined by theme-park organizers, with every character painted in broad strokes in a story that eagerly tugs at every available heartstring -- and rings false at every turn.
  5. Dieu est grand, je suis toute petite
    Choppy and fragmented to the point of irritation, pic overuses blackouts between scenes, self-conscious camera movements, narrative ellipses and other jangly techniques.
  6. The Bread, My Sweet
    Lightweight but likable.
  7. Far From Heaven
    An accomplished marriage of elaborate style and content.
  8. 'R Xmas
    Despite some hazy plot points, the tough, compelling drama comes together quite satisfyingly, standing alongside 1996's "The Funeral" as perhaps the most controlled and cohesive of Ferrara's uneven work of recent years.
  9. 8 Mile
    The rough power, as well as the humor and sensitivity, of pop phenom Eminem is delivered intact in 8 Mile.
  10. Leela
    Succeeds only as a cultural exchange of cinematic cliches.
  11. Femme Fatale
    An extravagant suspense cocktail of wacky and lascivious ingredients that goes down fine.
  12. Strange Fruit
    Where pic excels is in the depiction of a rich leftist movement, with several cultures interacting expressively in the 1930s and '40s.
  13. Justifiable Homicide
    Film makes a strong case for some form of miscarriage of justice and subsequent high level cover-up in the Rosario shootings.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Treasure Planet
    The film's total appeal may be undercut by a script that rarely feels inspired.
  15. The Weight of Water
    Despite recurrent narrative and dramatic problems, each of Bigelow's pics provides a visual treat, and this film is no exception.
  16. Love in the Time of Money
    This kind of episodic chain of interlocking encounters has become a formulaic favorite in American indie cinema, and Mattei's take on the genre is narrow and schematic.
  17. Daughter from Danang
    An intelligent, well-observed and ineffably poignant study of an Amerasian woman's attempt to trace her roots by journeying back to Vietnam.
  18. The Santa Clause 2
    Festooned with cute, mugging kids; lots of jazzy redos of beloved Christmas tunes on the soundtrack; and enough tug-at-your-heartstrings moments to make an entire theater feel warm on a blustery winter afternoon.
  19. I Spy
    It's precisely the lineup of familiar past work that makes I Spy pretty dull goods, invigorated mainly by the sharp interplay between Murphy and Wilson, both of whom shine best when they have a sidekick to work with.
  20. Santa vs. the Snowman
    The lively visuals, busy story, zippy pace and TV show running time will make this go down very easily with the target moppet audience.
  21. Food of Love
    Pons has aimed for a performance-driven drama whose virtues are of the small-scale, low-key variety, with the director working within narrow dramatic limits as always but here doing so brilliantly.
  22. The Bank
    Will connect with anyone who ever had a bad experience with a bank or finance company, and provides a satisfyingly loathsome character in Anthony LaPaglia's engaging protrayal of a corporate shark.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Quai des Orfèvres [re-release]
    In every respect it is outstanding.
  24. Time Changer
    There is something sweetly naive about pic's astonished contention that this is because morals were taught in a nonreligious context. But it's not a compelling argument for the Apocalypse.
  25. All the Queen's Men
    Not bad enough to qualify as a memorable dud, multinational production nonetheless misses mark on every level.
  26. Frida
    Salma Hayek makes the character an icon of female independence, courage and nonconformity, forecasting special appeal for women viewers.
  27. By Hook or by Crook
    No movie like this about friendship between two young lesbians and their various adventures, punctuated with laissez-faire jump-cutting, should be this boring.
  28. The Truth About Charlie
    Dazzlingly nimble and light on its feet, this breezy but densely textured love letter to modern, multicultural Paris in the guise of a romantic suspenser returns its director to the vibrant vein of his pre-Oscar work in "Something Wild" and "Married to the Mob."
  29. Waking Up in Reno
    A hillbilly romantic comedy in which the hillbillies show up but the romance and comedy never do.
  30. Paid in Full
    Begins as a serious, straightforward account of the origins of the cocaine trade and "gangsta" culture in 1980s Harlem, but then downward spirals due to a weak plot and gratuitous violence.
  31. All or Nothing
    The wealth of behavioral detail and observational humor make for some rewarding drama that will resonate with many viewers.
  32. Roger Dodger
    fFts into that weird, dialogue-heavy quasi-genre that includes "In the Company of Men" and "The Business of Strangers" where high-stakes sexual power games mix with cutthroat office politics.
  33. Ghost Ship
    Launched with a few surprising touches and a disturbingly bloody prelude, horror pic collapses under the weight of its own dull conception and weak direction, dialogue and character portraits.
  34. Jackass: The Movie
    It's plotless, shapeless -- and yet, it must be admitted, not entirely humorless. Indeed, the more outrageous bits achieve a shock-you-into-laughter intensity of almost Dadaist proportions.
  35. Derrida
    An affectionate but aptly complex view of one of our epoch's great philosophers.
  36. Fidel
    Worth seeing for its wealth of archival footage hitherto little-seen outside Communist bloc nations, Fidel nonetheless errs badly by slapping a quasi-objective journalistic tenor onto content so flattering and uncritical it might pass for an old "This Is Your Life" episode.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Le bossu
    Consistently enjoyable, if rarely exceptional, mass entertainment.
  38. Under the Moonlight
    Though its subject has curiosity value, its critical view of religious institutions is compromised by an ending that evidently was necessary for the film to be made and released at all.
  39. The Business of Fancydancing
    Stalled character development in the second half of the pic reduces the impact of the whole.
  40. Naqoyqatsi
    Possessed of another outstanding wall-to-wall score by Philip Glass but rather fuzzy in its message, entry differs from its predecessors in that roughly 80% of its images are derived from existing sources and have been "tortured and recontextualized" to unusual and sometimes extreme effect.
  41. Real Women Have Curves
    Delightful coming-of-age comedy-drama.
  42. Abandon
    Passably interesting psychological study of emotionally wounded characters until it commits dramatic suicide by showing its true colors as a tricked-up "Fatal Attraction" wannabe.
  43. The Grey Zone
    Staccato, Mamet-style dialogue exchanges, breathless pacing and remarkably healthy, well-fed-looking actors create a cumulative sense of artificiality that seriously undercuts the devastating effect clearly being sought.
  44. Hansel & Gretel
    Pity the children for whom this is their intro to the world of Grimm, for while pic stays to basic outline of the original story in opening and closing sections, the large middle is stuffed with badly staged slapstick and painful stabs at hip dialogue in an arch attempt to cater to modern kids.
  45. Goyangileul butaghae
    Engaging, highly accessible movie that marks a slick feature debut by helmer Jeong Jae-eun.
  46. Auto Focus
    Schrader directs with a very smooth hand, providing a good-natured and frequently amusing spin to eventually grim material that aptly reflects the protagonist's almost unfailing good humor.
  47. The Ring
    Comes across in muted fashion, with uninvolving characters and lack of genuine excitement or fright creating a second-rate, second-hand feel.
  48. Formula 51
    There's an appalling amount of talent at waste up on the screen, starting with Jackson and Carlyle whose tall/short, silent/motormouth double act never clicks.
  49. Stealing the Fire
    Sometimes wavers, but its stylistic unevenness is trumped by its topicality.
  50. Comedian
    Gains much greater texture from the intercutting between the two performers than had it remained simply a Seinfeld promotional project.
  51. Brown Sugar
    As eye and ear candy, pic has its modest pleasures, beginning with the attractive Diggs and Lathan.
  52. Family Fundamentals
    Docmeister Arthur Dong brings empathetic balance and emotional heft to the discord between fundamentalist Christian parents and their gay children.
  53. Pokémon 4: The Movie
    Supposedly, Pokemon can't be killed, but Pokemon 4Ever practically assures that the pocket monster movie franchise is nearly ready to keel over.
  54. Knockaround Guys
    Young male auds should warm to its cool criminal ethos, sharp dialogue, charismatic cast and wry humor.
  55. Kwik Stop
    A screwball road movie set in a middle-of-nowhere town, Kwik Stop suggests "It Happened One Night" as reimagined by David Lynch or Hal Hartley.
  56. Below
    This hokey thriller reps what one can only hope will be a one-of-a-kind hybrid between a World War II actioner and a ghost story outfitted with innumerable false-alarm shock cuts and shot with enough colored lights and filters to delight Baz Luhrmann.
  57. The Rules of Attraction
    Gets an ambitious, sometimes inspired but ultimately less than satisfying screen treatment from Roger Avary.
  58. The Transporter
    So second-hand and disposable is it in every respect.
  59. Ash Wednesday
    Burns' films are invariably better directed and scripted than they are performed, and Ash Wednesday is no exception. Pic's biggest drawback is that the helmer has again cast himself in the leading role.
  60. Punch-Drunk Love
    Entirely unpredictable and marked by audacious strokes of directorial bravado.
  61. Tuck Everlasting
    Disney's tradition of intelligent, live-action family period cinema is magnificently revived in Tuck Everlasting.
  62. White Oleander
    Never rising above routine episodic storytelling, White Oleander nonetheless retains something of its source novel's ravaged emotional surface and cool, observant manner.
  63. Bowling for Columbine
    The sparks fly thanks to Moore's patented blend of curveball research, expedient juxtaposition, genuine satire and bottomless chutzpah.
  64. Swept Away
    A simple misfire rather than a world-class fiasco. This misguided attempt to remake Lina Wertmuller's corrosive 1974 satire as a wistful romance is only unintentionally funny in the last reel.
  65. How to Draw a Bunny
    Debuting helmer Walter assembles an aptly colorful package, with stylistic integration of elements from Johnson's delightful visual art. A major plus is the skittering percussion score by bebop jazz great Max Roach.
  66. Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie
    Uses humor and high spirits to entertain while spreading the Good Word. Much of this slick and sprightly CGI feature is sufficiently funny to amuse even the most resolutely unreligious parents who escort their little ones to megaplex screenings.
  67. Heaven
    Sports a lustrous performance by Cate Blanchett that gives the movie much of its final sheen but still can't keep it on the rails as the already flimsy story starts to disintegrate in the final act.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Pipe Dream
    Pic, which may be too cutesy for some tastes, is lacking in substance in some areas but it has a wonderfully nuanced, constantly surprising perf by Mary-Louise Parker, who elevates the intermittently charming insider spoof.
  69. Welcome to Collinwood
    Anthony and Joe Russo place too much faith in the ability of their talented thesps to carry the day over precariously thin material.
  70. Bloody Sunday
    A stunning work, revisiting controversial events with journalistic objectivity and a meticulous eye for detail.
  71. Red Dragon
    Audiences will be excused for any feelings of déjà vu the new film might inspire. That won't prevent them from watching it in rapt, anxious silence, however, as the gruesome crimes, twisted psychology and deterministic dread that lie at the heart of Harris' work are laid out with care and skill.
  72. Just a Kiss
    The helming debut of thesp Fisher Stevens, who mixes swell ensemble acting with eye-popping animation for a witch's brew of good sex, bad timing and very funny dialogue.
  73. The Tuxedo
    This bad idea is then underlined by pallid direction from tyro helmer and TV ad vet Kevin Donovan, a virtually incomprehensible plot line and a less-than-satisfying co-starring turn from Jennifer Love Hewitt.
  74. Skins
    Has a patched-together feel, and its aims as human drama, social documentary and vigilante movie are never quite reconciled.
  75. Crazy as Hell
    An erratic, psychobabbling jumble of scenes that never builds to any discernible point.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Shanghai Ghetto
    The material is more interesting than the film's rather dry mode of presentation, which is somewhat hampered by a dearth of archival footage.
  77. Biggie and Tupac
    Broomfield's shaggy p.o.v. always troubles -- blurring the lines between tabloid and serious reportage, morbid curiosity and hard facts, objectivity and amusing, quasi-amateur stuntsmanship.
  78. The Man from Elysian Fields
    A fine cast further illuminates a felicitous script.
  79. Wasabi
    An acceptably entertaining but borderline bland vehicle for Jean Reno.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Siddhartha (re-release)
    Rooks has chosen to give this a surface elegance which sometimes robs the film of its needed earthiness and sensuality in its love angle and more robustness in detailing the vagaries of social aspects and values at the time.
  81. Sweet Home Alabama
    Revives the format but not the fun of classic Hollywood screwball comedies about rediscovering the virtues of a former mate.
  82. Moonlight Mile
    A movie at war with itself -- tuned into its characters' vicissitudes one moment, stumbling with awkward stabs at goofiness the next.
  83. The Trials of Henry Kissinger
    A chilling history lesson in realpolitik.
  84. Daydream Believer
    An unusually bright, inspired look at the perils of breaking into the acting business.
  85. Invincible
    This potentially intriguing story winds up being dull and at times faintly silly.
  86. Slap Her... She's French
    Scripters Robert Lee King and Lamar Damon leave no national cliche or double entendre unturned in this good-looking but relentlessly lowbrow outing which plays like "Clueless Does South Fork" with a side order of garlic.
  87. Joshua
    Emerges as a curiously mild-mannered if not downright tepid drama.
  88. Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever
    Remote, non-involving and finally incomprehensible.
  89. The Four Feathers
    There is no one to become attached to in The Four Feathers, no interest or sympathies appealed to or engaged.
  90. The Banger Sisters
    Adult fans of good thesping in the service of a lightweight but thoroughly entertaining story should bask in the antics.
  91. Trapped
    A pretty skillfully handled domestic thriller about a criminal activity that, while always upsetting, is especially noxious now due to the too many recent tragic and highly publicized instances of it.
  92. The Mesmerist
    Plays like a mercilessly extended version of an uninspired "Saturday Night Live" sketch.
  93. Snipes
    Unremarkable but competent in stylistic terms, with good use of Philadelphia locations, sharp casting and the requisite marketable hip-hop soundtrack adding up to a fun genre package.
  94. The Ignorant Fairies
    The well-structured film goes beyond issues of sexuality, giving nuanced consideration to broader questions of love and loss, family and friendship, trust, lies and deception.
  95. 8 Women
    For all its careful plotting, some viewers may find the exercise ultimately hollow and nasty, but thesps make the experience completely worthwhile.
  96. Secretary
    In a very demanding role demanding a vast emotional range from clueless innocent to confident role player and emotional adventurer, Gyllenhaal is outstanding.
  97. Spirited Away
    An out-and-out charmer. It's almost impossible to do justice in words either to the visual richness of the movie, which melanges traditional Japanese clothes and architecture with both Victorian and modern-day artifacts, or to the character-filled storyline, with human figures, harpies and grotesque creatures.
  98. Ciao America
    Never less than pleasant and genteel, but rarely more.
  99. The Experiment
    A solid slice of entertainment without reaching the psychological depths promised by the subject matter.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Elvira's Haunted Hills
    Must-see fare for fans of the bosomy camp horror queen.
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