Variety's Scores

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For 17,760 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: 9,121 out of 17760
  2. Mixed: 7,003 out of 17760
  3. Negative: 1,636 out of 17760
17760 movie reviews
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  1. Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune
    Briskly constructed and rich in Ochs' music and period notables, Kenneth Bowser's film will be a must for the artist's fans, but its fresh take on an overexamined decade should also appeal to Kennedy-era completists.
  2. The Time That Remains
    As in "Divine," there's an uneven quality to Suleiman's often surreal ideas, but in general there are way more hits than misses this time round, some of them laugh-out-loud.
  3. Country Strong
    That rare ensemble piece in which all four principals are not only compellingly drawn but handled with an astute sense of dramatic balance.
  4. Gulliver's Travels
    The story grows more desperate as it goes on.
  5. Blue Valentine
    On balance, this is a meaty, strongly realized dramatic work of considerable accomplishment.
  6. Little Fockers
    A lazy attempt to milk a few more laughs and bucks from the enormously lucrative property spawned 10 years ago by "Meet the Parents."
  7. I Am Secretly an Important Man
    Given his due and more by Sillen's insightful and occasionally startling portrait, Bernstein is made a complicated, even morbidly fascinating figure in a film that will have limited theatrical exposure but, like the director's earlier work, will likely enjoy a cultish afterlife.
  8. Megamind
    Comes off as a derivative wisecracking machine rather than a feat of sustained imagination.
  9. Satan Hates You
    Barreling into the intersection of horror, comedy and religious sanctimony, Satan Hates You is a clever collision of flamboyant gore and social commentary that never goes too far with anything save mordant wit.
  10. Alien Girl
    Offering a smorgasbord of violence with liberal sprinklings of sex, Russian import Alien Girl delivers wearisome brutality but little finesse.
  11. How Do You Know
    This wrong-headed dramedy peddles forced warm-fuzziness and insincere sentiment on the backs of an all-star cast.
  12. Due Date
    So infuriating is Ethan that Due Date very nearly loses us, too, at the outset, but over time, the bearded boor manages to win everyone over, audience included.
  13. Unstoppable
    Given the linear, one-track nature of the plot, Scott and Bomback prove surprisingly effective at delivering a well-rounded experience, going out of their way to fill in the personalities of their two leads.
  14. Saw 3D
    That Saw 3D is relentlessly repugnant will delight the franchise's fans and surprise almost no one. The best that can be said for the picture, gamely directed by longtime "Saw" cutter Kevin Greutert, is that it offers little in between the traps, which are more creatively vicious than they've ever been.
  15. White Material
    Structurally, White Material unfolds like a novel, undoubtedly partly due to the work of Denis' co-scripter, author Marie N'Diaye. That said, it's still very much a Denis film, not just in the complexity of the characters and their motivations -- Huppert shoulders the narrative effortlessly, her strength and direction unwavering -- but in the framework and editing.
  16. Love and Other Drugs
    A jagged little pill that, in the end, goes down too smoothly.
  17. Yogi Bear
    A bland and innocuous small-fry outing that retains a measure of the original Hanna-Barbera cartoon's charm, though scarcely enough to justify the time, expense and visual-effects trickery it must have taken to inflate an endearing 2D cartoon into a dopey 3D extravaganza.
  18. Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench
    A surprise, a delight and a whimsical experiment.
  19. Nothing Personal
    Largely thanks to Verbeek's performance, full of physical grace notes and small details, she manages to involve the audience, even though her character is more a movie creation than one based in real psychology. Rea, largely giving his usual mumbling Oirish perf, proves a selfless support, and provides an anchor to the movie.
  20. Heartless
    There's more mood than matter here, but suspenseful atmospherics effectively distract from minor plot holes.
  21. Tiny Furniture
    What it doesn't have, to its credit, is a neat conclusion. In the end, the film appears to suggest that Aura likely will feel free to keep searching for herself, repeating mistakes and making new ones, because she has all the time in the world.
  22. Somewhere
    The ever-perceptive writer-director further hones her gifts for ruefully funny observation and understated melancholy with this low-key portrait of a burned-out screen actor.
  23. The King's Speech
    While far from easy, both roles provide a delightful opportunity for Firth and Rush to poke a bit of fun at their profession.
  24. Rabbit à la Berlin
    Cunningly fashioning found footage into a rabbit's-eye view of events, Polish helmer Bartek Konopka creates a chillingly apt political allegory in Rabbit a la Berlin.
  25. Beijing Taxi
    Throughout, the drivers are framed against the various cityscapes they traverse, though their philosophical views on what is unfolding around them differs with age and temperament.
  26. Tangled
    Tangled is snappily paced and easy enough to get wrapped up in, propelled by a set of jaunty, serviceable songs from venerable composer Alan Menken and lyricist Glenn Slater.
  27. Burlesque
    An overwrought, underwritten hootchy-kootchy tuner that desperately wants to be "Cabaret," but lacks the edge and historical context to pull it off.
  28. Hemingway's Garden of Eden
    Garden of Eden sends sleek, half-nude bodies glumly cavorting through lush Riviera landscapes in a paradigm of unintentional camp.
  29. The Company Men
    The pain feels cushioned and secondhand, the characters are not terribly sympathetic or interesting other than for their misfortune, and the film shows little interest in analyzing the situation other than to point fingers at greedy CEOs.
  30. The Tourist
    Like a beautifully tailored suit that starts to smell funny after a few minutes, this sumptuous but stultifying lark sets up a quasi-Hitchcockian intrigue between two strangers abroad, but smothers any thrills or sparks in a haze of self-regard.
  31. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I
    Director David Yates spins the series' most expansive, structurally free-form chapter yet -- lumbering and gripping by turns, and suffused with a profound sense of solitude and loss.
  32. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
    This f/x-heavy third adaptation of the Christian-themed fantasy series feels routine and risk-averse in every respect, as if investment anxiety had fatally hobbled its sense of wonder.
  33. Rabbit Hole
    Grief may be the topic under examination, but humor -- incisive, observant and warm -- is the tool with which it's dissected in Rabbit Hole, a refreshingly positive-minded take on cinema's ultimate downer: overcoming the death of a child.
  34. The Tempest
    A Tempest so kitschy, yet curiously drab and banal.
  35. The Fighter
    If The Fighter feels like kind of a mess, lurching from one scene to the next as if the film itself has taken a few hits to the head, that's not entirely a bad thing.
  36. The Warrior's Way
    A visually inspired multi-genre amalgamation, a borderline-surreal folly that suggests a martial-arts action-adventure co-directed by Sergio Leone and Federico Fellini.
  37. All Good Things
    The more the film implicates David, the more it distances itself and the viewer, playing out in the emotionally detached but sensationalistic, overripe manner of a tabloid freakshow.
  38. TRON: Legacy
    While 21st-century effects and a cutting-edge dance score make this a stunning virtual ride, the underlying concept feels as far-fetched as ever.
  39. True Grit
    Rather than a case of the Dude doing the Duke, Bridges' irascible old cuss is a genuine original who feels larger than the familiar saga that contains him.
  40. I Love You Phillip Morris
    Less of a comedy than a hilarious tragedy, I Love You Phillip Morris stars Jim Carrey in his most complicated comedic role since "The Cable Guy."
  41. Black Swan
    A wicked, sexy and ultimately devastating study of a young dancer's all-consuming ambition, Black Swan serves as a fascinating complement to Darren Aronofsky's "The Wrestler," trading the grungy world of a broken-down fighter for the more upscale but no less brutal sphere of professional ballet.
  42. Willets Point
    But atmospherics notwithstanding, the narrative unfolds unconvincingly in jerky fits and starts.
  43. The Legend of Pale Male
    Family-friendly holiday fare.
  44. The Nutcracker
    The familiarity of the music may actually be a disadvantage; the ear wants the melodies to conform to one's memory of them, but instead they've been tortured into compliance with the needs of a standard movie musical.
  45. Undertow
    Neither sexually explicit nor showily lyrical, Undertow nonetheless has a sensuous, romantic feel that balances same-sex love with an equally empathetic view toward the adoring, then bewildered, then enraged wife.
  46. Today's Special
    The picture works best as a vehicle for the likable talents of thesp Aasif Mandvi, arguably best known for his occasional "reporting" on the Middle East on "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart."
  47. The Next Three Days
    Paul Haggis' middling fourth feature evinces a sometimes pulse-quickening fascination with procedural details, and climaxes with a good dose of swift, suspenseful filmmaking. But what was briskly diverting in the original has been rather laboriously overworked.
  48. William S. Burroughs: A Man Within
    There is a wealth of anecdotal material. Like his subject, Leyser strives to disengage from the conventional, while still being lucid. He succeeds admirably.
  49. Skyline
    An underwhelming and derivative sci-fi thriller that's only marginally more impressive than a run-of-the-mill SyFy Channel telepic.
  50. Helena from the Wedding
    Pacing is brisk, and performances and writing sharp enough to engage throughout.
  51. Morning Glory
    A genially midrange if overlong romantic comedy.
  52. Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story
    Charting the presence of prominent Jewish major leaguers in every decade, their relationship to the world of big-time ball and the careers of such greats as Hank Greenberg and Sandy Koufax, helmer Peter Miller's historical docu strikes out a stadium-load of assumptions.
  53. Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer
    For all the information here, Gibney is unusual among investigative documentarians in that he never forgets he's making cinema.
  54. Fair Game
    Fair Game serves up impeccable politics with a bit too much righteous outrage and not quite enough solid drama.
  55. Four Lions
    An audacious premise gets dangerously unstable execution in Four Lions, a ballsy but wobbly high-concept farce that sends up the bumbling schemes of a Blighty-based jihadist cell.
  56. For Colored Girls
    The result falls squarely in familiar territory, better acted and better lit, perhaps, but more inauthentically melodramatic than ever.
  57. 127 Hours
    While Franco can sometimes be a wild card, getting increasingly self-conscious with recent roles, his take on Ralston feels both credible and compelling; few actors could have made us care so much, or disappeared so completely into the role.
  58. Inspector Bellamy
    This upscale talkfest, which delights in its witty banter and sly references, could be helmer's most commercial work in quite some time.
  59. Kalamity
    An object lesson in overconfidence and underdevelopment, almost as unbalanced as its central psychotic.
  60. Wild Target
    Nearly every element here is wildly off-target, from Jonathan Lynn's ("The Whole Nine Yards") lazy helming and Lucinda Coxon's shambolic script to the embarrassed-looking perfs from usually excellent lead thesps Bill Nighy and Emily Blunt.
  61. Welcome to the Rileys
    Nothing short of preposterous, Jake Scott's film imagines a grieving couple (James Gandolfini and Melissa Leo) who play surrogate parents to an underage stripper ("Twilight's" Kristen Stewart) and spins it for the "Blind Side" crowd.
  62. Waste Land
    Lucy Walker's Waste Land takes his (Vik Muniz) project one step deeper by actually getting to know Muniz's models, which brings a compelling human-interest dimension to the sort of art documentary otherwise better suited for TV.
  63. Shake Hands with the Devil
    Spottiswoode's lackluster film fails to offer any fresh perspective on these now well-known events.
  64. The Kids Grow Up
    Obsession, compulsion and fear are all part of The Kids Grow Up, which is occasionally a less-than-pleasant reminder of the goofy way we can act even while we think we're being sane.
  65. Jolene
    Though stretched to a two-hour run time, Doctorow's socially critical tale is reduced to queasy spectacle.
  66. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
    Benefits from edge-of-your-seat pacing despite a conspicuous lack of action.
  67. Paranormal Activity 2
    Picture fares like most horror follow-ups, offering more of the same to somewhat diminished effect.
  68. Knucklehead
    Knucklehead has a professional slickness about it, flawless shooting by d.p. Kenneth Zunder, and Johnston's perfectly cloying score. The acting leaves a bit to be desired: Malick is hilarious; Wight is endearing; Rebecca Creskoff ("Hung"), who plays Mary's friend and fellow ex-"dancer," is refreshingly natural.
  69. Inhale
    Icelandic helmer Baltasar Kormakur ("101 Reykjavik," "Jar City") injects notes of hysteria into the script's frenetic pileup of gratuitous cliches, as Dermot Mulroney pushes his square-jawed, desperate hero to near-masochistic extremes.
  70. Conviction
    Although fiercely committed performances by Hilary Swank and Sam Rockwell provide director Tony Goldwyn's film with a core of emotional integrity, a less heavy-handed, more informative approach would have served them and the audience better.
  71. Hereafter
    A beguiling blend of the audacious and the familiar; it dances right on the edge of the ridiculous and at times even crosses over, but is armored against risibility by its deep pockets of emotion, sly humor and matter-of-fact approach to the fantastical.
  72. I Want Your Money
    Equal parts hagiography and hatchet job.
  73. Tamara Drewe
    Adapted from a comicstrip-turned-graphic novel by Posy Simmonds, which was itself based on Thomas Hardy's "Far From the Madding Crowd," picture represents a satirical but soft-biting swipe at contempo middle-class mores among Blighty's chattering countryside classes.
  74. Stone
    Though nearly sabotaged by the ridiculous sexual subplot at its center, this soul-searching drama works best at the character level, couching insights about sin and forgiveness under the guise of conventional genre entertainment.
  75. The Portuguese Nun
    A tedious slog alleviated only by widescreen shots of the Portuguese capital and terrific fado singing.
  76. BearCity
    Helmer/co-writer Doug Langway's first feature has the right basic elements for niche DVD and cable success, but its overly digressive storytelling cries out for considerable tightening.
  77. GhettoPhysics: Will the Real Pimps and Hos Please Stand Up?
    For all its street edge, GhettoPhysics pretty much delivers the usual New Age seminar sleight-of-hand, providing a temporary, generalized sense of empowerment without any practical tools to improve one's lot.
  78. She Dances
    Directed by actor Rick Gomez in his feature filmmaking debut and co-written with actor Steve Zahn, the sweet yet uneven dramedy “She Dances” is a proud family affair both on screen and off.
  79. The Annihilation of Fish
    A minnow of a movie. A drear moment in the careers of all concerned.
  80. The Lost King
    A richer, stronger, and more moving piece of work [than Philomena], a historical detective story that carries the kick of a true-life “Da Vinci Code.”
  81. Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio
    Unfolding over a faintly indulgent but never dull two hours, this is a rare children’s entertainment that isn’t afraid to perplex kids as much as it enchants them, down to a coda that prompts a certain level of junior existential contemplation (not to mention a mournful tear or two).
  82. C.R.A.Z.Y.
    The whole family can feel comfortable watching C.R.A.Z.Y., Jean-Marc Vallee's bouncy coming-of-age tale that coasts along on a terrific soundtrack and a spot-on feel for period detail. Story of a tight-knit Catholic family and their sexually confused son never goes near anything that might make mainstream auds uncomfortable, sticking with an old-fashioned tone balanced by inventive lensing that gives only the illusion of dipping its toe in risky waters.
  83. Air Doll (2009)
    Japanese helmer Hirokazu Kore-eda’s ongoing interest in love, loss and souls in limbo is stretched way too thin in Air Doll, a beautifully lensed (by Taiwanese ace Mark Lee) and charmingly played (by South Korean icon Bae Du-na) modern fairy tale about an inflatable doll who takes on a life of her own. Recut to a trim 90 minutes, this fragile yarn would work perfectly and have a chance of an afterlife as a specialty item. In its present form, pic may not get much farther than the fest netherworld.
  84. The Worst Person in the World
    In essaying Julie, a character at once watery and opaque, shaped by everything around her but vocally resistant to influence, Reinsve has a tricky assignment that she nails with remarkable fluidity and grace.
  85. Silent Night
    Distracted for long stretches with ribbons and bows, “Silent Night” never uncovers its harshest possibilities: It’s sober and well-behaved even when the party falls to pieces.
  86. Azor
    Like the intelligent performances — both Rongione and Cléau are standouts — and the terrific art direction, the film’s design reinforces an exquisite, levelheaded decorum about to be smashed by a chillingly cruel monster.
  87. Profile
    Bekmambetov’s cumulatively hysterical film begins as a study of terror before lurching into something closer to horror.
  88. The August Virgin
    So many movies seek to distract, whereas this one creates a space — like Eva, left behind in a near-empty city — to reflect and reevaluate.
  89. Blow the Man Down
    “Blow the Man Down” has a few contrivances ... Yet Morgan Saylor and Sophie Lowe invest the embattled but loyal Connolly sisters with a desperate resonance, and the movie is clever enough to hold you, even when you wish it had taken the extra step and gone full Patricia Highsmith.
  90. Burden
    Hedlund’s humble, hard-to-love performance makes the aptly named Burden work as both a portrait of one weak-minded man, and as a study of the ideas people carry without questioning why.
  91. Ophelia
    The best part of Ridley’s performance is her plodding, heavy-footed walk that reminds us this well-groomed lady is still a stubborn child underneath her fancy dress. She has a blank, open face that absorbs the court’s machinations and reflects little back until she decides to act insane.
  92. The Reports on Sarah and Saleem
    If at times it feels like the Alayan brothers have bitten off more than they can chew, the core of the plot, and the weighty issues raised, fortunately remain front and center.
  93. Mary Magdalene
    Hushed, deliberate and realised with considerable care and beauty, the resulting film has its heart entirely in the right place; its pulse, unfortunately, is far harder to locate.
  94. Legend of the Demon Cat
    Lead actors Sometani and Huang are both charming enough even if their emotional struggles are superficially depicted.
  95. Transit
    A refugee portrait that piles contrivance upon contrivance to somehow land at a place of piercing emotional acuity.
  96. Holiday
    It’s a cool, hard trip, icy in the fullest glare of the afternoon sun, in which even the pallid, expensively tacky interior of the villa — hats off to production designer Josephine Farsø — invites tension and judgment.
  97. Piercing
    The film is expertly crafted with jewel-toned cinematography, terrifically sleazy saxophone music, and performances by Abbott and Wasikowska that take turns seizing command. Still, like Reed’s solo rehearsals, Piercing has the feel of a blueprint, a talented man exercising his technical skills while waiting for a whack at the real deal.
  98. Daughter of Mine
    Even when it trips up in its later stages, Daughter of Mine is a noble rarity, passionately involved in the exploration of oppositional ideas of motherhood not just as an abstract concept, but as a real and vivid, painfully sacrificial thing.
  99. The Heiresses
    The film exquisitely balances character study with shrewd commentary on the precarious hierarchy of class distinctions, the turbulent persistence of sexual desire and the lingering privileges of Paraguay’s elite.
  100. Touch Me Not
    Pintilie is the opposite of a misanthrope — she’s genuinely invested in opening the mind to the body’s sensations. Keeping it all balanced is where she gets bogged down.
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