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. The Protagonists
    Newcomer Luca Guadagnino deserves credit for his choice of an unconventional model, by Italian standards, for his English-language debut feature, but it's a model in which approach and material are at odds. [22 Nov 1999, p.87]
    • Variety
  2. Whiteboyz
    Too many scenes play like actors acting rather than life being lived as pic lurches around with ragged variations in tone.
  3. Random Hearts
    An ideal rainy day matinee attraction for well-to-do ladies of a certain age.
  4. The Limey
    One has no problem praising the bravura acting of the entire ensemble.
  5. Superstar
    A pleasant surprise...more directorial personality here than most "SNL"-derived features get...the cheerily absurd, color-saturated atmosphere recalls John Waters' "Hairspray."
    • 86 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Boys Don't Cry
    The poignant and candid Boys Don't Cry can be seen as a "Rebel Without a Cause" for these culturally diverse and complex times, with the two misfit girls enacting a version of the James Dean/Natalie Wood romance with utmost conviction.
    • 21 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    Molly
    A shamelessly sentimental story.
  8. Mystery, Alaska
    Relies on ensemble allure, with mixed results.
  9. The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland
    Too tepid to interest anyone old enough to operate a TV remote control.
  10. Happy, Texas
    Steve Zahn shines throughout Mark Illsley's feature debut, Happy, Texas, elevating this eccentric small-town comedy a notch or two above its level of writing.
  11. Three Kings
    An impudently comic, stylistically aggressive and, finally, very thoughtful manner.
  12. Drive Me Crazy
    Sloppy and dull in equal measures.
  13. Double Jeopardy
    Despite fine casting...familiarity sets in and lack of surprises directly lessen what could have been emotionally gripping.
  14. One Man's Hero
    Suffers greatly from both a visibly constrained budget and an extraordinarily dated feeling.
  15. Mumford
    Kasdan's direction here is even less energized than his writing.
  16. Jakob the Liar
    A markedly better picture than Roberto Benigni's far more sentimental Oscar collector.
  17. Simon Sez
    A frenetically junky action adventure that will quickly dribble off to vid stores after a token fast break in theatrical release.
  18. Guinevere
    Wonderfully acted and slickly mad. Acutely written with an eye to the motivations and ambiguities involved on both sides in such a relationship.
  19. Breakfast of Champions
    Has some fine individual moments but fails to cohere into a grander, more substantial statement on the themes it aspires to tackle.
  20. Blue Streak
    A dull afterthought and a sorry vehicle for the comic expression of Martin Lawrence.
  21. For Love of the Game
    Costner is as uneven as the storytelling itself, stone cold at moments, shimmeringly real in others.
  22. Crane World
    The pic is made up of small events and incidents, well observed and naturalistically performed.
  23. American Beauty
    A script as fresh and distinctive as any produced in the States in recent memory.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The Minus Man
    The kind of muted, anything-but-obvious psychological thriller Hitchcock would have loved.
  25. Love Stinks
    Lacks the comic style or abandon to make its cynical turn on male-female relationships anything more than a short-lived stunt.
  26. Stigmata
    A fiery, convoluted finale fails to deliver any satisfying payoff.
  27. Outside Providence
    A disappointingly rote entry in the '70s teen nostalgia sweepstakes.
  28. Chill Factor
    Utterly lacking the drive and roller-coaster energy expected of top action pics, this latest try at repackaging "Speed" is a Kmart version of a Jerry Bruckheimer production.
  29. The Astronaut's Wife
    Aggressively stylish but dramatically flaccid.
  30. A Dog of Flanders
    This Dog won't hunt. Although well crafted and handsomely mounted, pic lacks sufficient sizzle.
  31. The 13th Warrior
    Bloody but anemic story.
  32. Dudley Do-Right
    One of the summer's more pleasant surprises. A silly bit of tiptop tomfoolery with cross-generational appeal.
  33. In Too Deep
    Formulaic but effectively gritty inner-city crime drama.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Mickey Blue Eyes
    An engaging, often very funny fish-out-of-water story that provides Hugh Grant with his best part to date.
  35. Teaching Mrs. Tingle
    A pat, hollow exercises with few tricks (or treats) up its sleeve.
  36. Universal Soldier: The Return
    Lightning fails to strike twice -- an underwhelming follow-up to one of the career-stalled action star's better efforts.
  37. Perfect Blue
    Forsaking the usual anime fantasy terrain for a straight suspense plot that might easily have been executed in live-action form, director Satoshi Kon's debut pic, "Perfect Blue," is a psychological thriller that intrigues without quite hitting the bull's-eye.
  38. Brokedown Palace
    It's close to a no-win situation dramatically, culturally and politically, and Kaplan deals with it plausibly enough by concentrating on the performances and the interior conflicts they reveal.
  39. Bowfinger
    So lunatic that it creates as much puzzled disbelief as it does carefree delight.
  40. Detroit Rock City
    It's crude, sexist, ear-splittingly loud and a helluva lotta fun for anyone suffering from past or present testosterone overload.
  41. Better Than Chocolate
    A terrifically entertaining romantic comedy, Better Than Chocolate tackles the age-old theme of the universal need for love with exuberance and gusto.
  42. Autumn Tale
    A typically deftly layered meditation on men, women, friendship and the prospect of romance.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Mystery Men
    Sharply written, with a lavish look and top-drawer effects adding to the appeal of its large and talented cast, pic achieves a nice balance of fondness and satiric snap, character laughs and goofy action.
  44. The Thomas Crown Affair
    The characters in The Thomas Crown Affair are cool -- too cool, in fact, for the film to develop much of a pulse.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Acid House
    The Acid House makes "Trainspotting" look like a mild-mannered youth comedy.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The Iron Giant
    Despite its p.c., humanistic overtones, the film manages to integrate the humor and action of a kid’s adventure tale and the message of a political allegory without beingheavy-handed.
  47. The Sixth Sense
    Borderline dull to sit through, The Sixth Sense is actually rather interesting to think about afterward because of the revelation of its ending.
  48. Twin Falls Idaho
    Lacks narrative push...atmospheric drama that casts a minor but distinctive spell.
  49. Runaway Bride
    The central idea is quite clever and appealing, and that the charm meter is turned up all the way.
  50. Deep Blue Sea
    Powered by exceptional displays of physical filmmaking, Deep Blue Sea is pulled back to shore by the usual suspects -- weak plotting and weaker dialogue.
  51. Drop Dead Gorgeous
    A relatively pain-free, if brain-free, diversion.
  52. Inspector Gadget
    A new standard for wretched excess is established by Inspector Gadget, a joyless and charmless disaster in which state-of-the-art special effects are squandered on pain-in-the-backside folly.
  53. The Haunting
    A wannabe horror classic that turns deadly dull once the sense of anxious expectation wears off.
  54. Lake Placid
    To be sure, Kelley's Emmy-winning brand of off-kilter humor and cockeyed affection for rural folk is on display, but his attempt here to blend the citified angst of "Ally McBeal" (co-star Bridget Fonda was Kelley's first choice as that series' lead) with the countrified absurdisms of "Picket Fences," plus bits out of the Peter Benchley playbook, doesn't hold water.
  55. The Wood
    This rambling and episodic autobiographical saga of three friends coming of age in Inglewood, Calif. (aka The Wood) in the '80s is so determined to be likable that it forgets to be interesting.
  56. Eyes Wide Shut
    A riveting, thematically probing, richly atmospheric and just occasionally troublesome work, a deeply inquisitive consideration of the extent of trust and mutual knowledge possible between a man and a woman.
  57. The Blair Witch Project
    An intensely imaginative piece of conceptual filmmaking that also delivers the goods as a dread-drenched horror movie.
  58. Muppets from Space
    A modestly clever comedy in which nothing gets seriously out of hand.
  59. Arlington Road
    An intelligent, insidiously plotted Hitchcockian thriller directed in souped-up, modern expressionistic style.
  60. American Pie
    Cheesy homage to a level of horniness Austin Powers could only imagine will be a dream movie for many a teenage boy.
  61. Late August, Early September
    A kaleidoscopic but engrossing study of the shifting sands of friendship among a group of Parisians, "Late August, Early September" reps a major advance by writer-director Olivier Assayas in warmth and maturity of observation.
  62. Summer of Sam
    Summer of Sam is never less than absorbing but feels just a bit like yesterday's news, both narratively and cinematically.
  63. Wild Wild West
    As impressive as the industrial-style special effects may be, they're both too much and not enough for this mild mild West.
  64. South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut
    Bigger, Longer & Uncut will make it harder still to dismiss, or kill, this cultural mini-phenom — not least because the feature is a more clever diversion than anyone had any right to expect.
  65. The Dinner Game
    Abetted by an excellent cast, vet writer Weber weaves a simple premise into comedy gold.
  66. Big Daddy
    While the loyal male-teen aud core will not be disappointed with the spate of gags just for them, story contains solid date-movie material.
  67. Tarzan
    Swings, even if it doesn't always soar.
  68. An Ideal Husband
    Shines like a freshly minted coin in Oliver Parker's adaptation.
  69. Run Lola Run
    A highly accomplished, compact feature, which, while it may be light on depth, is rich in humor, rhythm, energy and inventiveness.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The General's Daughter
    The cinematic equivalent of a disposable airplane read, a hokey, kinky military thriller that's twisty and compelling enough to hook viewers in the mood for a trashy good time.
  71. The Red Violin
    Fails on a number of counts, mostly because the individual stories aren't very gripping.
  72. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
    Script just doesn’t have it in terms of fresh narrative developments or individual gags.
  73. Buena Vista Social Club
    Wenders lets the music and the sprightly people who make it speak for themselves, although the director's ongoing fascination with the urban environment is in top form as the camera serenely cruises the streets of Havana, often at a velvety dusk.
  74. Limbo
    Limbo is half-priced Sayles. After a promising opening in which numerous interesting aspects of life in modern Alaska are laid out, the potentially fascinating social dynamics are dropped in favor of a thinly realized survival tale that falls flat dramatically and cinematically.
  75. The Thirteenth Floor
    Comes too late, far surpassed by similar and more visually stunning devices in "The Matrix," and even by the mind-bending realities of "eXistenZ."
  76. Notting Hill
    Has buckets to spare of that rarest screen commodity — genuine, engaging charm.
    • Variety
  77. Southie
    Bottom-drawer plot of a South Boston bad boy returning to tie up loose ends reads like every other "Mean Streets" knockoff in the past decade, with no scene, development or performance standing out from undifferentiated din.
  78. The Loss of Sexual Innocence
    Boasting sublime imagery, but no characters to ground his reverie, the new pic heavily relies on an opaque narrative and elliptical editing.
  79. Eternity and a Day
    Eternity and a Day finds Angelopoulos refining his themes and style. Just as other great filmmakers have in the past explored similar themes time and again, so Angelopoulos has evolved and come up with one of his most lucid and emotional journeys thus far.
  80. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
    Phantom is easily consumable eye candy, but it contains no nutrients for the heart or mind.
  81. A Midsummer Night's Dream
    Whimsical, intermittently enjoyable but decidedly unmagical.
  82. Tea with Mussolini
    Some fine individual perfs by the tony cast, plus fine period detail and costumes, make the time pass fairly agreeably, but Tea With Mussolini suffers from a fatal lack of focus and emotional center, reducing potentially involving material to a succession of individual scenes.
  83. The Mummy
    Universal’s attempt to find gold by bringing to new life one of the mustier items in its vaults is pure hokum and scarcely of the first order.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Pusher
    The subject has been done before, but Refn avoids the cliches, both in the story itself and its telling.
  85. Idle Hands
    Perhaps thinking he had a farce to play with, Flender encourages tons of mugging; by overplaying what should be underplayed, helmer and cast deliver a fatal stab to the intended comedy-horror.
  86. The Winslow Boy
    Very English, very period and very polite.
  87. Entrapment
    Preposterous whimsy that sort of gets by thanks to lustrous settings, slick production values and, especially, its ultra-attractive stars.
  88. Pushing Tin
    Unfortunately, story's tension climaxes a half-hour before the film is over, and thereafter dissipates much of the charge and good will generated up to that point.
    • 19 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Lost & Found
    Tumbles off the sick-but-sweet balance beam.
  90. eXistenZ
    This is unquestionably Cronenberg Lite, but there is plenty of fun to be had from the absurdities and convoluted plotting, and a solid cast lends stature to the far-fetched fantasies.
  91. Election
    Brandishes the sort of intelligent wit and bracing nastiness that will make it more appealing to discerning adults than to teens who just want to have fun.
  92. Life
    Careens from decade to decade, and from relative dramatic realism to frequent hilarity, in often-winning fashion.
  93. SLC Punk!
    Energetic but poorly structured.
  94. Shuang long hui
    Ticket buyers get two Jackie Chans for the price of one in Twin Dragons, but the pic itself is no great bargain.
  95. Go
    An overly calculated concoction that nonetheless delivers a pretty good rush.
    • Variety
    • 60 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Never Been Kissed
    A likable romantic comedy with an engaging premise and strong cast.
  97. Metroland
    A witty script and strong performances hoist Metroland beyond the confines of its rather standard, TV-style approach.
  98. Cookie's Fortune
    May or not be Robert Altman's best film in years, but it is certainly his most pleasurable.
  99. The Out-of-Towners
    Lightweight but likable entertainment.
  100. Following
    Climactic triple-cross is a satisfying payoff, though scenarist-helmer Nolan doesn’t really sock across any possible point of emphasis – black humor is soft-pedaled, suspense just middling, and the character writing keeps classic fall guy Bill a bit too blank-slate to incur much sympathy.
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