Variety's Scores

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For 17,847 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: 9,172 out of 17847
  2. Mixed: 7,036 out of 17847
  3. Negative: 1,639 out of 17847
17847 movie reviews
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    • 57 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Gift to Stalin
    Script weaknesses overwhelm ethnographic interest, historical tragedy and some solid performances in period drama "The Gift to Stalin."
  2. 0s & 1s
    This spectacular orchestration of visual elements seems wasted on a threadbare, inanely repetitive plotline.
  3. The Music Never Stopped
    The novel premise and otherwise nuanced performances are enough to hold attention.
  4. Lord of the Dance in 3D
    Numbingly repetitive in its routines, and seeming to take a bow from the moment it begins, Lord of the Dance 3D makes crystal-clear the sometimes muddied distinctions between a live performance and the filmed alternative.
  5. Source Code
    Solid execution and some provocative ideas can't save Source Code from a fatal hubris, as it thinks itself far more clever than it actually is and assumes it's earned emotions at which it's only hinted.
  6. Bill Cunningham New York
    Rarely has anyone embodied contradictions as happily and harmoniously as octogenarian New York Times photographer Bill Cunningham.
  7. Elektra Luxx
    Despite the fine thesping seen in this innocuous piece of fluff, the whole amounts to less than the sum of its parts.
  8. Under the Boardwalk: The Monopoly Story
    Under the Boardwalk provides an amiable overview of one very famous board game's history and impact, alongside a moderately engaging portrait of players preparing for the 2009 World Monopoly Championship.
  9. Redland
    The kind of willfully obscure, excessively stylized exercise that's bound to exasperate most viewers while enthralling a few.
  10. Red Riding Hood
    Intermittently enjoyable hokum at best.
  11. Battle: Los Angeles
    Mostly, this is the cinematic equivalent of a first-person shooter game, one where the Marines possess only slightly more personality than the faceless invaders.
  12. The Lincoln Lawyer
    It's easy enough to just soak up star Matthew McConaughey's good-ol'-boy appeal and overlook the film's stilted dialogue, bizarre directorial indulgences, excessive running time and boilerplate "Law and Order"-style narrative.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Mars Needs Moms
    A modestly enjoyable performance-capture creation bearing the unmistakable imprint of producer Robert Zemeckis.
  14. Making the Boys
    Though some of this material is fascinating, it feels like a rambling postscript to the real story, with Robey, with the benefit of hindsight, too eager to make "The Boys in the Band" snugly fit in the grand sweep of gay history, right down to California's Prop. 8.
  15. Monogamy
    A painfully dull plunge into the suffocating self-absorption that seems to be killing modern romance.
  16. The Desert of Forbidden Art
    Absorbing documentary is a natural for artscasters.
  17. Certified Copy
    More compelling as an intellectual exercise than an emotional one, Certified Copy finds deep-thinking writer-director Abbas Kiarostami asserting there's nothing new under the Tuscan sun, particularly not his own conventional romantic drama set in rural Italy.
  18. Black Death
    While managing to deliver enough suspense and bloodletting to appease gore fans, steadily improving helmer Christopher Smith ("Severance") and screenwriter Dario Poloni smuggle in a merciless critique of religious delusion.
  19. 3 Backyards
    Helmer-writer Eric Mendelsohn returns with his first feature in a decade and the proposition that art film still has a place in the world -- which is an exhilarating idea, especially as represented by 3 Backyards, an exquisite example of calculated execution in pursuit of elusive ideas.
  20. Jane Eyre
    The candlelight flickers exquisitely even as the passions are slow to ignite in this spare, shrewdly acted but not especially vital retelling of Jane Eyre.
  21. Kill the Irishman
    Jonathan Hensleigh's film won't displace "Goodfellas" in anyone's hierarchy of wise-guy movies.
  22. Win Win
    A disappointing domestic comedy in which all but the audience get what they want.
  23. Paul
    Part bromance, part sci-fi spoof and all a bit disappointing.
  24. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
    Animism, apparitions, out-of-body experiences, sex with a catfish -- there's all that and more in Apichatpong Weerasethakul's wonderfully nutty Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.
  25. Beastly
    A kiss may cure the monster, but not even campy performances from Mary-Kate Olsen and Neil Patrick Harris can save this ugly snarl of cliches.
  26. Take Me Home Tonight
    A pleasant-enough all-in-one-night comedy, featuring a protagonist facing the classic "Graduate"-like existential dilemma of post-college paralysis.
  27. Ex Drummer
    Signaling a new low in post-modern smug superiority, Ex Drummer tries to pass off contempt as comedy and slanted lensing as creativity.
  28. Old Cats
    Less cohesive and accessible than "The Maid" (which the Chilean duo co-scripted and Silva helmed solo), picture nonetheless contains unforgettable scenes.
  29. Happythankyoumoreplease
    With the exception of Akerman's Annie, the characters are uniformly annoying, their stories insubstantial and the tone one of smug contentment.
  30. I Saw the Devil
    Repugnant content, grislier than the ugliest torture porn, ought to have made the film unwatchable, but it doesn't, simply because Kim's picture is so beautifully filmed, carefully structured and viscerally engaging.
  31. Rango
    Johnny Depp isn't the sort of star to blend in, so it's saying something that his turn as the world's most conspicuous chameleon in Rango is so full-bodied, you forget the actor and focus on the character.
  32. The Grace Card
    Blessed with fine performances, credible dialogue and slick production values that belie a reportedly paltry budget, The Grace Card ranks among the better religious-themed indies released in recent years.
  33. Drive Angry 3D
    Despite amply funded f/x, including some spectacular muscle-car stunts, the movie motors to the grindhouse with squealing tires and guitars, gratuitous nudity and gore, and a scantily clad greasy-spoon waitress endearingly played by Amber Heard.
  34. The Adjustment Bureau
    Its fun first hour soon gives way to a leaden, expository approach that unwisely favors emotional stakes over speculative-fiction smarts.
  35. Hall Pass
    While the stabs at grown-up insight miss their targets, picture still packs more pure comedic punch than the Farrellys' last few offerings.
  36. Skateland
    This wan, mundane coming-of-ager focuses on kids enacting a pale imitation of '50s car-centered, "American Graffiti"-style time-killing, with the impediment of exceptionally dull dialogue.
  37. Heartbeats
    Splashy colors, oddball framing, super-cool threads and cranked-up retro music supply the picture's bizarre love triangle with a dance-club atmosphere that'll seduce young audiences of most any orientation.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Of Gods and Men
    As the film patiently (perhaps too much so for some) heads toward its foregone conclusion, Beauvois gradually raises his style to a level of baroqueness reminiscent of 1995's "Don't Forget You're Going to Die."
  39. Loveless
    Loveless exerts a low-energy, dread-tinged fascination that intrigues rather than wows.
  40. The Chaperone
    Nothing here -- technologically, linguistically or visually -- would not be more at home decades ago, when director Stephen Herek helmed "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" and "The Mighty Ducks."
  41. Immigration Tango
    Though the actors don't flesh out or particularly fit their roles, they seem perfectly at ease with them and with each other.
  42. Now & Later
    Without fully fleshed-out generic or social contexts, left-wing documentarian Philippe Diaz's preachy mix of graphic free love and polemical diatribe fails to mesh as fiction, though it does make for superior porn.
  43. Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son
    Kind of a drag when it resorts to frantic slapstick and tired action-comedy tropes, but modestly engaging during stretches that suggest the project would have worked better as an exuberant musical.
  44. I Am Number Four
    A flashy, lunkheaded sci-fi extravaganza sure to appeal to teenagers who like their interplanetary warfare bloodless, their high-school soaps squeaky-clean and their numbers countable on one hand.
  45. Unknown
    Beyond the occasional plot frissons and juicy supporting turns, it's an emotionally and psychologically threadbare exercise.
  46. Mooz-lum
    Evan Ross impresses with an implosive performance as Tariq Mahdi, a moody young African-American.
  47. Just Go with It
    Manages to misfire in two seemingly incompatible directions. A puerile kiddie-comedy without the anarchic energy, and a schmaltzy romantic comedy without the sweetness.
  48. Gnomeo and Juliet
    A welcome dose of honest silliness at a time when most family-oriented toons settle for smart-alecky.
  49. Dressed
    Tracks the race-to-the-deadline scramble of a personable young designer preparing an underfunded fashion show, but offers few threads that were not already more solidly and stylishly woven into "Unzipped," "Seamless" or "11 Hours."
  50. Certifiably Jonathan
    Winters deserves better.
  51. Justin Bieber: Never Say Never
    As much a legitimate documentary as it is a 3D concert film and teen girl squeal-delivery device, the film possesses surprising moments of candor on the toil of teenage superstardom.
  52. Even the Rain (Tambien la Lluvia)
    Iciar Bollain's fifth feature is her most ambitious and best, driving its big ideas home through a tightly knit Paul Laverty script that only falters over the final reel.
  53. Lovers of Hate
    The movie is witty only on occasion. But it lingers in the mind, thanks largely to its trio of actors -- especially Alex Karpovsky.
  54. Vidal Sassoon: The Movie
    Teper buries his material in gimcrack mod trappings that trivialize rather than celebrate Sassoon's accomplishments.
  55. Orgasm Inc.
    This must-see expose entertains as it horrifies.
  56. Carbon Nation
    Well intended but inert.
  57. Carancho
    Here he's (Trapero) lost his way, tripped up by an unexceptional script and the kind of mood-killing artificial spot lighting more often seen on TV dramas than widescreen thrillers.
  58. Poetry
    Calmer and less shattering than his masterly psychodrama "Secret Sunshine" (2007), Poetry is a deceptively gentle tale with a tender ache at its center, as well as a performance from Yun Jung-hee that lingers long in the memory.
  59. Cedar Rapids
    Though not as uproarious as "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," director Miguel Arteta's consistently entertaining white-collar laffer could do for Helms what that film did for Steve Carell.
  60. The Eagle
    While the movie doesn't wholly succeed, there's enough to like here -- including Channing Tatum's credible performance as a tradition-bound Roman soldier.
  61. The Roommate
    Formulaic and forgettable.
  62. Sanctum
    The key to enjoying Sanctum is to look, not listen.
  63. Waiting for Forever
    All the improbable, oddball and endless love in the world can't rescue Waiting for Forever from a premise that's irresponsible at worst and an example of profoundly bad timing at best.
  64. Cold Weather
    Picture represents considerable progress for Katz, a founding member of the mumblecore movement.
  65. From Prada to Nada
    Based loosely and playfully on Jane Austen's "Sense and Sensibility," From Prada to Nada is a predictable but pleasant comedy.
  66. Seconds Apart
    Macabre if uneven Louisiana-shot horror-meller should divert genre fans in various territories.
  67. The Rite
    While marred by cheap tricks and borderline camp, picture comes off as a largely low-key, intelligent effort.
  68. The Mechanic
    In essence, this one is the equivalent of the "B" movies that flourished during the original's era -- and it proves middling, and occasionally muddled, on almost every level.
  69. Dhobi Ghat (Mumbai Diaries)
    This tale of four Mumbai dwellers at a crossroads in their lives owes more to Taiwanese or French auteur cinema than to Satyajit Ray.
  70. Johnny Mad Dog
    There's no doubt Johnny Mad Dog means to leave the viewer with a visceral impression of its terrors, on that it largely succeeds. Whether that accomplishment deserves praise is more of an open question.
  71. Gabi on the Roof in July
    Initially registers as meandering and disjointed enough to qualify as mumblecore. But remarkably, the film gradually, effectively coheres, building to a climax at once unexpected yet integral to what has transpired before.
  72. The Housemaid
    This high-end softcore thriller is juicily watchable from start to over-the-top finish, but its gleeful skewering of the upper classes comes off as curiously passe, a luxe exercise in one-note nastiness.
  73. No Strings Attached
    As it is, No Strings Attached is content to be sweet rather than edgy, to make you go "awww" instead of "hmmm."
  74. My Dog Tulip
    Charming if not especially kid-friendly toon.
  75. The Way Back
    This arduous travelogue focuses on the macro (stunning, David Lean-like landscapes) and the micro (countless closeups of blistered flesh) to the virtual exclusion of compelling characters.
  76. Ong Bak 3
    Too much contemplation and not enough demonstration sends Thai-socky Ong Bak 3 slumping to the canvas.
  77. Burning Palms
    Making his directorial debut, screenwriter Christopher Landon struggles so mightily to offend that he forgets to supply a rooting interest in his characters.
  78. I'm Dangerous with Love
    As a character study and revelation of a possible answer to addiction, the docu rocks. But Negroponte's low-res video camera, trivializes the film's already crude approximations of psychedelic experiences and its recordings of shamanistic rituals.
  79. The Dilemma
    Not a particularly funny movie. Indeed, the true dilemma of this misguided seriocomedy lies in the filmmakers' confusion as to whether they're making a side-splitting bromance (nope) or an unsparing, warts-and-all look at screwed-up relationships (sort of).
  80. The Green Hornet
    The film is a blast.
  81. Americatown
    Strictly for fans of free-form, DIY hit-or-miss humor (and those who prefer a miss to a hit), pic complacently parades its alienated amateurism in the mistaken belief that half a gag is better than none.
  82. Season of the Witch
    Both overblown and undercooked, Season of the Witch is a fine example of a film that would've been great fun if only its creators had a sense of humor about the wild brew of absurdity they had percolating.
  83. 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.
  84. 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.
  85. 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.
  86. Gulliver's Travels
    The story grows more desperate as it goes on.
  87. Blue Valentine
    On balance, this is a meaty, strongly realized dramatic work of considerable accomplishment.
  88. 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."
  89. 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.
  90. Megamind
    Comes off as a derivative wisecracking machine rather than a feat of sustained imagination.
  91. 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.
  92. Alien Girl
    Offering a smorgasbord of violence with liberal sprinklings of sex, Russian import Alien Girl delivers wearisome brutality but little finesse.
  93. How Do You Know
    This wrong-headed dramedy peddles forced warm-fuzziness and insincere sentiment on the backs of an all-star cast.
  94. 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.
  95. 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.
  96. 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.
  97. 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.
  98. Love and Other Drugs
    A jagged little pill that, in the end, goes down too smoothly.
  99. 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.
  100. Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench
    A surprise, a delight and a whimsical experiment.
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