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. Outsourced
    This unaffected charmer treats a hot-button contempo issue with old-fashioned grace and benevolent wit, rendering it a sure-fire word-of-mouth crowd-pleaser.
  2. Laaga Chunari Mein Daag: Journey of a Woman
    Rani Mukerji provides the star power, but up-and-coming actress Konkona Sen Sharma is the revelation in Laaga chunari mein daag, a glossy throwback to '90s Bollywood that proves a treat, if you check most of your brains at the door.
  3. Holly
    Though treading a firm, clear-eyed line between education and exploitation, the well-acted and technically proficient drama -- too chaste to scandalize, too dark for general audiences -- works as a mobilizing tool for its cause.
  4. Everything's Cool
    Can a movie about global warming genuinely be called lighthearted? If so, Daniel B. Gold and Judith Helfand's Everything's Cool comes as close as one imagines possible, essaying yet more inconvenient truths about the potential future of our planet in the same buoyant, irreverent style the filmmakers brought to their last activist docu, "Blue Vinyl."
  5. Tony N' Tina's Wedding
    A rousing, hilarious Bacchanal of family togetherness, Roger Paradiso's brilliantly cinematic adaptation of the second-longest running play in Off-Broadway history might be the best of the recent rash of wedding pics.
  6. Outlaw
    Both the pic's power and its problems stem from Love deliberately taking no moral position nor offering any solutions; he gives his audience what it wants at a gut level and doesn't wimp out at the end.
  7. Lost in Beijing
    Money (and maybe a little bit of love) makes the world go around in Lost in Beijing, an involving, highly accessible portrait of an emotional menage a quatre in the modern-day Chinese capital.
  8. The Silence Before Bach
    Arguably stronger conceptually than visually, surreal mix of the unexpected and the banal is definitely not to everybody's taste. But the music is inarguably sublime.
  9. A Walk to Beautiful
    Competently made, precisely shot and buoyantly humanistic.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Duchess of Langeais
    Rivette uses intertitles (including some direct quotes from Balzac) to move the plot along and underline the dry wit. Helming is both leisurely and exact, offering auds ample opportunities to intimately observe the selfishness and folly of two people who would rather fight than switch.
  11. Ezra
    A passionate, harrowing drama about rebellion, atrocity and child soldiering in Africa, Ezra is raw and violent. There's no denying the film's power, or its frankness regarding the ongoing tragedy of Africa.
  12. Fighting for Life
    The only people who seem immune to the politics of the Iraq War are also at its epicenter: the doctors and nurses who mend and tend to the wounded, and who provide the heart and soul of Terry Sanders' Fighting for Life.
  13. Jar City
    A taut police procedural that craftily blends ripped-from-the-headlines genetic issues with foreboding Icelandic stoicism, Jar City reps a supremely confident stride into mass-appeal genre fare for Icelandic hyphenate Baltasar Kormakur.
  14. Sputnik Mania
    A seemingly esoteric subject -- the launch of Russia's Sputnik satellite -- is exhumed and made exciting in this important slice of you-are-there documaking.
  15. Wetlands Preserved: The Story of an Activist Nightclub
    Pays fitting tribute to Wetlands' unique rebirth of '60s idealism within a '90s urban setting.
  16. Love Songs
    Likeable film doesn't measure up to helmer Christophe Honore's previous "Inside Paris," stumbling a bit in capturing the genuine grief that sits at its heart, though once again his feel for family is unerring and some of pic's greatest charms come from the warmth they inspire.
  17. Planet B-Boy
    Often exhilarating docu charts several breakdancing crews' path to the Battle of the Year, which hosts national winners from 18 countries -- not excluding Israel, Belgium or Latvia -- in dazzling competitive displays.
  18. Shotgun Stories
    Thesping is pitch-perfect across the board.
  19. A Previous Engagement
    Stevenson casts her usual magic in this frankly adult, determinedly lighthearted comedy of romantic errors.
  20. Expired
    An occasionally cringe-inducing mix of pathos and humor, the tightly scripted, well-acted and notably art-directed tale follows a lonely, vulnerable meter maid who falls into a comically horrific relationship with a colleague incapable of emotional intimacy.
  21. The Last Mistress
    Adapting a book by semi-notorious novelist and critic Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly (1808-89), Breillat freely stamps her strong and singular feminine insights on a man's material.
  22. The Stone Angel
    Prolific helmer Kari Skogland draws a fiery performance from vet Burstyn and a beguiling one from Christine Horne as the young Hagar. Yet the book's sheer "Giant"-like scope necessitates generational cross-cutting that's both rushed and cluttered; pic would have have been better served as a more leisurely miniseries.
  23. In Search of a Midnight Kiss
    Performances are aptly quirky and ingratiating, Holdridge's seriocomic balance nicely judged. But the most outstanding element in an accomplished low-budget package is Robert Murphy's lensing, which recalls "Manhattan" in its B&W celebration of a cityscape.
  24. Patti Smith: Dream of Life
    The textured, thoughtful results may prove too cerebral and abstract for audiences beyond Smith's hardcore followers,
  25. The Girl Cut in Two
    While not a classic, this is a pleasantly disturbing, nominally voyeuristic romp in the territory Chabrol knows best.
  26. Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer
    Force of personality and terrific vintage performance clips make a keeper of Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer.
  27. Last Stop for Paul
    There's no real subterfuge going on, simply an ingenious way of constructing a good film out of virtually nothing.
  28. The Pool
    Smith's utterly natural filmmaking there is impressive.
  29. A Secret
    A fine drama that stands as Gallic vet Claude Miller's best in at least a decade.
  30. All of Us
    The women's personalities and strengths command attention, their stories neatly dovetailing with the study's hypotheses. But when the film suddenly, almost subversively, shifts gears, and the questioner becomes the questioned, the pic's dynamic changes radically.
  31. The Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela
    Likeable if rambling first feature by Icelandic helmer Olaf de Fleur Johannesson ("Africa United") evinces the helmer's background in documaking, and reps a kind of quasi-doc itself with real-life trannies riffing on their own personas.
  32. Johnny Got His Gun
    Ably filmed by veteran stage producer-director Rowan Joseph, Bradley Rand Smith's theatrical script provides a bravura thespian workout for Ben McKenzie.
  33. Obscene
    The case for publisher Barney Rosset's place as a hero in post-war America's battle for freedom of expression is persuasively argued in Obscene.
  34. The Other End of the Line
    As cross-cultural bridge-builders go, picture is smart, funny and sweet enough to make you reassess your attitude next time you get reach tech support in New Delhi.
  35. The Dukes
    With Davi and Chazz Palminteri fronting a first-rate ensemble cast, and a tasty soundtrack of golden oldies, this unpretentious indie dramedy has much to recommend.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Black Balloon
    Collette acts as an anchor for the ensemble, but the young leads credibly hold their own onscreen.
  37. Scott Walker: 30 Century Man
    Longtime fans of Walker's warm, sepulchral baritone, startlingly evocative songwriting and lushly imaginative instrumentation will rejoice at this revealing documentary.
  38. Theater of War
    What emerges from Walter's docu is not a sense of failure, but a recognition that the play's the thing, enriched by every flawed performance, perfection almost irrelevant to its cry of anguish.
  39. Forbidden Lie$
    Broinowski commits the crucial error of hanging around way too long once all key questions have been answered.
  40. Sex Positive
    Daryl Wein's engrossing portrait of Richard Berkowitz is freshly engaging largely due to the subject himself.
  41. Under Our Skin
    Takes a creative, humanistic approach that makes the complex material dramatic and visually interesting.
  42. Off Jackson Avenue
    Though picture is downbeat and defiantly low-budget, its laid-back absurdist tone and no-nonsense pacing make for an audio-visual delight.
  43. Surviving Crooked Lake
    Sometimes shaky, sometimes smooth handheld DV lensing (by Drews and Krybus) gives the pic an immediacy that greatly enhances its dramatic and emotional impact.
  44. Gotta Dance
    Heartwarming and full of self-deprecating humor, albeit somewhat over-long and repetitive.
  45. My One and Only
    The ensemble collectively displays crisp comic timing throughout.
  46. Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
    Spinning a wry, tall-tale version of his autobiography, the septuagenarian audaciously plays himself at every age and every stage of his improbably picaresque adventures.
  47. At the Edge of the World
    A nonfiction pirate movie that tickles one’s inner eco-radical.
  48. Big Fan
    It's a small, peculiar film, one unlikely to appeal much to women, non-sports fans and mainstreamers, but its uncomfortable comic insights should win it a loyal following.
  49. The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
    Crams a wealth of material into 90 minutes without losing clarity or momentum.
  50. Harmony and Me
    Bristling with wry wit and peopled with a rogue's gallery of disaffected losers.
  51. L'ennemi intime
    Visceral and engrossing.
  52. Adela
    Artfully observed, it's content to let Linda be the sole, compelling focal point.
  53. The Way We Get By
    Although the trio's work as "troop greeters" is the film's ostensible subject, their renewed and somewhat tenuous sense of purpose gives the doc its bite.
  54. Skin
    One of the more bizarre illustrations of racial injustice under apartheid is dramatized in Skin.
  55. Women in Trouble
    A wildly uneven but compulsively watchable mix of high camp and grand passions, soap opera and softcore sex. Very much in the deliriously lewd style of Pedro Almodovar.
  56. Home
    Typically sharp work by d.p. Agnes Godard and lead thesp Isabelle Huppert.
  57. Made for Each Other
    Often wryly hilarious, completely overboard and unpredictable.
  58. Garbage Dreams
    Mai Iskander's stunning documentary-helming debut.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Pop Star on Ice
    Smartly structured, crisply lensed docu Pop Star on Ice is a fascinating portrait of outspoken Olympian and three-time U.S. figure skating national champion Johnny Weir.
  60. Eyes Wide Open
    Quietly devastating picture reps a natural draw for gay, Jewish-interest and upscale audiences.
  61. American Radical: The Trials of Norman Finkelstein
    For some, the documentary will represent the endorsement of a self-hater spouting traitorous ideas; for others, it celebrates the courage of a reviled, truth-telling martyr to the cause of academic freedom.
  62. 3 Idiots
    3 Idiots takes a while to lay out its game plan but pays off emotionally in its second half.
  63. Formosa Betrayed
    A decent political thriller set in Taiwan with the requisite Western-market-friendly lead and a determinedly pro-independence message embedded in a formulaic but diverting tale of intrigue and oppression.
  64. Delta
    A beautifully atmospheric vessel that will seem infinitely deep to some and chafingly dry to others.
  65. Severe Clear
    Scotti's amateur camerawork proves strangely compelling.
  66. The White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights
    While the black-white-and-red-clad duo's mystique survives intact, there's some backstage insight.
  67. Children of Invention
    Urgent, artful and even austerely poetic.
  68. Ghost Town
    At a leisurely 172 minutes, the pic takes on the desultory rhythms of rural stagnation, its rigorous compositions imparting aesthetic weight and meditative scope to everything in its purview.
  69. Blue Beard
    This offbeat but compelling take on the tale, arguably the first serial-killer yarn, emphasizes sisterly bonds but still gets to the original story's heart of mysterious darkness with impressive results.
  70. Lbs.
    The intimately personal chronicle is more impressive for Famiglietti's disarming self-exposure than for any fully formed cinematic style or consistency of tone, but the modest production has a genuine, warm spirit.
  71. Teza
    Ultimately rewards the viewer's patience with a potent sense of Ethiopian history and culture.
  72. The Square
    A tasty neo-noir from the James M. Cain school of lust-driven dirty dealings, The Square reps a promising debut by Aussie stuntman-turned-helmer Nash Edgerton.
  73. Who Do You Love
    Ultimately an entertaining story about a deeply lonely man.
  74. Women Without Men
    Has striking moments comparable to the best of Neshat's potent imagery. But the script jettisons most of the book's more powerful sections.
  75. It Came from Kuchar
    Gleefully piles on everything anyone could want in a docu on the fabulous Kuchar brothers, whose deliriously campy zero-budget mellers -- with titles like "Hold Me While I'm Naked" or "Sins of the Fleshapoids" -- enlivened many otherwise somber evenings of '60s underground cinema.
  76. The Misfortunates
    Calling the Strobbe clan a working-class family would imply that some of its members worked (or had class), but none of the lowlife protags do in the visually robust and often hilarious Flemish tragicomedy The Misfortunates.
  77. Kenny Chesney: Summer in 3D
    Sound is crystal-clear, and unobtrusive stereoscopic footage looks great throughout the 99-minute feature, though some weird compositional snafus scuttle the desired concert experience, and the set's lack of variety makes it a fans-only proposition.
  78. Behind the Burly Q
    The women's outspoken commentaries prove consistently colorful and their long-ago stripteases -- feathers flying, tassels spinning -- still pack a sensual, sassy, what-the-hell punch.
  79. Best Worst Movie
    Strangely moving, insightful and entertaining documentary.
  80. The Good, the Bad, the Weird
    East meets West meets East again, with palate-tingling results, in The Good the Bad the Weird, a kimchi Western that draws shamelessly on its spaghetti forebears but remains utterly, bracingly Korean.
  81. Harry Brown
    Bleak, gripping, sporadically exciting drama.
  82. Please Give
    Keener, so deliciously nasty in Holofcener's "Lovely and Amazing," is no less engaging here in what is, surprisingly, the film's least bitchy role.
  83. Road, Movie
    A modestly amusing dramedy that is all the more pleasant for its fleeting detours into cheeky fantasy.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Babies
    Babies is refreshing in its methods, impressive in its scope and remarkable in its immediacy. That said, it's also an occasionally frustrating documentary that deprives the viewer of the comforts of exposition and cultural context.
  85. Here and There
    Slight, extremely likable picture, a sly variant on recent immigrant movies like "The Visitor" and "Goodbye Solo."
  86. Looking for Eric
    As in many of Laverty's scripts, problems of overall tone and character development aren't solved by Loach's easygoing direction, though when it works, "Eric" has many incidental pleasures.
  87. The Last Exorcism
    The Last Exorcism makes first-rate use of religious doubt and religious extremism to concoct a novel horror-thriller clever enough to seduce unbelievers while satisfying the bloodlust of its congregation/fanbase.
  88. Cyrus
    Think of Cyrus as the Duplasses for the masses, as the keenly observant sibs upgrade their scrappy, relationship-based formula to work with movie stars and a Fox Searchlight-size budget without sacrificing the raw, naturalistic feel of their first two features, "The Puffy Chair" and "Baghead."
  89. Agora
    The mother of all secular humanists fights a losing battle against freshly minted religious zealots in Agora, a visually imposing, high-minded epic that ambitiously puts one of the pivotal moments in Western history onscreen for the first time.
  90. Cropsey
    Cropsey has all the trappings of a true-crime TV special, but with an undercurrent of cultural exposition that is intelligent, profound and unsettling.
  91. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead
    A horror comedy much closer to the actor-riffing drollery of Edgar Wright and Christopher Guest than "Scary Movie"-style splatstick, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Undead is one sly slice of the ridiculous.
  92. Whiz Kids
    Nominally structured around the Intel Science Talent Search, Whiz Kids traces a dual process: the empowerment of economically challenged students who otherwise might not realize their potential, and the empowerment of the nation through the problem-solving efforts of its best and brightest.
  93. Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage
    Endearing documentary, winner of Tribeca's audience award, should delight devotees and intrigue nonbelievers.
  94. Jack Goes Boating
    Displaying a girth that will give hope to overweight romantics everywhere, Hoffman knows his character inside and out and invites the viewer close to this limited, good-hearted fellow.
  95. 8: The Mormon Proposition
    For sympathetic outsiders, on the other hand, it covers a lot of ground in a short space, not always in the most organized way, but on enough fronts to spark an informed dialogue.
  96. Let It Rain
    Despite an initial forecast of smart laughs and witty tete-a-tetes, the French dramedy Let It Rain winds up being a partly cloudy affair that lacks the cohesiveness of Agnes Jaoui’s two previous features, "The Taste of Others" and "Look at Me."
  97. Toy Story 3
    This tertiary adventure delivers welcome yet nonessential fun, landing well after its creators have grown up and succeeded toying with more sophisticated stories.
  98. Wah Do Dem
    Slight but winning and often funny, the scrappy Amerindie Wah Do Dem is a fish-out-of-water comedy driven by Sean "Bones" Sullivan's offbeat performance.
  99. Dogtooth
    The Greek helmer's sophomore picture does exude a strange fascination throughout.
  100. Restrepo
    But despite its remarkably intimate footage of war and loss, Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington's documentary suffers from the same problem as the ongoing U.S. drama in Afghanistan: a lack of narrative coherence.
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