Variety's Scores

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For 17,777 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 2.4 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: 9,133 out of 17777
  2. Mixed: 7,008 out of 17777
  3. Negative: 1,636 out of 17777
17777 movie reviews
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  1. Speed
    First-time helmer Jan De Bont, the ace lenser of most of Paul Verhoeven's films as well as "Die Hard" and numerous other large-scale pix, handles the action with great nimbleness and dexterity; film can hardly be faulted for its visual presentation of very complex action.
  2. Ever After
    Barrymore continues to prove herself as a performer of extraordinary range and charisma, and is simply sublime in the leading role.
  3. Emma
    A fine cast, speedy pacing and playful direction make this a solid contender for the Austen sweepstakes.
  4. Marvin's Room
    The whole film is laced with shards of humor and irony, which proves helpful, considering the basically downbeat nature of the material.
  5. Children of the Revolution
    Brimming with almost too many ideas for its 99-minute running time, Duncan's film boasts a strong cast of top actors who flesh out a group of bizarre yet recognizable characters involved in the political scene from the '50s to the present day.
  6. That Thing You Do!
    A top-notch production, exuberant period music and Hanks the actor in an important role cunningly disguise a rather slight and inconsequential narrative.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Superman II
    Superman II emerges as a solid, classy, cannily constructed piece of entertainment which gets down to action almost immediately.
  8. Copycat
    Ending is on the conventional side, more so than anything else in the picture , but script by Ann Biderman and David Madsen keeps the tart surprises coming throughout most of the picture with only occasional lapses into red herrings and artificial manipulation.
  9. Strictly Ballroom
    Within the confines of this tried-and-true formula, Luhrmann has concocted a feel-good entertainment, which is lively, original (in an old-fashioned sort of way) and charming.
  10. Philadelphia
    On a scene-by-scene basis, in terms of performance and the grave issues under consideration, the film is quite absorbing.
  11. Truly Madly Deeply
    This sharply scripted study of a bereaved woman who literally wishes her partner back from the grave is an impressive directorial bow by British playwright Anthony Minghella. Despite surface similarities with Ghost pic has a different feel and theme.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Ragtime
    The page-turning joys of E.L. Doctorow's bestselling Ragtime, which dizzily and entertainingly charted a kaleidoscopic vision of a turn-of-century America in the midst of intense social change, have been realized almost completely in Milos Forman's superbly crafted screen adaptation.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!
    Almodovar's inventive direction, superb lensing by Jose Luis Alcaine, a fine score by Ennio Morricone and top technical credits make pic a pleasure to watch.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Bostonians
    This is a classy adaptation of a Henry James novel.
  15. Maurice
    Maurice, based on a posthumously published novel by E.M. Forster, is a well-crafted pic on the theme of homosexuality.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Mr. & Mrs. Bridge
    Mr. & Mrs. Bridge is an affecting study of an uppercrust Midwestern family in the late 1930s.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Dead Zone
    David Cronenberg turns The Dead Zone into an accomplished psychological thriller.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Scanners
    Scanners offers at least one literally eye-popping moment and another that can only be called mind-blowing.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
    This often hilarious, irreverent and offbeat comedy is the most coherent young Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar has limned thus far.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Year of Living Dangerously
    Here is an astonishing feat of acting by New Yorker Linda Hunt, cast by Weir because he could not locate a short male actor to fit the bill. A bizarre, yet touching, romantic triangle develops between Gibson, Hunt, and Sigourney Weaver as a British Embassy official.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Silverado
    Rather than relying on legendary heroes of Westerns past, writer-director Lawrence Kasdan with his brother Mark have used their special talent to create a slew of human scale characters against a dramatic backdrop borrowing from all the conventions of the genre.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Gallipoli
    Peter Weir's Gallipoli tackles a legend in human terms and emerges as a highly entertaining drama on a number of levels, none of them inaccessible to anyone unfamiliar with the actual events.
  23. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
    A cheerfully vulgar and bitchy, but essentially warmhearted, road movie with a difference, which boasts an amazing star turn by Terence Stamp as a transsexual, Stephan Elliott's second feature is a lot of fun.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Purple Rain
    Playing a character rooted in his own background, and surrounded by the real-life members of his Minneapolis-based musical 'family,' rock star Prince makes an impressive feature film debut in Purple Rain, a rousing contemporary addition to the classic backstage musical genre.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Terms of Endearment
    Teaming of Shirley MacLaine and Jack Nicholson at their best makes Terms of Endearment an enormously enjoyable offering for Christmas, adding bite and sparkle when sentiment and seamlessness threatens to sink other parts of the picture.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Scarface
    Scarface is a grandiose modern morality play, excessive, broad and operatic at times.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Trading Places
    Trading Places is a light romp geared up by the schtick shifted by Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy.
  28. Henry Fool
    Poetic, bawdy, contemplative, often side-wrenchingly funny and finally quite touching, this tale about a nerdy garbage man whose life is changed by an egocentric hobo philosopher is flawed only by its length.
  29. Amateur
    Just as quirky and idiosyncratic as the Gotham-based writer-director's earlier efforts, this one pushes the spiky humor a bit more to the fore while unfolding a tale loaded with offbeat oppositions and odd character detailing.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Silkwood
    A very fine biographical drama.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sabrina
    A slick blend of heart and chuckles makes Sabrina a sock romantic comedy.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Lethal Weapon 2
    Loaded with the usual elements, Lethal Weapon 2 benefits from a consistency of tone that was lacking in the first film. This time, screenwriter Jeffrey Boam and director Richard Donner have wisely trained their sights on humor and the considerable charm of Mel Gibson and Danny Glover's onscreen rapport.
    • 33 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Air America
    Spectacular action sequences and engaging performances by Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr make this big-budgeter entertaining and provocative.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    JFK
    Oliver Stone's JFK is electric muckraking filmmaking.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    What About Bob?
    Bill Murray finds a real showcase for his oft-shackled talent in this manic comedy.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
    Action dwells upon the misadventures of the pair as they pursue the outlaw trail, but more importantly, packs the type of fast movement the title indicates.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Love Story
    It is generally successful on all artistic levels, propelled by the best-selling Erich Segal novel written from the original screenplay.
  38. Traveller
    The film shrewdly humanizes its protagonists to the point where the audience forgets their identity and roots for them to succeed - and survive.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Mississippi Burning
    Though its credibility is undermined by a fanciful ending, Mississippi Burning captures much of the truth in its telling of the impact of a 1964 FBI probe into the murders of three civil rights workers.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Ghostbusters II
    Ghostbusters II is babyboomer silliness. Kids will find the oozing slime and ghastly, ghostly apparitions to their liking and adults will enjoy the preposterously clever dialog.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Parenthood
    An ambitious, keenly observed, and often very funny look at one of life's most daunting passages, Parenthood's masterstroke is that it covers the range of the family experience, offering the points of view of everyone in an extended and wildly diverse middle-class family.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Henry V
    Henry V is a stirring, gritty and enjoyable pic which offers a plethora of fine performances from some of the U.K.'s brightest talents.
  43. The Maker
    Acreditable mix of character study and thriller elements, Tim Hunter's The Maker skirts but manages to elude several current genre traps - particularly those cliches surrounding both angstful-teen dramas and hip neo-noirs.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Big
    A 13-year-old junior high kid Josh (David Moscow) is transformed into a 35-year-old's body (Tom Hanks) by a carnival wishing machine in this pic which unspools with enjoyable genuineness and ingenuity.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Animal House
    Steady readers of the National Lampoon may find National Lampoon's Animal House a somewhat soft-pedalled, punches-pulled parody of college campus life circa 1962. However, there's enough bite and bawdiness to provide lots of smiles and several broad guffaws.
  46. The Pillow Book
    It is at first daunting but ultimately awesomely impressive and beautiful.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Johnny Suede
    One-time cameraman, DiCillo exploits pastel colors to advantage in order to flesh out Johnny's fantasy world. Brad Pitt, fresh from stealing scenes in Thelma & Louise, gives Johnny the right kind of innocent appeal, and the rest of the cast surround him with loving care.
  48. Kalifornia
    Though somewhat overplayed and coy about its destination, the film packs a helluva wallop.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Clue
    Clue is campy, high-styled escapism. In a short 87 minutes that just zip by, the well-known board game's one-dimensional card figures like Professor Plum and others become multi-dimensional personalities with enough wit, neuroses and motives to intrigue even the most adept whodunnit solver.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Pump Up the Volume
    Writer-director Allan Moyle's story about a shy high school student who galvanizes an Arizona suburb with a rebellious pirate radio show has rambunctious energy and defiant attitude.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A Christmas Story
    Writer-director Bob Clark had long dreamed of making a movie based on Shepherd’s work and his reverence for the material shows through as detail after nostalgic detail rings true with period flavor.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Muppet Movie
    Jim Henson, Muppet originator, and Frank Oz, creative consultant, have abandoned the successful format of their vidshow, and inserted their creations into a well-crafted combo of musical comedy and fantasy adventure.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    After Hours
    The cinema of paranoia and persecution reaches an apogee in After Hours, a nightmarish black comedy from Martin Scorsese. Anxiety-ridden picture would have been pretty funny if it didn't play like a confirmation of everyone's worst fears about contemporary urban life.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Aliens
    James Cameron's vault into the big time after scoring with the exploitation actioner The Terminator makes up for lack of surprise with sheer volume of thrills and chills - emphasis is decidedly on the plural aspect of the title.
  55. Mademoiselle Chambon
    Mademoiselle Chambon offers a touching, soft-spoken portrait of two adults fighting to contain their carnal passions from spilling over into a full-blown affair.
  56. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
    Employing a bigger budget, better effects and an edgier director ("Hard Candy's" David Slade), Eclipse focuses on what works -- the stars.
  57. Dinner for Schmucks
    An uproarious odd-couple remake of Francis Veber's hit French farce "The Dinner Game."
  58. Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
    Mixing hilarious standup footage with admiring if not exactly cuddlesome behind-the-scenes glimpses.
  59. Micmacs
    Turning the volume of his slapstick surreality down from 11 to 10, Gallic auteur Jean-Pierre Jeunet ("Amelie") hits the sweet spot with Micmacs.
  60. Warrior of Light
    Universally embraceable subject matter, coupled with helmer's sterling rep as benevolent booster of humanistic pioneers.
  61. Diamonds and Rust
    Expertly edited chronicle doesn't lead to any major explosion, but reveals plenty -- little of it pleasant -- en-route.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Fighter
    A powerful, heartfelt and funny documentary that serves as a respectful nod to the aging generation of WWII survivors.
  63. Ouch
    Delightful comedy of manners.
  64. Burning Man: The Burning Sensation
    A knockout documentary with a renegade personality ideally suited to its anarchic subject matter.
  65. 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.
  66. Children of Love
    The daunting logistics and emotional juggling act of child custody and visitation rights post-divorce are examined via spot-on acting and deft helming in docu-styled Children of Love.
  67. Empathy
    Helmer-poet Amie Siegel delivers a provocative, confident film.
  68. Down by Love
    A terrific performance by young actress Patricia Kovacs makes the high-stakes gamble of Down by Love -- a light psychodrama almost entirely centered on one character in an apartment -- into an engrossing 90-odd minutes.
  69. Raja
    Intriguing, provocative and very well acted.
  70. Marathon
    Marathon constitutes a brilliant but demanding finale to veteran Iranian helmer Amir Naderi's New York trilogy ("Manhattan by Numbers," "ABC Manhattan").
  71. Collateral Damages
    Casts a somewhat different light on the trauma of 9/11 and particularly on its long, devastating aftermath.
  72. An Injury to One
    Wilkerson's indictment is unapologetically agitprop. He sees Butte history as a testimony to "capitalist class" exploitation, corruption and environmental disaster.
  73. Morlang
    A sleek, highly stylized arthouse thriller.
  74. 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.
  75. Superstar in a Housedress
    Fan, friend and documentarian Craig Highberger delivers the goods with rare clips of the inimitable Jackie in Off-Off Broadway shows written by the star. The shaky, blurry quality of this never-before-seen archival footage shot by the helmer only adds to pic's surreal shoestring mystique.
  76. A Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake
    Beautifully evokes the enduring appeal of English singer-songwriter Nick Drake.
  77. I'll Sing for You
    Educational value aside, pic is exciting for its extended performance sequences, with the most notable finding Traore and Farke strolling with guitars through the acoustically amazing atrium of an abandoned mud schoolhouse.
  78. Massoud, the Afghan
    This educational and moving film is must-viewing for anyone who craves a glimpse of the best qualities of a country that many have coveted but which has never been colonized.
  79. Arna's Children
    Must-see docu penetrates a Jenin refugee camp to follow several Palestinian children from laughing little kids in a theater group to grim actors on a grislier world stage.
  80. Army of One
    Riveting and timely.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Daybreak
    One of the most impressive films to come out of Sweden in the past year. Ace acting, powerful direction and engaging storylines.
  82. Sunset Story
    Tender, sensitive Sunset Story sidesteps a maudlin tone for a wide-ranging account of two fragile but opinionated retirees.
  83. Cinévardaphoto
    Varda renders the political personal and the personal universal.
  84. 10 on Ten
    A self-contained master class on cinema.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    SubUrbia
    Writer-director teamings seldom mesh as smoothly or suggest so many creative affinities as does the one at the heart of subUrbia, a brooding, incisive comedy that blends the talents of helmer Richard Linklater and playwright Eric Bogosian.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Beyond the Sea
    Manages to be at once historically elucidating and personally compelling.
  87. David Hockney: The Colors of Music
    Hockney designed 11 operas, so buffs will be in seventh heaven here; but docu's potential audience extends to anyone interested in the creative process and life's ironies -- music lover Hockney has gone deaf from a genetic condition that surfaces in middle age.
  88. Up for Grabs
    A sly curve ball of a documentary best described as a sports-themed "Rashomon" with an O. Henry twist.
  89. Another Road Home
    Fascinating.
  90. Or
    Consistently engaging, non-judgmental and cumulatively powerful two-hander marks a noteworthy feature debut for Israeli helmer Keren Yedaya.
  91. Melancholian 3 huonetta
    Walloping gut punch The 3 Rooms of Melancholia offers a harrowing docu look at war and militarism's wounds, as seen through the eyes of Russian and Chechen children.
  92. Yat luk che
    An utterly charming retro romancer set against a background of '70s movie going. Full of lovely touches and well-etched performances, and flawed only by a bland male lead.
  93. Proteus
    A stimulating scientific inquiry that may cause audiences to look at (and think about) the world around them in dramatically different terms.
  94. Street Fight
    Curry's courage in the face of police harassment and what seems a very real threat of something worse is amazing.
  95. House of Sand
    Magnificently renders a fresh view of life on planet Earth.
  96. So Much So Fast
    Access and affection, which can fog the lens of the documaker, are precisely what make So Much So Fast so moving and engaging.
  97. 51 Birch Street
    A tonal triumph of true-life storytelling told with equal measures of tension and redemption.
  98. Justice
    Already a master of the objective eye, Ramos uses her unobtrusive camera to uncover the frustrations inherent in a vastly imbalanced society where hope is scarce and the future is dim.
  99. Our Daily Bread
    Looks at the agricultural industry across Europe through sound and images alone. Pic offers a tabula rasa in which some auds will see a horrifying indictment of the industry's cruelties, others a realistic depiction of mechanized farming, and some a soft-spoken tribute to manual labor. Meanwhile, precisely composed lensing and painstaking sound design create moments of sublime beauty.
  100. Memoirs of My Nervous Illness
    Richly layered picture dramatizes a landmark doctor/patient showdown, chronicles a classic case of transgenderism and reveals how aspects of Schreber's story prefigured Nazism.
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