Variety's Scores

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For 17,782 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: 9,136 out of 17782
  2. Mixed: 7,010 out of 17782
  3. Negative: 1,636 out of 17782
17782 movie reviews
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  1. In America
    Warm and borderline sentimental...also brimming with true and privileged moments, as well as an optimism in the face of tough circumstances that serves as a corrective to some of the more fashionably grim modern accounts of similar stories.
  2. September 11
    A sober, thought-provoking response to a tragedy of worldwide import and a much better film than one might expect from the pre-release publicity.
  3. The Devil's Advocate
    A fairly entertaining supernatural potboiler that finally bubbles over with a nearly operatic sense of absurdity and excess.
  4. Liar Liar
    Awfully funny at times.
  5. I Am David
    An unusually intelligent adventure film scaled for younger viewers, which never leaves adults behind.
  6. The Game
    The film itself is limited by the material's nature as a brainy exercise and by its narrow focus; individual response will depend upon how tantalized one is by puzzles and games, as well as upon how off-putting one finds the central character, who is center-stage throughout.
  7. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
    Though Ritchie’s screenplay scores a 10 for sheer complexity and cleverness, it rates much lower down the scale for comprehensibility and audience involvement.
    • Variety
  8. Promises
    Provides deeply humanistic insight into the complexities of the Middle East conflict that political analysis or front-line news coverage often lacks.
  9. The Saddest Music in the World
    Almost as much an art piece as a film, this playful Prohibition-era tale is visually inventive and initially amusing but, at feature length, becomes somewhat wearing in its cacophonous eccentricity.
  10. Scary Movie
    Manages an impressively huge score in the hit-or-miss gag ratio.
  11. Super Size Me
    Primarily humorous in a believe-it-or-not fashion.
  12. Love & Basketball
    The pic is so well directed and lead performance by Sanaa Lathan so charismatic that audiences will overlook the script's flaws and root for the central duo.
  13. King Arthur
    Impressively made and well acted by an exceedingly attractive cast, this dark tale of ceaseless conflict is adult entertainment and will likely disappoint viewers expecting a "Camelot"-like love triangle.
  14. Born Into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids
    Even if the film itself is relatively conventional, its exposure of a squalid city's most benighted neighborhood and its introduction of hope into nearly hopeless lives give it strong human interest value.
  15. Bedazzled
    The 2000 version is louder, broader and much, much bigger.
  16. The Clearing
    Classy, decorous and well acted, directorial debut by Hollywood producer Pieter Jan BruggePieter Jan Brugge is nicely crafted but too buttoned up to generate more than polite interest, much less the urgent excitement a kidnapping story might be expected to trigger.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Ed Wood
    Always engaging to watch and often dazzling in its imagination and technique, picture is also a bit distended, and lacking in weight at its center.
  18. Friday Night Lights
    Friday Night Lights is the "Black Hawk Down" of high school football movies. As exclusively as Ridley Scott's picture was about combat, this film concerns football and nothing but.
  19. Max Keeble's Big Move
    Surprisingly amusing.
  20. Noi the Albino
    An inspired mix of realism, humor and metaphor.
  21. 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.
  22. Rush Hour
    A frankly formulaic but raucously entertaining action comedy.
  23. Seeing Other People
    While lacking originality, pic is a case of cogent moviemaking that really knows its business. Traces of early Steven Soderbergh and recent Larry David enhance one of the most satisfying comedies in a fallow season.
  24. Twist
    Shot on location in subdued colors, Twist offers much less hope for its troubled characters than Dickens did. Its very downbeat vision may turn off auds, which is a pity because the film has a great many qualities, not least the admirable performances of Stahl, Close and Pelletier.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    El Norte
    Comes across as a kind of giant Renaissance canvas.
  26. The Matrix
    An eye-popping but incoherent extravaganza of morphing and superhuman martial arts.
  27. Waking Life
    Audiences looking for something fresh and different, not to mention a head trip, will find it in Waking Life.
  28. Alfie
    A breezy, sexy romp with a conscience that reflects in obvious but interesting ways on societal changes over the intervening 38 years.
  29. 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.
  30. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
    An outstanding lean film trapped in a fat film's body.
  31. Absolute Power
    Eastwood is in good, sly form, once again delighting in a character's splendid solitude and singular skill at what he does.
  32. Blood Work
    The 72-year-old star, who is centerscreen throughout, makes this rather far-fetched yarn go down much more easily than it otherwise might have.
  33. Kundun
    Ultimately Kundun emerges as a movie that's hypnotic without being truly compelling, sensuously stunning but not illuminating.
  34. The Price of Milk
    Full of surreal occurrences and bizarre, sometimes overly precious humor that may make it too rarefied an exercise for wide acceptance.
    • 90 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Raging Bull
    But the boxing sequences are possibly the best ever filmed, and the film captures the intensity of a boxer's life with considerable force.
    • 92 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Goodfellas
    Simultaneously fascinating and repellent, Goodfellas is Martin Scorsese's colorful but dramatically unsatisfying inside look at Mafia life in 1955-1980 New York City.
  37. The Age of Innocence
    Scorsese has met most of the challenges inherent in tackling such a formidable period piece, but the material remains cloaked by the very propriety, stiff manners and emotional starchiness the picture delineates in such copious detail.
  38. The Big Lebowski
    Spiked with wonderfully funny sequences and some brilliantly original notions, The Big Lebowski, a pseudo-mystery thriller with a keen eye and ear for societal mores and modern figures of speech, nonetheless adds up to considerably less than the sum of its often scintillating parts.
  39. The Machinist
    An intense, precision-controlled psychological mystery built around a very creepy lead performance by Christian Bale.
  40. We Don't Live Here Anymore
    Tony literary material, a fine cast and intelligent script and direction.
  41. This So-Called Disaster: Sam Shepard Directs the Late Henry Moss
    Not as insightful as "Topsy-Turvy" or "Vanya on 42nd Street" about the process of putting on a show, it's nonetheless a fascinating meeting of the minds -- between iconic New York indie filmmaker Michael Almereyda and laconic American cowboy and dramatist Shepard.
  42. Kitchen Stories
    The film appears consistently poised to go deeper but instead hangs back, making it less substantial than it might have been. Yet the sweet-natured story's gentle humor and poignancy should draw appreciative audiences.
  43. Once Upon a Time in Mexico
    Evokes the mythic feel of Sergio Leone Westerns. Despite a convoluted plot that begs for cleaner lines, the wild shoot-outs, cartoonish violence and charismatic cast should lure action fans to theaters.
  44. Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
    Gleefully commingles slapstick and scatology, satire and sentiment, in a free-wheeling farce aimed at making auds laugh until they're thoroughly ashamed of themselves.
  45. Dolls
    Despite an excessively meandering final act, the drama's three intertwined stories have a cumulative impact, their affecting sadness matched by meticulously composed visual poetry.
  46. Saints and Soldiers
    Well mounted, frequently gripping.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    They Live
    A fantastically subversive film, a nifty little confection pitting us vs them, the haves vs the have-nots.
  48. À cause d'un garçon
    Non-formulaic character interactions, a uniformly strong cast and deft handling by vet TV helmer Fabrice Cazaneuve render a refreshing take on youthful coming-out.
  49. 28 Days Later...
    Shows a rather arrogant disdain for its audience in between occasional flashes of flair.
  50. Christmas with the Kranks
    Ultimately something of a softball satire, its climactic evocation of the "true meaning" of the holidays is surprisingly touching.
  51. Jackie Brown
    Unquestionably too long, and lacking the snap and audaciousness of the pictures that made him the talk of the town, this narratively faithful but conceptually imaginative adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel "Rum Punch" nonetheless offers an abundance of pleasures, especially in the realm of characterization and atmosphere.
    • 21 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    9 Dead Gay Guys
    9 Dead Gay Guys, a dark comedy in the John Waters tradition, takes place in such a cartoonish, good-natured universe it's hard to imagine anyone taking offense.
  53. A Love Song for Bobby Long
    A pedigree cast elevates old-fashioned material and lackluster screenwriting.
  54. The Merchant of Venice
    Despite a series of disclaimers about the treatment of Jews in the 16th century, there's even less disguising onscreen than onstage that this is an uncomfortably anti-Semitic play and somewhat problematic for contempo audiences.
  55. Kill Bill: Vol. 1
    A strange, fun and densely textured work that gets better as it goes along.
  56. Vanilla Sky
    The picture has vitality, a fine cast and excellent craft
  57. 40 Days and 40 Nights
    A self-described abstinence comedy that is funny, sexy and silly in equal measure.
  58. The American President
    Genial middle-brow fare that coasts a long way on the charm of its two stars
  59. Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid
    Sublimely trashy, this conceptual sequel to 1997's surprise hit, "Anaconda," doesn't expect to be taken any more seriously than its schlock predecessor, and keeps its tongue-in-cheek thrills flowing rapidly.
  60. Bad Santa
    First-rate talent and a uniquely dyspeptic mood separate this effort from more routine, populist stabs at tasteless yukkage.
  61. Beyond the Sea
    It's raffish, flashy, energetic, entertaining and not very deep.
  62. Camp
    A big-hearted, exuberant, compassionate film with a wicked sense of humor and terrific songs performed by some preternaturally talented kids.
  63. City of God
    The impressive filmmaking craftsmanship and sharp storytelling skills make this two-hour-plus epic fly by.
  64. De-Lovely
    Benefits greatly from Kevin Kline's outstanding performance as the ultra-sophisticated songwriter whose resilient marriage anchored a complicated double life.
  65. The Day After Tomorrow
    A disarmingly pulpy, eye-popping disaster movie during its first half, and an increasingly dull survival melodrama during its second.
  66. Elf
    Will Ferrell graduates to his first solo leading role with flying colors in Elf, a disarming holiday comedy about a clueless innocent who saves Christmas and fosters a renewed sense of family in his reluctant father.
  67. Goodbye Lenin!
    This triumph of historical verisimilitude in the service of solid storytelling requires no detailed knowledge of the period to be appreciated as the moving story of a son's unconditional love for his mother.
  68. Grand Theft Parsons
    A likably laid-back spin about the bizarre fate of rock 'n' roll legend Gram Parsons' corpse. Inspired by a true story, pic travels down familiar genre highways, but quirky humor and an apt soundtrack make for a pleasant enough journey.
  69. Hellboy
    Has more than enough across-the-board appeal to attract mainstream auds unfamiliar with source material.
  70. I Heart Huckabees
    Clever but distancing, this existential comedy bounces along on the backs of its tasty cast, witty writing and stylistic verve.
  71. Ice Age
    An entertaining story that, while not terribly original, is sufficiently arresting and often laugh-out-loud funny.
  72. In Good Company
    An often lively comedy-drama that lands some nice jabs at the mega-corp ethos, In Good Company makes for pretty good company until going soft when it counts.
  73. Mean Girls
    This sassy if wildly uneven comedy navigates the treacherous high school jungle that separates cool cliques from wannabes, wading through some nasty behavior before delivering its moral message.
  74. Maria Full of Grace
    Writer-director Joshua Marston's strikingly confident debut maintains an unblinking focus and sustains an almost unbearable level of tension.
  75. Osmosis Jones
    The most extensive interplay of live action and animation since "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?"
  76. Requiem for a Dream
    It’s technically striking filmmaking, to be sure, but what it’s presenting is nothing that many people will want to look at.
  77. School of Rock
    Combined with hilarious physical business and perfectly overearnest delivery of pseudocool lines like, "Let your fingers do the rocking!," he (Black) pretty much single-handedly keeps the formulaic progress funny.
  78. Shaun of the Dead
    A classic example of a clever idea that could easily have run out of steam halfway. However, co-scripters Pegg and Wright structure it as a classic three-acter (set-up, journey, finale) with enough twists, character development and small set pieces to keep the comedy boiling.
  79. Peau d'homme coeur de bête
    Tough, cogent and resonantly chilling, this slow-burning drama continues the vein of harsh realism seen in recent Gallic cinema including "La Vie de Jesus" and "More Than Yesterday."
  80. Son frère
    Todeschini has the most physically demanding role, with a gaunt face and ravaged body that utterly convinces of the brutality of the ailment.
  81. Taking Sides
    Its soul rests in Skarsgard's performance, a powerful mixture of buttoned-down anger and personal disappointment that combines the filmmaker's self-questioning with the real-life character's conflict.
  82. Team America: World Police
    Goes the extra mile to piss off everybody -- which includes gleefully destroying renowned Hollywood liberals, literally and figuratively.
  83. Intimate Strangers
    Consistently entertaining exploration of how much -- or how little -- is required to overcome obstacles to self-actualization should be welcome wherever auds crave a good story told with nuance and flair.
  84. This Girl's Life
    May not be a complete success, but it is in some ways that rarest of commodities in American movies: It is a movie about sex and sexuality, in its many perversions and permutations, done without falling back on an exploitatively comic or violent scenario.
  85. Anatomy of Hell
    Compact, ultra-explicit two-character pic about what transpires when a beautiful straight woman hires a handsome gay man to "look" at her is gloriously mannered, proudly pretentious and undeniably compelling.
  86. The Bourne Supremacy
    The action is confusing at first and the hyperventilated editing style at times goes beyond the pale, so pic ultimately emerges as an erratic but not unworthy sequel to its gritty, genre-invigorating predecessor.
  87. 13 Going on 30
    A star vehicle composed of second-hand parts that nevertheless gets great mileage (and big laughs) from its recycled plot.
  88. Closer
    The caustic wit and brute force of Patrick Marber's acclaimed play come across with a softened edge in Mike Nichols' bigscreen version of Closer.
  89. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
    Visually dazzling and considerably darker than the prior incarnations, the story suffers from a slightly disjointed feel that will prove less accessible to those not intimately familiar with every corner of author J.K. Rowling's world.
  90. Ocean's Twelve
    This smooth inside job benefits from heightened bonhomie among the players, fab Euro locations and a diminished obligation to stick to the heist genre boilerplate.
  91. 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.
  92. Two Brothers
    Combo of some stunning animal direction (courtesy of ace trainer Thierry Le Portier) and exotic period setting somewhere in French colonial Indochina charms when the quadripeds stalk the action but creaks when the bipeds open their mouths.
  93. The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
    Possesses charm, as well as visual and musical appeal, on the bigscreen. But as with many short-form TV entities when sextupled in length, "SpongeBob" proves more palatable as scrumptious fast food than full-scale repast.
  94. A Tale of Two Sisters
    It manages to suspend disbelief without over-taxing the viewer's patience, and boasts at least one terrific performance, by actress Yeom Jeong-ah as a scary stepmom.
  95. The Phantom of the Opera
    Sumptuous pic version, which evokes the original show while working as a movie in its own right, is lit by a radiant, vocally lustrous perf by teenaged Emmy Rossum.
  96. Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
    Snicket's macabre tale of three newly orphaned siblings has been lavishly visualized. But for all its elaborate splendor, production pic lacks the feeling and imagination that have distinguished the best recent kidpics.
  97. Napoleon Dynamite
    An absurdist piece about a rural community of clueless cretins who careen through life like poorly played pinballs, Napoleon Dynamite represents the definition of the comedy of condescension and ridicule.
  98. Hotel Rwanda
    The genocide of some one million Rwandan Tutsis by their Hutu neighbors remains a disgraceful and too-little-known episode in recent world history. Alas, Terry George's ineffectual Hotel Rwanda only partly rectifies that problem, taking what ought to have been a complex, powerful inquiry and simplifying it to a story about the resilience of the human spirit.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Barb Wire
    Despite its obvious flaws, Barb Wire does what it sets out to do and does it well.
  100. Tin Cup
    Amiable and constantly amusing rather than uproarious, this mangy tale of a ne'er-do-well's fitful assault on personal and professional respectability benefits greatly from Kevin Costner's ingratiatingly comic star turn, his most appealing work in years.
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