Variety's Scores

Select another publication »
For 17,825 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: 9,159 out of 17825
  2. Mixed: 7,029 out of 17825
  3. Negative: 1,637 out of 17825
17825 movie reviews
view
per page
    • 31 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Xanadu
    Xanadu is truly a stupendously bad film whose only salvage is the music.
  2. Dying of the Light
    The only real tension you feel in Dying of the Light is that between the thoughtful, tough-minded character piece Schrader presumably thought he was making and the bruised, indifferent hackwork that has ultimately made it to the screen.
    • 31 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Blue Lagoon
    Producer-director Randal Kleiser takes the pair through puberty and into parenthood with a charming candor that stresses natural, instinctive sexual development without leering at it. Their romance is enhanced by Nestor Almendros’ exquisite photography (and Basil Poledouris’ score), as is the stunning beauty of the Fiji island where it was filmed.
  4. Max Payne
    Stylishly made, armed to the teeth and ludicrous in the extreme.
  5. Say Uncle
    The politics of homophobia and child molestation receive a badly misjudged tweaking in Peter Paige's writing-directing debut, Say Uncle.
  6. Charlie Countryman
    Fredrik Bond’s direction and Matt Drake’s screenplay deliver a charisma-free trip into a world of gratuitous violence, contrivances and tedium.
  7. I Still See You
    Newcomers will find this adapted tale’s fantasy logic arbitrary, its plot convoluted, and the sum effect wildly unconvincing without being nearly so fun.
  8. Mary
    Beyond de rigueur jump scares, Mary has little real atmosphere or suspense, and that is at least partly due to the fact that its supernatural force is so generically ill-defined.
  9. An American Werewolf in Paris
    An enjoyably trashy blend of impressive special effects, low-key refs to Landis's movie, and sudden moments of horror breaking the jokey tone.
  10. 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.
  11. Letters to God
    While only the converted will likely see the redemption behind the manipulation, picture delivers a strong enough dose of spiritual saccharine to yield solid if not heavenly returns from its trusty target audience.
  12. Tyler Perry's The Single Moms Club
    One of the best products to roll off the prolific multihyphenate’s Atlanta-based assembly line, largely absent the pandering humor and finger-wagging moralism that have bedeviled many of Perry’s earlier (if undeniably popular) efforts.
    • 31 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Bad News Bears Go to Japan
    Producer Michael Ritchie (who directed the first installment) and writer-creator Bill Lancaster encore with Japan resulting in a more vigorous film than the sodden Bad News Bears in Breaking Training.
  14. Dead Water
    As bad as Dead Water might seem while you’re watching it, it’s even worse when you replay it in your mind after the fact, and pay stricter attention to holes in the plot and gaps in the logic.
    • 31 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    House II: The Second Story
    Director Ethan Wiley is determined to be cute rather than scary. He intros some cuddly creatures – a baby pterodactyl, plus a critter who’s a cross between a dog and a caterpillar – but they don’t add anything to the pic’s charm. Action scenes aren’t very thrilling or suspenseful.
  16. No Safe Spaces
    No Safe Spaces is a smart, vital, urgent, and provocative exploration of that question.
  17. The King's Daughter
    It was on this film that Scodelario met Walker. The couple are now married, which suggests there’s a “happily ever after” to be found somewhere in this froufrou film maudit.
  18. Jolene
    Though stretched to a two-hour run time, Doctorow's socially critical tale is reduced to queasy spectacle.
  19. Before We Go
    [A] talky, contrived and ultimately tedious actors’ exercise.
  20. Surveillance
    A mildly amusing trifle with one of the genre's dafter plot twists.
  21. Fifty Shades Freed
    Departing only incidentally from E.L. James’s trashy tome, and making up for any short cuts with extra set dressing, this is brochure cinema of the most profuse order, selling its audience more on a lifestyle than on any of the lives inside it.
  22. Rebel Moon Part 1: A Child of Fire
    “Rebel Moon,” while eminently watchable, is a movie built so entirely out of spare parts that it may, in the end, be for Snyder cultists only.
    • 31 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Mannequin: On the Move
    The only real movement is offered by Meshach Taylor, a prancing decorator who returns from the original Mannequin for more stereotyped fun.
  24. In the Mix
    A pleasantly tuned vehicle for R&B star and budding actor Usher.
  25. Death of Me
    Bousman’s film pulls off some effectively nasty jolts and jabs: its feverish, whispery, eventually shrieking island-of-lost-souls claustrophobia may be rooted in cliché, but cliché takes root for a reason.
    • 31 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Curse of the Pink Panther
    Curse of the Pink Panther resembles a set of gems mounted in a tarnished setting. Abetted by screen newcomer Ted Wass’ flair for physical comedy, filmmaker Blake Edwards has created genuinely funny sight gags but the film’s rickety, old-hat story values waste them.
  27. Silent Hill
    In the end, Silent Hill degenerates into an overblown replay of all those "Twilight Zone" and Stephen King stories in which outsiders stumble upon a time-warped location from which there's no escape.
  28. The Lazarus Effect
    “Lazarus” shamelessly steals from superior genre efforts and lacks any distinguishing traits beyond a wildly overqualified cast.
  29. The Honeymooners
    Just funny enough to mollify purists and amuse the uninitiated.
  30. Lucky Numbers
    Strictly a minor-league late fall entry.
  31. Smurfs
    “Smurfs” might be the best of the Smurfs films. It’s an amiable diversion for kids.
  32. Cursed
    Except for Eisenberg's superb comic timing and his ability to make the familiar seem interesting, the high school scenes play like "Scream" outtakes.
  33. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
    Neither a particularly good movie nor the pop-cultural travesty that some were dreading.
  34. The Big White
    Snowed under by misjudgment on every level, The Big White is DOA. Despite a cast that generally reads like an indie production's wish list, pic's tendency to liberally borrow from the Coen Brothers playbook of comic mayhem is exceeded only by its lack of sense of what's actually funny.
  35. Fix
    The diversity of visual tactics, characters, settings and incidents keep this shaggy-dog tale consistently diverting.
  36. Battlefield America
    A picture so thoroughly generic as to suggest a contraption assembled from spare parts with the aid of a how-to manual.
  37. A Family (Una Famiglia)
    With a surface dusting of realist grit hardly covering for the strained contrivances and one-note characterization propelling its lurid narrative, Riso’s sophomore feature never shakes the artificial, soapy aroma at its core.
  38. ECCO
    There’s more repetition and ponderousness than compelling intrigue in the end result here.
  39. Perfect Stranger
    A disorienting cocktail of illogic and hysteria that requires an 11th-hour soliloquy just to explain what's happened.
    • 31 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Voyage of the Damned
    Fact that the story is based on an actual, and shocking, incident makes all the more disappointing its transfer to the screen. The action zigs and zags between the cluttered set of characters.
  41. Your Highness
    That skunky smell emanating from Your Highness ain't pot; it's the stink of miscalculation that surrounds an inside joke gone awry.
  42. House of 1000 Corpses
    A cobwebbed, mummified horror entry that makes obvious, cartoonishly grotesque demands for attention.
  43. ma ma
    Julio Medem’s film is a smiling-through-tears saga whose generally tasteful execution can’t ultimately salvage a whopping load of maudlin contrivance, all designed to burnish the halo around St. Penelope.
  44. Countdown
    Bombastically dumb new chiller that probably would have been called "Killer App" if that title hadn't already been used several times.
  45. Show Dogs
    Think of it as “Miss Congeniality” for dogs, replete with the sort of slapstick humor, puerile gags and for-adults-only pop-culture references required of such endeavors. Its frantic pace should make it a mildly amusing diversion for the younger set, but its juvenile imagination (or lack thereof) is likely to drive anyone over the age of 7 barking mad.
  46. They
    They ought to be a whole lot scarier than they are in this tepid genre offering from director Robert Harmon, whose debut film "The Hitcher" set a high bar for screen terror in the 1980s. Pic looks like a holiday gobbler.
  47. God Is a Bullet
    Nick Cassavetes’ slick adaptation certainly maintains the book’s mix of lurid incident and pontificating pretentiousness — albeit without the kind of intensity that might have made this far-fetched story credible, or the atmospheric style that might’ve pulled it off as a fevered nightmare à la David Lynch instead.
    • 31 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    The Hunter
    Steve McQueen may have felt that the time had come to revise his persona a bit, but what’s involved here is desecration.
  49. The Garfield Movie
    It’s a Garfield movie for audiences who have never heard of Garfield, which reads as an attempt at erasing history and reintroducing him in this high-octane, overly stimulated form for a generation with reduced attention spans.
  50. This Means War
    This screwball premise lives or dies by the chemistry between Pine and Hardy, who are too busy trying to out-appeal one another to make the buddy dynamic click.
    • 31 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Repossessed
    Nonstop silliness keeps this frightless spoof of The Exorcist entertaining enough to keep an undemanding audience happy.
  52. That's My Boy
    All in all, it could have been worse. Puerile, crotch-fixated and very occasionally, inanely funny, Adam Sandler's raunchiest star vehicle in years has a small saving grace in Andy Samberg's performance.
  53. Gray Matters
    Scripter/helmer Sue Kramer's awkward freshman outing eventually coasts on the genuine charm of its leads. A strong vehicle for Heather Graham, who has never looked lovelier, "Gray" scores most convincingly in its reinvention of Carole Lombardian sexual screwiness as head-spinning gender confusion.
  54. Pootie Tang
    Has the distinction of being one of the most amateurish features ever released by a major studio.
  55. Antitrust
    Robbins is such a live wire that he's able to jumpstart his co-stars whenever they're interfacing onscreen.
  56. The Big Hit
    Unquestionably a slick piece of goods. The training and experience of Wong and his crew --- culled largely from such action series as "La Femme Nikita" and "Once a Thief" --- keep the film lively and vivid.
  57. 5 Days of War
    Set during the brief, brutal 2008 flare-up between Russia and Georgia, the drama has some exhilarating moments, but they're dampened by concessions to conventionally bloviating music, overly theatrical dialogue and inadvertently comic slo-mo.
  58. Reuniting the Rubins
    Its humor and sentimentality equally labored, this by-the-numbers picture will look better, albeit still not good, as a latenight cable or streaming time-killer.
  59. Death Wish
    All the new Death Wish is truly committed to is getting a rise out of the audience. It’s a first-person-shooter fantasy. The film’s only real view of justice is that it’s a blast.
    • 31 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The Presidio
    Tug-of-war for dominance among the trio provides the interest in an otherwise ordinary crime story, as Harmon and Connery end up working to piece together clues in a convoluted smuggling caper.
  61. High School
    This madcap romp runs out of steam well before the finish, but its combo of sweetness and high spirits -- not unlike the chemical composition of the dope-infused brownies that serve as a key plot device -- proves sufficiently ingratiating to satisfy viewers.
  62. Pet Sematary: Bloodlines
    “Who asked for this?” is the question such projects invoke, and Lindsey Anderson Beer’s film never comes up with a satisfying answer.
  63. Garden Party
    Isn't racy enough to warrant the word of mouth necessary to make pic a sensation with its generation, the way the unrelated disaffected-twentysomething hit "Garden State" was.
  64. Jacob's Ladder
    You can forge a decent drama out of elements this scrappy, but not necessarily a film like Jacob’s Ladder.
  65. Getting Even with Dad
    Neither Macaulay Culkin nor Ted Danson has improved his luck in selecting projects with this schizophrenic comedy, which can't decide if it wants to be broadly farcical or fuzzily heartwarming. While it fares better on the latter front, pic doesn't succeed on either level and should test the patience even among Culkin's peer group.
    • 31 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Blind Fury
    Blind Fury is an action film with an amusing gimmick, toplining Rutger Hauer, as an apparently invincible blind Vietnam vet who wields a samurai sword with consummate skill.
  67. Hellboy
    It’s lunging to be a badass hard-R epic, but it’s basically a pile of origin-story gobbledygook, frenetic and undercooked, full of limb-hacking, eye-gouging monster battles as well as an atmosphere of apocalyptic grunge that signifies next to nothing.
  68. An American Affair
    Like many aspects of An American Affair, the music and the lopsided dramatic priorities take the viewer right out of the movie.
  69. The Curse of Downers Grove
    Although it’s being marketed as a horror film, The Curse of Downers Grove turns out to be something else — a messy hash of teen soap opera, stalker thriller and whatnot whose titular, possibly supernatural aspect is basically irrelevant.
    • 31 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    The Legacy
    The Legacy tries for an added dimension of satanic possession, but winds up a tame, suspenseless victim of its own lack of imagination.
  71. Hounddog
    An indigestible gumbo of Southern Gothic ingredients seasoned with snake oil, biblical hash and thoroughly unpalatable spice.
  72. Envy
    Can't decide whether to be an eccentric black comedy or a middle-of-the-road diversion.
  73. Juliet & Romeo
    Improperly developed, poorly executed and containing no indelible music numbers for us to tap our toes to, this “La La Land”-wannabe take on the Bard’s story serves to frustrate and bore.
  74. Monster-in-Law
    Shrill, undermotivated, feature-length catfight.
  75. Fathers and Daughters
    In its shape and sheen, Fathers and Daughters seems dated even before Michael Bolton surfaces to cough up a gelatinous closing-credits ballad.
  76. Hangman
    If Hangman were just a tad less formulaic, and settled for a slightly smaller body count, it might pass muster as the pilot movie for a basic cable police procedural.
  77. The Weekend
    Despite some memorable high points, pic plays like "Love! Valour! Compassion!" -- without the laughs.
  78. 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.
  79. 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.
  80. Bandido
    The filmmakers seem split between doing it straight and gleefully ripping up the genre, and never make up their minds.
  81. The Starling
    Suffice it to say that The Starling’s emotional arcs are as narratively complete as they are psychologically dashed-off.
  82. Red Dawn
    Despite the considerable impediment of a premise arguably even sillier than that of the original "Red Dawn," helmer Dan Bradley's long-delayed remake of John Milius' 1984 kids-vs.-Commies adventure delivers enough thrilling action sequences and rock-'em, sock-'em fantasy-fulfillment to amp its B.O. potential.
  83. First Daughter
    There are stiff politicians and there are stiff political movies, but the rigidity of the White House-based fairy tale that is First Daughter is in a category even pollsters may have a hard time assessing.
  84. Deception
    Strip out Deception's fleeting nudity and what's left is a throwback to "B" movie days -- a thin thriller, burdened by clunky dialogue and prone to telegraphing its twists.
    • 31 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Fire Birds
    Originally titled Wings of the Apache for the Apache assault helicopters prominently featured, Fire Birds resembles a morale booster project leftover from The Reagan era.
  86. In Search of God
    Poorly conceived 60-minute picture might have fared better as a more straightforward documentary.
  87. 186 Dollars to Freedom
    Setting his fact-based tale on the eve of democratic elections in 1980 Peru, Vila tends to err on the side of melodrama whenever possible, and John Robinson's lead performance offers no end of privileged American naivete. But the characters are solid and the action sound.
  88. The Black Waters of Echo's Pond
    This generic horror meller would be most at home debuting on Syfy -- perhaps double-billed with "Pinata: Survival Island."
  89. Blended
    Blended suffers from a fundamental lack of trust in its audience, following every unexpectedly smart exchange with a numbskull pratfall or one-liner, and every instance of genuine sincerity with an avalanche of schmaltz.
  90. November Criminals
    It’s a low-budget generic shrug of a movie, one that recycles clichés both ancient (testy drug dealers) and slightly less ancient (the hero films his life with a camcorder).
  91. Inheritance
    This overlong tale spends most of its nearly two hours as a somewhat draggy, talky mystery before finally deciding to be a thriller, with credibility lacking throughout.
  92. Sonny
    Besides "Midnight Cowboy" and "American Gigolo," there aren't many mainstream movies centered on straight male prostitutes. Sonny is a worthy, if indie-style, addition to the list.
  93. The Bachelor
    A remarkably mirthless and inept romantic comedy.
  94. National Security
    Comes off as a retro reprise of those slam-bang, buddy-buddy action-comedies that proliferated throughout the '80s in the wake of "48 HRS."
  95. Kill Switch
    Had Smit developed his themes as scrupulously as his visual effects, Kill Switch might have been the next “Primer” or “District 9,” but instead it feels like a demo reel for a game that nobody can play.
  96. Trapped in Paradise
    An agreeable Middle American comedy intent upon reviving oldfashioned virtues, George Gallo's second feature doesn't serve up the big yocks needed to make it a breakout sleeper.
  97. A Babysitter's Guide to Monster Hunting
    A Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting simply pushes forward insistently and efficiently in a spirit of organized, slushie-colored fun, which isn’t quite the same as a sense of humor, much less a sense of urgency.
  98. Love the Coopers
    Decked out in the usual tinsel-and-mistletoe trappings, the film lurches awkwardly between gloominess and giddiness, never hitting the boisterously bittersweet groove it seeks.
  99. Texas Chainsaw 3D
    Helmer John Luessenhop ("Takers") and a small army of scripters go back to the bloody roots of the long-running franchise to concoct a better-than-average horror-thriller that relies more on potent suspense than graphic savagery or stereoscopic tricks.
  100. Hot Pursuit
    A few mildly tone-deaf jokes are hardly enough to sink Hot Pursuit. What does, however, is its tendency to belabor the laziest, most obvious gags beyond the point of reason.
Page:

Top Trailers

See all »
See all trailers »