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. Virgil Bliss
    Two superb, nervy and delicately nuanced performances by newcomers Clint Jordan and Kirsten Russell enliven and momentarily elevate writer-director Joe Maggio's Virgil Bliss above the familiar post-prison-drama cliches to which it so strenuously adheres.
  2. Secret Society
    Charmingly eccentric light comedy.
  3. Bad Company
    It's almost impossible to enjoy this uneven but mostly exciting popcorn pic without flinching at a few plot elements that feel a bit too real for comfort.
  4. Ivansxtc
    Achieves a certain poignancy through its sensitivity to mortality in a context where illness and death are often thought of primarily in terms of gossip, blown deals and lost money.
  5. Cherish
    Good performances and quirky humor make this slick if less than fully satisfying mix of romantic comedy and mystery an easy sit.
  6. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
    As a rich, gum-chewing matron who tools around in her canary-yellow Rolls-Royce, Flanagan is the picture's real scene-stealer.
  7. Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner
    The first-ever screenplay written in the Inuit language, Inuktitut -- and the first time's a charm.
  8. The Mad Songs of Fernanda Hussein
    While refraining from excess melodrama or overt preachiness, pic makes no secret of its dismay at this chapter in American history.
  9. The Sum of All Fears
    Director Phil Alden Robinson -- has done just about everything he can do to build a sleek, involving and -- for a few minutes -- terrifying movie that can get viewers past the young Ryan factor.
  10. Undercover Brother
    A frequently inspired hit-and-miss burlesque that definitely hits more than it misses.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Elling
    A darkly funny, very human comedy.
  12. The Sleepy Time Gal
    Bisset throws herself into what is by far the most emotionally demanding role of her career and emerges honorably.
  13. Nijinsky: The Diaries of Vaslav Nijinsky
    Despite its occasional visual interest, avant-garde package is far from the accessible tortured-artist portrait helmer essayed 15 years ago in "Vincent." Even committed dance and experimental cinema fans are likely to find this rough sledding.
  14. Bartleby
    Although closer in tone to "Office Space" than Herman Melville, Jonathan Parker's absurdist update of Bartleby is surprisingly faithful to the spirit, if not the letter, of the "Moby-Dick" author's 1853 novella about an under-achieving Wall Street copy clerk.
  15. CQ
    Roman Coppola's first film has sympathetic aims but is distressingly lacking in flair, style, wit or fun.
  16. Thirteen Conversations About One Thing
    This intelligent, engaging indie sets out to find a few answers and in the process introduces a clutch of interesting, very human characters.
  17. Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron
    Saddled with a sentimentally "sincere" subject and lacking the stylistic and humorous cachet of the recent computer-animated smashes.
  18. Enough
    The latest model in the recent spate of underwhelming female star vehicles, Enough, a thriller detailing how a good wife gets back at an evil, possessive husband, is never provocative enough to generate strong emotional response.
  19. Insomnia
    Gripping, highly dramatic thriller that more than confirms the distinctive talent of young Brit helmer Christopher Nolan.
  20. The Back of the World
    A gripping, superbly constructed indictment of the way governments contribute to the destruction of their citizens' lives.
  21. The Importance of Being Earnest
    A comedy in the last century and a drama in the new one. At least, that's the dumbfounding impression left by writer-director Oliver Parker's utterly miscalculated film adaptation of Wilde's play.
  22. Late Marriage
    As wrenching as it is funny.
  23. The Believer
    Those who see it at fests, and in carefully tailored specialized release, will be struck by the adroitness with which it addresses touchy issues, as well as by the outstanding performance of Ryan Gosling in the difficult leading role.
  24. About a Boy
    Pleasant and engaging, rather than laugh-out-loud funny or emotionally involving.
  25. Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones
    George Lucas has reached deep into the trove of his self-generated mythological world to produce a grand entertainment that offers a satisfying balance among the series' epic, narrative, technological and emotional qualities.
  26. Cremaster 3
    Matthew Barney delivers his masterpiece in Cremaster 3, unquestionably the 35-year-old sculptor-performance artist-filmmaker's most linear, most narratively inclined work to date.
  27. Standing by Yourself
    In the post-Columbine era, Koury's film has its finger on something particularly potent.
  28. Ultimate X: The Movie
    Most impressive in an objective sense, as a technical exercise -- its staccato technique preventing greater involvement.
  29. Blackwoods
    Tries to salvage its dopey premise with frantic final-reel plot contortions.
  30. Janice Beard
    Starts out on an exhilarating high but gradually loses steam, Janice Beard 45 WPM tries hard to overcome its inconsistency with relentless whimsy.
  31. The Lady and the Duke
    History comes alive with verve and cold-sweat suspense in The Lady and the Duke.
  32. Unfaithful
    This refitting of Claude Chabrol's 1968 classic "La Femme Infidele" is less concerned with suspense and dramatic fireworks than is the usual American "erotic thriller," and much more devoted to nuances and the minutiae of how men and women behave, pretend and lie in duplicitous situations.
  33. The New Guy
    Overall aroma of movie junk food.
  34. Diamonds and Rust
    Expertly edited chronicle doesn't lead to any major explosion, but reveals plenty -- little of it pleasant -- en-route.
  35. Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India
    Neither pure masala musical nor pure masala meller, Lagaan is an involving, easily digestible hunk of pure entertainment that could be the trigger for Bollywood's long-awaited crossover to non-ethnic markets.
  36. A Man's Gotta Do
    A cut above the average Aussie crazy-clan comedy.
  37. Home Movie
    A modest charmer.
  38. The Mystic Masseur
    Succeeds as light entertainment -- even if at the cost of the material's greater potential.
  39. A Shot at Glory
    Mediocre, dramatically flat picture.
  40. The Captive
    An elegant but empty and frustrating meditation on desire, obsession, love and possession, The Captive intellectualizes those subjects almost beyond the level of art-film parody.
  41. Dirt Boy
    Intelligent, low-key suspenser.
  42. Warm Water Under a Red Bridge
    A film with a terrifically engaging concept that overstays its welcome by quite a stretch.
  43. ABC Africa
    Kiarostami shoots Africa with an uncanny verisimilitude, coming close here to his idea of a "poetic cinema" indebted more to poetry and music than the theatrical novelistic storytelling tradition.
  44. Hollywood Ending
    For those always on the lookout for the "funny" Allen, this one definitely has its moments, but too much of the picture is flat, dispiriting and frankly unbelievable in fundamental ways that defy the granting of poetic license.
  45. Fleeing by Night
    An embarrassing failure at almost every level.
  46. Spider-Man
    Pic's happiest surprise is Tobey Maguire in the title role, as the young actor provides an emotional openness and vulnerability that gives this $120 million production its most distinctive flavor.
  47. Circuit
    All-encompassing drama.
  48. Sex with Strangers
    Doesn't compare favorably with David Schisgall's similarly themed "The Lifestyle," released to arthouses last year.
  49. Vulgar
    Inexplicably mixing lamer-than-lame "bad taste" comedy with yea worse traumatized-assault-victim histrionics, pic's only entertainment value lies in viewer weighing whether pic is primarily a.) offensive b.) amateurish c.) pathetic or d.) a cry for help.
  50. Dogtown and Z-Boys
    A fascinating story, albeit with some missed opportunities in the telling.
  51. Life or Something Like It
    A deeply metaphysical film by contempo Hollywood standards, this middlebrow trifle may engage the emotions of a certain tier of young professional women.
  52. Jason X
    Further proof that titular antagonist Jason Voorhes is ready for retirement -- to videostore shelves.
  53. The Salton Sea
    This extremely plot-thickened tale finally offers little more than the usual genre elements pushed to the kind of extremes that recall the acrid "The Way of the Gun."
    • Variety
  54. Some Body
    Has a quasi-verite, improvisational feel that appears truthful. But it doesn't lend much sympathy, or depth, to characters who never seem worth knowing.
  55. Freshmen
    There's nothing remotely original about Freshmen, but this somewhat formulaic comedy-drama about four college newbies has a lot of charm and sincerity going for it.
  56. Facing the Music
    Isn't only an outstanding documentary -- it's also a powerful personal drama.
  57. My Big Fat Greek Wedding
    Suffers in ways typical to such adaptations -- what was fresh and flavorful in anecdotal description becomes more familiar and sitcom broad in literal depiction.
  58. Murderous Maids
    Rigorous but creepy drama.
  59. Mutant Aliens
    Some viewers may feel as though, instead of watching a feature, they're paging through a book of rough sketches by a deranged Disney alumnus.
  60. Space Station 3D
    Like a really, really high-tech version of a high school class trip to the planetarium.
  61. Murder by Numbers
    Engrossing but psychologically shallow tale.
  62. Enigma
    Intelligent, involving and intricately plotted thriller.
  63. The Scorpion King
    Rouses excitement mostly from stuntwork and thesp agility rather than CGI excess.
  64. World Traveler
    Although occasionally both overwritten and overly symbolic, tale carries a satisfying emotional charge.
  65. Nine Queens
    A seductively structured and superbly acted suspenser that breathtakingly piles swindle upon scam without giving away the game until the very end.
  66. Chelsea Walls
    Speak a great deal, but they don't have much to say. A dull ensembler.
  67. Divorce: The Musical
    Every stab at comedy in this mirthless slog is botched.
  68. The Triumph of Love
    Light, thoroughly entertaining comedy;
  69. Mule Skinner Blues
    Above all a rousing entertainment.
  70. The Cat's Meow
    Playful and sporty, with just a small twist of the knife, The Cat's Meow is good, uncomplicated fun.
  71. Outta Time
    So absurdly contrived that it begs to be taken as comedy.
  72. Quo Vadis?
    Bright, glossy, grandly scaled and dramatically stolid, 79-year-old writer-director Jerzy Kawalerowicz's longtime dream project mixes earnest religiosity with the depraved cruelty of Nero's Rome in the classic De Mille tradition.
  73. Human Nature
    Charlie Kaufman's clever screenplay bears many traces of the same brand of originality and eccentric imagination that graced his work on "Being John Malkovich," although even at an hour-and-a-half the conceit is stretched almost too thin for audience sustenance.
  74. Frailty
    A resoundingly old-fashioned and well crafted study of evil infecting an American family, Frailty moves from strength to strength on its deceptive narrative course.
  75. The Other Side of Heaven
    Rousing, family-friendly item has a big, epic look and state-of-the-art visual effects, which help to make pic -- a high-profile example of the mainstreaming of Christian entertainment.
  76. Changing Lanes
    Captures the excitement of lightning in a bottle.
  77. New Best Friend
    Obvious and exploitative even by low-bar youthpic standards.
  78. The Sweetest Thing
    A comedy that starts the date in a frisky mood but sours before it's time to kiss goodnight.
  79. Run Ronnie Run
    Despite early-on guffaws, pic suffers from the same problem that has plagued nearly all of the similarly adapted “Saturday Night Live” films: It fails to sustain its initial burst of comic inspiration over the course of its feature-length running time.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Ambush
    Thoughtful and mostly very watchable picture, with its emphasis on how war dehumanizes the individual soldier.
  81. Lucky Break
    Chained to the floor by a script that isn't particularly funny, direction that goes for realism rather than stylization and an almost complete lack of comic timing.
  82. Les Destinées
    A massive undertaking and an accomplished piece of filmmaking in a solid tradition of intelligent, meticulous literary adaptations.
  83. High Crimes
    Judd now is top-billed, but her performance is so resolutely humorless and businesslike that Freeman's gruffly affectionate warmth becomes doubly valuable, though not nearly enough to lend this generic project any special character.
  84. 30 Years to Life
    Middleton's polished writing and amusing observations about the anxieties most people encounter when definitively farewelling their youth help compensate for her standard-issue direction.
  85. Big Trouble
    A genially amusing ensemble farce that doesn't quite achieve enough momentum for liftoff.
  86. The Komediant
    Elegantly constructed, deceptively complex documentary.
  87. Van Wilder
    There's nary a comic idea in Van Wilder that isn't ripped off from a recent Farrelly brothers movie. But that doesn't stop Van Wilder from being very funny, provided you're not easily offended.
  88. Astoria
    A muted coming-of-age piece that more often reflects rusty movie conventions than it freshly observes real-life struggles.
  89. Crush
    Some fine screen chemistry between its leads and a spikey, offhandedly comic script by young writer-director John McKay put spice into Crush.
  90. Teddy Bears' Picnic
    Despite its intelligence and a great, funny concept for a movie, this "Picnic" never gets past the appetizers; pic lacks the development needed for a full-length feature and, following a hilarious opening sequence, it becomes tiresomely one-note.
  91. The Rookie
    Quaid's effortlessly compelling and engagingly earnest performance keeps pic grounded in down-to-earth reality.
  92. The Piano Teacher
    Whatever valid points are being explored are hopelessly clouded by the film's unwavering earnestness as it descends into silliness and excess.
  93. Time Out
    Theater veteran Recoing is utterly compelling. Both the script and the resourceful, subtle actor provide enormous insight into the troubled character.
  94. Death to Smoochy
    Pushes its dark, smart, clever, cynical, satirical, nasty, provocative and sarcastic instincts to the point of heavily diminished returns -- to the point where the very amusing premise just isn't funny anymore.
  95. Panic Room
    Smartly plotted, convincingly acted and brilliantly executed technically, this engrossing thriller adds some clever modern wrinkles to the time-tested formula of sinister intruders threatening innocents in their home.
  96. No Such Thing
    Deadly dull in stretches, and just plain embarrassing in others.
  97. Clockstoppers
    A blandly conceived youth adventure lacking zing or style.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Shot in the Heart
    The piece is ultimately admirable for its lack of easy answers, for its continued sense of emotional confusion.
  99. Margarita Happy Hour
    Emerges a surprisingly in-depth, wistful look at outgrowing a youth-only subculture.
  100. Sorority Boys
    A cut above most youth-skewed sex comedies of late, with bouncy execution and an unsophisticated but positive gender-sensitivity message elevating a so-so script.
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