Variety's Scores

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For 17,791 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: 9,139 out of 17791
  2. Mixed: 7,015 out of 17791
  3. Negative: 1,637 out of 17791
17791 movie reviews
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  1. Warm Water Under a Red Bridge
    A film with a terrifically engaging concept that overstays its welcome by quite a stretch.
  2. Washington Heights
    Believable characters trump the retread plot and hokey message.
  3. City of Ghosts
    Despite a name cast, with Dillon playing an insurance crook, pic is holed by a plot-heavy script that's unsatisfying at a character level and plays like a cut-down version of a much longer, more ambitious saga.
  4. Dust
    It's too arty to cut it as a violent action pic and too gore-spattered to appeal to the arthouse crowd.
  5. Est - Ouest
    Too often caught between trying to be a sweeping period drama and intimate love story at the same time, with a script that's never fully satisfying on either count.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Stuart Little
    Given what a tricky proposition it is to adapt a classic children's book for the screen, this take on E.B. White's Stuart Little does a more-than-passable job of resurrecting the story for a new generation.
  7. Blindness
    The ability not to see the obvious in both a literal and a metaphoric sense imbues the indie feature Blindness with dramatic potency.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Uprising
    It is a Holocaust story from a different angle, not the traditional depiction of a concentration camp or a rescue effort.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Grisbi (re-release)
    Jeanne Moreau turns in a neat bit as a moll and Dary as the inarticulate aging Romeo friend is memorable.
  10. The Contender
    The large, talented cast elevates the film above the trappings of its loquacious debates, particularly Allen.
  11. Affliction
    The pervasive chill, ugly feelings and downward spiral of the narrative make this a work that requires an equally sober, serious-minded attitude on the part of the viewer.
  12. The Ballad of Bering Strait
    Pleasant if slightly pokey documentary.
  13. AKA
    Always watchable yet ultimately self-defeating in terms of its tonal/aesthetic choices.
  14. Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life
    Jolie is even hotter, faster and more commanding than last time around as the fearless heiress/adventuress, plus a little more human. The less welcome news is that most of the same shortcomings that cramped the first installment are still dogging the sequel, which delivers on action but dawdles through downtime.
  15. Martin Lawrence Live: Runteldat
    By turns defiant and apologetic, gleefully raunchy and anxiously defensive.
  16. The World Is Not Enough
    007 is undone by villainous scripting and misguided casting and acting in a couple of key secondary roles.
  17. Vertical Limit
    Remains exciting as long as it stays on the mountains.
  18. Eight Legged Freaks
    This update of 1950s drive-in sci-fiers finds the right balance between icky, funny and scary, with sheer energy compensating for a script that could have used more parodic panache.
  19. And Now... Ladies and Gentlemen...
    A good-looking but slim confection that's short on the multi-characterisation and sense of entwined destinies that mark the great Lelouch sagas.
  20. Hart's War
    Absorbing in a low-key way but more dramatic where its secondary characters are concerned than its leads, and capped by climactic incidents that are less than entirely convincing.
  21. Domestic Disturbance
    Although decked out with a legitimate star and handsome production carpentry, pic takes no greater interest in creating three-dimensional characters or fleshing out a credible storyline than does the run-of-the-mill straight-to-video thriller.
  22. Legally Blonde
    The mildly engaging silliness of its premise is never transformed into something more substantial, and the attempt at a fine-tuned "Clueless"-like tone is only sputteringly achieved.
  23. Only the Strong Survive
    Less an historical flashback than a present-tense valentine.
  24. Alex & Emma
    A desperately slight romantic comedy marked by contrived romance and little comedy.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Hoosiers
    An involving tale about the unlikely success of a smalltown Indiana high school basketball team that paradoxically proves both rousing and too conventional.
  26. Sordid Lives
    When Sordid Lives does what it does best -- showing Southern gals in the full flight of rabid self-denial -- it's as screamingly funny as this subgenre can get.
  27. Haiku Tunnel
    While it plays more like stage or TV sketch-comedy shtick than film material, this modest, visually unimposing production remains entertaining thanks to its ironic observations and winning sense of folly.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    One from the Heart (re-release)
    A hybrid musical romantic fantasy, lavishing giddy heights of visual imagination and technical brilliance onto a wafer-thin story of true love turned sour, then sweet. (review of original release)
  29. Sylvia
    Still, there is an estimable integrity to the respect and fidelity with which the film regards its subjects, as well as an honesty in its attempt to illuminate the essences of these difficult people.
  30. Apt Pupil
    A creepy, well-acted story of contagious evil, Apt Pupil has more than enough chilling dramatic scenes to rivet the attention but suffers from some hokey contrivances and underlying insufficiencies of motivation.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Tenant
    A tale of a paranoid breakdown of a little bureaucratic clerk that wastes no time in trying to be clinical. It has a humorous tang, underlying the macabre. (Review of original release)
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    When Harry Met Sally...
    Rob Reiner directs with deftness and sincerity, making the material seem more engaging than it is, at least until the plot machanics begin to unwind and the film starts to seem shapeless.
  33. Deliver Us from Eva
    Well-cast relationship comedy-drama is played too broadly in the early going, but gradually settles into a more appealing groove as a glossy date-movie.
  34. Thirteen Days
    Reasonably intelligent, well-crafted and dramatically understated.
  35. The Gingerbread Man
    There is a trumped-up quality to the action climaxes that is disappointingly perfunctory, and the story's final revelation is simultaneously far-fetched and unsurprising.
  36. Blue in the Face
    A piecemeal collection of barely connected scenes and characters, stitched together with videotaped comments from a cross-section of Brooklyn residents.
  37. Crazy in Alabama
    The opposition of the two dramas winds up in gratifyingly moral and philosophical territory.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Men of Honor
    Those in search of positive role models and films detailing little-known aspects of black and military history, or stressing the value of tenacity and hard work, pic has something to offer.
  39. Albino Alligator
    Spacey makes an honorable and intelligent helming debut with less-than-dazzling material.
  40. The Singing Detective
    Potter's genius for wrapping black humor, poignancy and fantasy in utterly original story concepts lends this "Detective" an immediate fascination that doesn't begin wearing off for some time.
  41. Possession
    LaBute has had middling success at best, having come up with a passably engaging time-jumping romantic melodrama that at least grapples seriously with one of the novel's most potent themes.
  42. About a Boy
    Pleasant and engaging, rather than laugh-out-loud funny or emotionally involving.
  43. Joe Somebody
    Pretty formulaic stuff: bland self-empowerment tinged with warm fuzzies in all the right places. But what makes this "Somebody" something is Pasquin's deft touch and understanding with the material.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Under solen
    A celebration of traditional, detailed filmmaking.
  45. Okraina
    Lutsik takes aim at reckless capitalism --- as well as the increasing Westernization of Russian filmmaking --- with a disquieting allegory that in both themes and aesthetic is an audacious throwback to pre-WWII Soviet cinema formalism.
  46. Decasia
    Lacking any obvious thematic or emotional arc, compilation pic succeeds as a pure exercise in visual stimulus, its narcotic effect much amplified by Michael Gordon's thunderous, dissonant orchestral score.
  47. Green Dragon
    An ultimately moving drama about a displaced people. But its emotional kick is muffled by long-windedness, sentimental overkill and an overpopulated character gallery.
    • 34 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Kill Me Later
    An edgy, energetic romantic thriller in the tradition of "Run Lola Run," "A Life Less Ordinary" and "Out of Sight."
  49. Calendar Girls
    Though the film is never dull, and playing by the cast is spirited, it's actually a surprisingly gentle movie, with no big "Full Monty"-like finale to send auds buzzing into the street.
  50. Hamlet
    This slacker prince (Hawke) comprises a sinkhole at the center of adaptor-helmer Michael Almereyda's otherwise compelling contempo update.
  51. The Core
    More palatable than most pictures of its ilk due to its keen awareness of its own preposterousness, a self-knowledge exuberantly expressed by a mostly live-wire cast.
  52. Beefcake
    As a mix of nonfiction and wafer-thin drama, however, it's a genial mess in which both elements emerge undercooked
  53. Eban and Charley
    Sometimes spare to a fault (especially scriptwise), low-key effort nonetheless holds attention with its naturalistic, nonsensationalized approach.
  54. Bringing Down the House
    There are certainly good laughs to be had. But the contrived script and bland direction prevent the film from ever developing a comic life of its own, leaving what fun there is seeming like the foundation to a rumpus room that's never finished.
  55. El leyton
    Despite its crude, willfully naive style, this comedy of transgression, judgment and revenge becomes steadily more appealing as it progresses.
  56. The Santa Clause 2
    Festooned with cute, mugging kids; lots of jazzy redos of beloved Christmas tunes on the soundtrack; and enough tug-at-your-heartstrings moments to make an entire theater feel warm on a blustery winter afternoon.
  57. Bad Boys
    Crucially, the teaming of standup favorite and "Martin" star Lawrence and "Fresh Prince" Smith clicks from the outset, with both right at home handling action and comedy on the bigscreen. Even when it's not particularly funny, their interplay is engaging, and their lively, raucous personalities keep the proceedings punchy and watchable for the slightly overlong running time.
  58. The Weather Underground
    Assembled in a straightforward, television-style presentation that gets the better of it.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Living Out Loud
    This feminist comedy shot through with fantasies about the travails of newly single womanhood strikes some rich chords, but doesn't quite put together a complete tune.
  60. Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer
    It's the interviews with Aileen herself that steal the show as she insists her mind is being controlled by radio waves -- her Mad Hatter personality beyond the scope of Broomfield's disingenuous tone to interpret.
  61. The Princess Blade
    A martial arts fantasy in modern dress, but set in an unidentified country and era, The Princess Blade is a tough toasted sandwich with a soft filling.
  62. Sliding Doors
    A frothy, lightweight romantic comedy that strives to seem richer and more complex than it really is.
    • 29 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Civil Brand
    Film explores the abuses rampant in woman's prisons and the powerlessness of the inmates, while telling the uplifting story of one inmate, Frances (LisaRae).
  64. Trembling Before G-d
    While seemingly insoluble divide between personal identity and collective belief lends the documentary an intense focus, it's also a narrow one.
  65. Men in Black II
    Elaborate, sporadically amusing but awfully lightweight followup, which has close to the same tone as its predecessor but makes one realize that freshness had a lot to do with its impact.
  66. The Professional
    Widescreen lensing favors tight close-ups, and multiple shoot-'em-ups are edited with panache.
  67. Godzilla
    Despite all the flash and filigree, this monster movie is curiously -- and conspicuously -- lacking in heart.
  68. On the Line
    Perfectly harmless, often humorous, featherweight confection -- think "Serendipity" re-imagined as a teen-skewing Saturday morning sitcom.
  69. Mars Attacks!
    The picture is lacking in the uproarious humor that might well have ensued from the material, which instead inspires occasional laughs but, much more often, bemused fascination and wonderment at the bizarre imaginations and impressive skill of the filmmakers.
  70. The Last Castle
    A disappointingly pedestrian prison meller that falls between stools artistically and politically.
  71. Men in Black
    A witty and sometimes surreal sci-fi comedy, Men in Black is a wild knuckleball of a movie that keeps dancing in and out of the strike zone.
  72. A Midsummer Night's Dream
    Whimsical, intermittently enjoyable but decidedly unmagical.
  73. End of Days
    It's good to see Schwarzenegger doing his thing again after what, for him, was a long sabbatical.
  74. Muriel's Wedding
    Most of the action is played for broad laughs, and Hogan demonstrates the ability to generate them, even if the humor is very base and often cruel, making fun of people's looks and ineptitude.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Groundhog Day
    The film is inconsistent in tone and pace; fortunately the pay-off works, bringing some much needed warmth to the area.
  76. What Women Want
    Sheer energy and audience allure to burn, even if numerous speed bumps cause many of the comic possibilities to go tumbling overboard.
  77. The Siege
    A potentially provocative idea is played out to diminishing returns.
  78. Slums of Beverly Hills
    A notch or two above the level of a TV sitcom, Slums of Beverly Hills, Tamara Jenkins' semi-autobiographical feature directorial debut, is a bawdy, extremely broad comedy.
  79. Star Trek: Nemesis
    Despite the intriguing set-up, there's something unambitious and scaled-back about Star Trek Nemesis, so that most of the time it feels like a slightly suped-up episode of the "Next Generation" TV series.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Johnny Guitar (re-release)
    Love, hate and violence, with little sympathy for the characters, is stirred up during the overlong film.
  81. The Wood
    This rambling and episodic autobiographical saga of three friends coming of age in Inglewood, Calif. (aka The Wood) in the '80s is so determined to be likable that it forgets to be interesting.
  82. Cherish
    Good performances and quirky humor make this slick if less than fully satisfying mix of romantic comedy and mystery an easy sit.
  83. The Newton Boys
    An extremely handsome production that meticulously evokes the 1920s, and a likable male-dominated cast, headed by Matthew McConaughey in his best screen performance to date, only partially compensate for a story that's too diffuse and lacks a discernible point of view that would make it dramatically engaging.
  84. Torque
    A spectacularly trashy and aggressively flashy motorcycle melodrama in which computer-enhanced action scenes, unbound by gravity or logic, are choreographed, photographed and edited to resemble video-game stratagems.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Grifters
    A curiously uneven movie.
  86. The Rules of Attraction
    Gets an ambitious, sometimes inspired but ultimately less than satisfying screen treatment from Roger Avary.
  87. Out of Time
    A tasty if wildly far-fetched thriller, Out of Time proves far stronger in its characterizations than in developing genuine suspense.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Psycho
    A faithful-unto-slavish remake of the 1960 Hitchcock classic, pic contains nothing to outrage or offend partisans of the original, yet neither does it stand to add much to their appreciation.
  89. The Mudge Boy
    Sensitive direction and a touching performance from Emile Hirsch in the title role help counter some dramatic naivete and awkward, at times unintentional, humor in The Mudge Boy.
  90. Hearts in Atlantis
    The few who saw the embalmed adaptation of "Snow Falling on Cedars" will recognize the same stifling approach brought to this more accessible material by director Scott Hicks.
  91. What Dreams May Come
    A heaping serving of metaphysical gobbledygook wrapped in a physically striking package.
  92. Girlhood
    Grim but engrossing.
  93. 30 Years to Life
    Middleton's polished writing and amusing observations about the anxieties most people encounter when definitively farewelling their youth help compensate for her standard-issue direction.
  94. The Bread, My Sweet
    Lightweight but likable.
  95. xXx
    A brawny commercial attraction strategically tapping into the auds for extreme sports, spy pix, thrill rides, popcorn actioners and anyone looking to see Diesel kick butt, blow stuff up and/or take his shirt off.
  96. Austin Powers in Goldmember
    A picture that, even more than the previous two, feels like a bunch of gags tossed together. The laughs are here, to be sure, although even some of the best of them are retreads and the Swinging '60s recycling act is now feeling a bit past its zeitgeist prime.
  97. Orange County
    A fine group of comic performers manages to keep the screen worth looking at despite the obsessively one-note nature of this curious matchup between MTV Films and producer Scott Rudin.
  98. The Legend of 1900
    The material is at heart an intimate allegorical fairy tale about rarefied philosophical concerns.
  99. Mambo italiano
    The broad comedy is somewhat strained and obvious, and the hyper-real atmosphere encourages the cast to slice the prosciutto a little thickly. But the film's sweet-natured ingenuousness proves reasonably contagious.
  100. Spartan
    A work that continually seems on the verge of genuine excitement but sabotages itself at every turn...results will intrigue only those interested in the nooks and crannies of Mamet's career.
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