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. 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.
  3. Margarita Happy Hour
    Emerges a surprisingly in-depth, wistful look at outgrowing a youth-only subculture.
  4. 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.
  5. Very Annie Mary
    A half-klutzy, half-engaging eccentric comedy.
  6. Son of the Bride
    Unflaggingly genial and universally funny.
  7. Jim Brown: All American
    A model of cohesion and clarity as long as it's dealing with Brown's exemplary public achievements. However, pic quickly becomes mired in tedium and confusion when it turns to Brown's scandal-ridden private life.
  8. Blade II
    May be too grisly to extend its appeal beyond its fan base.
  9. Pauline and Paulette
    Heartfelt and heart-rending performances make all the difference in Pauline and Paulette, a delightfully bittersweet story.
  10. Harrison's Flowers
    Provides powerful drama thanks to its trenchant core story and harrowing re-creation of the brutal chaos of war.
  11. Showtime
    A shrill, strained and shallow riff on a tired idea.
    • 100 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sweet Smell of Success (re-release)
    It's a no-holds-barred account of the sadistic fourth estater played cunningly by Burt Lancaster.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Y Tu Mamá También
    The film's biggest limitation is its oversexed, underdeveloped male duo. Playing like a south-of-the-border version of Beavis and Butt-head, the teenagers have but one thought in their heads.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Female Trouble (re-release)
    Camp is too elegant a word to describe it all.
  15. Promises
    Provides deeply humanistic insight into the complexities of the Middle East conflict that political analysis or front-line news coverage often lacks.
  16. Resident Evil
    Despite a promising setup, pic never really goes anywhere, instead immersing viewers in a kinetic onslaught of flesh (namely, that of Milla Jovovich) and flesh-eaters (most of the rest of the cast).
  17. Ice Age
    An entertaining story that, while not terribly original, is sufficiently arresting and often laugh-out-loud funny.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Asphalt Zahov
    With its remarkably intimate look at Israeli Bedouin culture, a subject heretofore little treated, Danny Verete's Yellow Asphalt is a deeply affecting and brutally uncompromising anthology of three unrelated stories.
  19. All About the Benjamins
    Boilerplate crime comedy.
  20. Festival in Cannes
    Jaglom's quickest and funniest picture in years and the most accessible.
  21. The Time Machine
    Breaks down when it gets to the distant future, which in this case isn't a good place to be stranded.
  22. Miss Wonton
    Cluttered, unfocused script attempts too much.
  23. Esther Kahn
    Senselessly long at two-and-three-quarters hours and with a protracted climax that eradicates any goodwill established in the fastidious first couple of reels.
  24. Stolen Summer
    Plays like an aggressively heart-tugging, exceedingly vanilla Disney telemovie.
    • 98 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Pépé le Moko (re-release)
    Interesting movement holds through the entirety. Life in the native quarter, with its squalor and intrigues, is particularly well presented and photographed.
  26. Borstal Boy
    Mixes a rites-of-passage story with political and sexual elements to solid but finally uninvolving results.
  27. We Were Soldiers
    Gibson has the closest thing to a John Wayne part that anyone's played since the Duke himself rode into the sunset, and he plays it damn well.
  28. 40 Days and 40 Nights
    A self-described abstinence comedy that is funny, sexy and silly in equal measure.
  29. How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog
    While the direction is a little anonymous and could use some verve, the comedy-drama gets by thanks to a solid script, witty dialogue and engaging performances.
  30. Drift
    Lee crafts actions and situations that are credible without being particularly engrossing -- recognition doesn't necessarily translate into absorbsion.
  31. The Cherry Orchard
    Chekhov has never seemed such a long haul as in this awkward adaptation of The Cherry Orchard by veteran director Michael Cacoyannis, 77, who's assembled a good roster of names but ones that are not necessarily right for their roles.
  32. Big Bad Love
    A flawed and overlong but ultimately affecting account of one man's struggle to regain control of his life.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Maryam
    A lovely, intricate coming-of-age portrait set in a cross-cultural context.
  34. Mean Machine
    OK entertainment but nothing more.
  35. Monsoon Wedding
    Splashy, noisy and downright fun.
  36. Dragonfly
    Costner's earnest performance is a major plus for Dragonfly, keeping the picture grounded in some semblance of reality even as it becomes progressively more fantastical.
  37. Queen of the Damned
    Handsomely mounted, this direly conventional bit of vampire business is enlivened by flashes of humor and game performances. It isn't great entertainment or camp, but pic sets its ambitions so low, it can't help partially delivering on them.
  38. Return to Never Land
    Represents a passable follow-up to the venerable Peter Pan story and mercifully, at 72 minutes, is exactly half the length of the last attempt at same, Steven Spielberg's lamentable "Hook."
  39. Scratch
    Works best as a straightforward appreciation of the music. Though docu's structure wears out full viewer interest after an hour or so, few will come away with staid prejudices (i.e. that turntablism isn't "real" musicianship) intact.
  40. Wendigo
    A mostly superb bit of modern horror from the writer-director-editor previously responsible for the Frankenstein story "No Telling" and the urban vampire pic "Habit."
  41. Hart's War
    Absorbing in a low-key way but more dramatic where its secondary characters are concerned than its leads, and capped by climactic incidents that are less than entirely convincing.
  42. Crossroads
    Awfully lame bigscreen debut for pop diva Britney Spears.
    • 92 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Umberto D (re-release)
    The ending is happy, but the general effect of the film is disturbing, so compelling is De Sica's description of a man's solitude.
  44. Super Troopers
    A fairly sustained barrage of broad undergraduate humor and gross-out gags that should tickle young auds looking for unsophisticated laughs.
  45. John Q
    A shamelessly manipulative commercial on behalf of national health insurance.
  46. Much Ado About Something
    Utterly fascinating, playfully probing mystery story.
  47. Rollerball
    Sheer chaos on wheels, a hysterically edited jumble that defies belief at nearly every juncture.
  48. Big Fat Liar
    Though Muniz and Bynes make a somewhat likable team, their funniest skills are dampened by the material's insistent stupidity.
  49. Collateral Damage
    More than an embarrassment, it's an insult.
  50. Birthday Girl
    Charmingly setting aside glamour for a turn at pure acting, Nicole Kidman zings up the already zingy script of Birthday Girl.
  51. A Rumor of Angels
    Despite good acting from the entire cast, yarn is a bit dull and predictable, straining too hard to convey its spiritual message.
  52. Slackers
    Awful and subversively spunky at the same time.
  53. Loners
    Dryly funny and benevolently shrewd.
  54. In This Tricky Life
    A colorful, enjoyable ride most of the way but could have been even better if Beatriz Flores Silva's direction had more often risen above the functional and had not gotten a bad attack of conscience in the closing reels.
  55. Waydowntown
    Third outing for prairie auteur Gary Burns is his most ambitious, and most uneven, effort yet.
  56. Maelstrom
    A film whose charms are odd and indefinable by design.
  57. The Son's Room
    While devotees expecting Moretti's wry worldview may feel shortchanged, others will find this a profoundly moving experience, giving it fuel to cross borders into the arthouse niche.
  58. The Mothman Prophecies
    Director Mark Pellington hardly lets a moment pass without suggesting some bad vibes creeping onto the edges of the screen, but he's let down by Richard Hatem's script, based on John A. Keel's book, which delivers an ounce when it promised a gallon.
  59. Hey, Happy!
    Despite occasional bad-taste outrageousness, overall tone is surprisingly sweet, even lyrical and romantic at times.
  60. The Count of Monte Cristo
    A lavishly mounted and appealingly old-fashioned swashbuckler with nary a trace of wink-wink irony or revisionist embellishment.
  61. Beijing Bicycle
    Overplays its slim hand by a good two reels.
  62. A Walk to Remember
    A glossy teen-weepie romance that often plays like an inspirational indie skewed toward Christian niche market.
  63. Kung Pow: Enter the Fist
    Consistently silly and intermittently laugh-out-loud funny spoof.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Ha-Hesder
    Emerges as an intelligent portrayal of the repercussions of single-minded religious fervor, and of the way the willingness to suffer for a cause does not necessarily translate into selfless acts.
  65. Italian for Beginners
    The most nonconfrontational and thus accessible title in the Dogma lot to date, and will speak the international language of proletariat love to arthouse auds who go for such fare.
  66. State Property
    Result is fairly good-looking video shot down by a hackneyed script, atrocious acting and a total lack of redeeming social value.
  67. Snow Dogs
    Small children will be amused by the frenetic antics of Cuba Gooding Jr. Grownups, however, will be far less enchanted.
  68. The Smashing Machine: The Life and Times of Extreme Fighter Mark Kerr
    It’s a film about the excruciating pursuit of money and self-gratification, which Hyams makes strangely analogous to the everyday workplace, suggesting that the conflicts and aggressions being worked out in the no-holds-barred ring are merely a more primal expression of what anyone who works any kind of job encounters daily.
  69. Brotherhood of the Wolf
    A little Sergio Leone here, a little "Sleepy Hollow" there, a grand helping of late royal-era Gaul with its wigs and finery, and, uh, martial arts-style confrontations galore are all deftly melded in Brotherhood of the Wolf.
  70. E-Dreams
    Plays out in quite a different offscreen context than did last year's similarly themed sleeper "Startup.com."
  71. Orange County
    A fine group of comic performers manages to keep the screen worth looking at despite the obsessively one-note nature of this curious matchup between MTV Films and producer Scott Rudin.
  72. The Accidental Spy
    After several years of transition, Jackie Chan finally gets the mix right in The Accidental Spy, an entertaining meld of far-flung locales and criminal shenanigans that sees the 47-year-old action star comfortably combining the twin demands of action and maturity.
  73. Escape to Life: The Erika and Klaus Mann Story
    A sibling survivor story of uncommon personal and political breadth.
  74. Impostor
    Imposter is a penny-pinched "Blade Runner," a stubbornly unexciting ride into the near future.
  75. Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy Working with Time
    Takes a beautifully lensed look at the work of Scottish "landscape sculptor" Andy Goldsworthy, whose unique creations -- composed of icicles, leaves, sticks, rocks, etc. -- are often as not simply swept away by the next tide or wind gust.
  76. Charlotte Gray
    A bland and dour screen version of Sebastian Faulks' highly engrossing bestseller.
  77. I Am Sam
    An especially insipid example of the Hollywood message movie.
  78. Dark Blue World
    Sverak's sheer technical finesse, and ability to spin on a dime between comedy and tragedy, the personal and the historical, makes Dark Blue World succeed where other similarly themed movies, from "Battle of Britain" to "The Blue Max," seem heavy-handed by comparison.
  79. Black Hawk Down
    Goes down like stiff medicine, leaving one feeling exhausted relief when it's finally over.
  80. Gosford Park
    Taking advantage of a splendid cast, a sharply focused script and the fresh English setting, "Gosford Park" emerges as one of the most satisfying of Robert Altman's numerous ensemble pictures.
  81. Monster's Ball
    Burning with a quiet intensity, Monster's Ball is bolstered by a poetic, intelligent sensibility not seen in an American film since Terrence Malick's "The Thin Red Line."
  82. The Shipping News
    Seems to be playing the author's music, but like a string quartet that plays a half-beat off.
  83. Ali
    Just about everything Mann has chosen to present is valid, substantial and convincing, but by the end, the feeling persists that while certain essences have been grasped, only part of the story has been told.
  84. The Majestic
    A thick slice of bogus inspirational cheese that only makes itself look bad by recycling so many golden movie memories.
    • 44 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Kate & Leopold
    A time-travel romantic comedy whose best elements -- Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman -- overcome distracting plot holes, loose threads and assorted contrivances to make for a mostly charming and diverting tale.
  86. A Beautiful Mind
    Consistently engrossing as an unusual character study and as a trip to the mysterious border-crossing between rarified brilliance and madness, this serious-minded but lively film is distinguished by an exceptional performance by Russell Crowe.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A Song for Martin
    A moving love story with two exquisite central performances.
  88. How High
    A genially haphazard but frequently amusing neo-stoner comedy that plays like "Cheech and Chong Go to Animal House."
    • Variety
  89. Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
    Moppet appeal of the present feature rests in three can't-miss concepts -- cool gadgets, the desire to see grownups disappear and space travel. Pic delivers on all three points and doesn't have to do a whole lot more.
  90. Little Otik
    An unsettling piece of filmmaking whose grimly vivid images are guaranteed to give impressionable viewers nightmares.
  91. Joe Somebody
    Pretty formulaic stuff: bland self-empowerment tinged with warm fuzzies in all the right places. But what makes this "Somebody" something is Pasquin's deft touch and understanding with the material.
  92. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
    Looks to please the book's legions of fans with its imaginatively scrupulous rendering of the tome's characters and worlds on the screen, as well as the uninitiated with its uninterrupted flow of incident and spectacle.
  93. Kandahar
    A visually exalting, emotionally horrifying view of Afghanistan under the Taliban regime.
  94. Lantana
    A wonderfully acted, acutely observed psychological drama.
  95. In Search of Peace
    It's a timely, noble undertaking ill-served by a dry, history-textbook style that is at once too much and not enough.
  96. Piñero
    Hectic, sketchy and finally dull.
  97. Iris
    A triumph on the casting side but less so dramatically, Richard Eyre's Iris fails to do full justice to its subject.
  98. Not Another Teen Movie
    A nail in the coffin if not the heart of teen comedies.
  99. The Royal Tenenbaums
    Underachieves in its own way by trapping an expansive, probing story in a brittle, highly artificial style that constricts character and emotional development.
  100. Vanilla Sky
    The picture has vitality, a fine cast and excellent craft
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