Variety's Scores

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For 17,825 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: 9,159 out of 17825
  2. Mixed: 7,029 out of 17825
  3. Negative: 1,637 out of 17825
17825 movie reviews
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  1. Don't Breathe
    A muscular exercise in brutal, relentless peril that should please genre fans.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
    Latest excursion is warmer, wittier, more socially relevant and truer to its TV origins than prior odysseys.
    • Variety
  3. Molly's Game
    Molly’s Game delivers one of the screen’s great female parts — a dense, dynamic, compulsively entertaining affair, whose central role makes stunning use of Chastain’s stratospheric talent.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    You're a Big Boy Now
    Francis Coppola has drawn topflight performances from his talented cast.
  5. Beyond the Gates
    Although in many respects a more stylish, authentic, tougher-minded film than "Hotel Rwanda," director Michael Caton-Jones' respectable and well-intentioned Beyond the Gates (aka Shooting Dogs) still falls into the trap of filtering an inherently African story through the eyes of a noble white protagonist -- in this case, two of them.
  6. Training Day
    Ominously atmospheric study of police corruption dangles danger and sinister motives at every turn.
  7. Whitey: United States of America v. James J. Bulger
    "Whitey” emerges as yet another of Berlinger’s gripping, irony-laced snapshots of the American criminal justice system, in which his eponymous subject comes across as an incontestable monster who may, nevertheless, also be an unwitting patsy.
  8. I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story
    As endless processions of friends and colleagues attest to Spinney’s genius, and the filmmakers wallow in never-before-seen behind-the-scenes imagery, they fail to fully capture the actual art of puppeteering, with woefully few substantial excerpts from the show itself.
  9. Strongman
    A strange and strangely beautiful movie.
  10. Aliens of the Deep
    Documentary's visual wonders and well-pitched enthusiasm happily outstrip its clunkily ingenuous ain't-science-fun narrative.
  11. Makala
    French helmer-lenser Emmanuel Gras’ camera embraces the subject’s every move with such rapt intimacy and cinematic poetry it’s easy to forget this is not a fictional drama.
  12. Mayor of the Sunset Strip
    Spectacular song selection gives the docu an appropriate rock 'n' roll swagger and accompanying soundtrack would be a valuable overview of the bands championed by Rodney on the ROQ.
  13. You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah!
    Director Sammi Cohen and screenwriter Alison Peck bestow this hilarious, heartrending adaptation of Fiona Rosenbloom’s novel with an uplifting, effervescent vision and vitality, giving voice to a young Jewish girl’s struggle to figure out who she is before the most important night of her life so far.
  14. Blinded by the Light
    It’s the sort of unguarded drama they used to make in the ‘80s — a coming-of-age tale of unabashed earnestness — but it’s also a delirious and romantic rock ‘n’ roll parable.
  15. Fixing Frank
    Full of bold dramatic strokes and complex character shadings.
  16. Home
    Though no "Love and Diane," this modest film nevertheless reveals the fragility of hope in survivalist mentalities pre-programmed to expect the worst.
  17. Come As You Are
    There’s a relaxed yet energetic comic rapport between players that suggests a good time was had by all.
  18. Sketches of Frank Gehry
    Lucid and engaging, Sketches of Frank Gehry provides the enormously gratifying opportunity to spend an hour-and-a-half with an artistic giant.
  19. Pasolini
    Ferrara finds himself imitating rather than innovating.
  20. Breath
    Though not without its flaws, the movie has authenticity and resonance; there have been plenty of good surfing documentaries, but very few good dramas about the sport — a short list on which Breath instantly earns a prominent spot.
  21. The Woman Who Loves Giraffes
    Reid meticulously investigates why Dr. Dagg’s groundbreaking work didn’t quite collect the widespread acclaim that it deserved. Underneath it all lies a heartbreaking tale of a driven woman stifled by institutional misogyny — a fascinating story stunt coordinator-turned-filmmaker Reid patiently approaches from various captivating angles.
  22. Yes, God, Yes
    Yes, God, Yes is bound to rankle some conservative Christians of every denomination ... But Dyer’s Alice generates too much rooting interest, and the movie as a whole is too nondenominationally likable, for most other viewers to cast any stones.
  23. In July
    Highly engaging, beautifully played romancer.
  24. Tape
    Emphasis on its combustible emotions, suspense and surprising humor should help draw sophisticated audiences who, once lured, will quickly find themselves hooked for the duration.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Jails, Hospitals & Hip-Hop
    There is no denying Danny Hoch's talent. A monologist in the tradition of Eric Bogosian, Hoch assembles a cast of urban types and explores their dysfunctions and angst with a winning combination of sympathy, ironic point and dead-on mimicry.
  26. An Injury to One
    Wilkerson's indictment is unapologetically agitprop. He sees Butte history as a testimony to "capitalist class" exploitation, corruption and environmental disaster.
  27. Elite Squad: The Enemy Within
    When this "Enemy Within" settles into key action sequences, such as a stunning nighttime ambush or a daytime battle against Fabio, it becomes wildly entertaining.
  28. The Little Sister
    Sensitive and empathetic but a little timid in storytelling and style, The Little Sister rests considerably on its lead performance by first-time actor Nadia Melliti.
  29. Black Book
    Moves like an express train across almost 2½ hours without any sense of rush and with strong, empathetic characters etched en route.
  30. Lucky Grandma
    Although the entire film runs just 87 minutes, as Lucky Grandma unspools, Wong’s predicament starts to feel increasingly outlandish, making it difficult for Sealy to sustain the offbeat humor and strong momentum of the opening stretch.
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