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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    • 69 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Here Comes Mr. Jordan
    Montgomery’s portrayal is a highlight in a group of excellent performances. Keyes displays plenty of charm. James Gleason scores as the fast-gabbing fight manager, who is bewildered by the proceedings. Direction by Alexander Hall sustains a fast pace throughout.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Time After Time
    A delightful, entertaining trifle of a film that shows both the possibilities and limitations of taking liberties with literature and history. Nicholas Meyer has deftly juxtaposed Victorian England and contemporary America in a clever story, irresistible due to the competence of its cast.
  3. Lion
    Fortunately for Davis, he’s got a terrific cast, chief among them the pair of charismatic actors who split the lead role.
  4. The September Issue
    A dishy and engrossing peek inside the fashion world’s corridors of power -- every bit as slickly packaged as the publication it seeks to uncover.
  5. Fresh Dressed
    The breezily likable pic benefits from an underexposed topic and solid execution.
  6. Beeswax
    Beeswax, the third feature from American indie auteur Andrew Bujalski ("Funny Ha Ha," "Mutual Appreciation"), offers yet another low-key take on twentysomethings finding their way.
  7. Amour Fou
    The Austrian writer-director gradually locates the emotional pulse in a picture that plays less like a doomed romance than a seriocomic anatomy of one, subjecting its characters and their bubble of high privilege to sharply critical yet quietly affecting scrutiny.
  8. Cinderella Man
    An exquisite ode to a working-class hero, Cinderella Man takes the almost impossibly perfect elements of the saga of underdog boxer James J. Braddock and fills it with emotional gravitas, wrenching danger and a panoramic sense of American life during the Great Depression.
  9. I Went Down
    Though McDonald and Gleeson pair off well as the unlikely fellow travelers, and have some funny moments of physical shtick, the picture mostly springs to life when either Caffrey, as Grogan, or the excellent Doyle, as French, are onscreen.
  10. The Accidental Getaway Driver
    Unfortunately, the script — co-written by Lee and Christopher Chen — leaves a lot to be desired, squandering the old-school appeal of the true-crime drama for a dull and overlong mood piece in which nothing much happens and no real sense of danger ever registers.
  11. The Miseducation of Cameron Post
    The best part of “Miseducation” is the diverse group of adolescents sharing Cameron’s experience.
  12. Rocketman
    While Lee’s script steers Elton’s life from the “Billy Elliot”-like tropes of his daddy issues to the equally trite “Walk the Line”-esque cautionary tale of what happens when fame causes talented musicians to forget who they once were, Fletcher at least has Elton’s music to fall back on.
  13. The Cooler
    Wayne Kramer's sexy and often humorous feature directorial debut surrounds its sweet center with the energy, flash and risk of the gambling capital. Sterling performances by William H. Macy and Maria Bello as the long-shot lovers and Alec Baldwin as a temperamental casino operator.
  14. Buffalo '66
    Alive to cinematic ideas, generous to its actors and peppered with unexpected humor, this ultimately sweet-natured low-budgeter is nonetheless riddled with enough off-putting and digressive material.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Eating Raoul
    The appeal of Paul Bartel’s tongue-in-cheek approach is that he manages to take his story to such a ridiculous extreme, remain genuinely funny and successfully tell his perverse story.
  16. Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt
    A dignified and wistful look at the unusual life, difficult career and lasting influence of singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt.
  17. Frontrunners
    Ultimately, picture's fascination lies with the personalities and strategies of the candidates themselves.
  18. Head Games
    Parents could be making their kids wear helmets to the library by the conclusion of helmer Steve James' science-and-sports docu Head Games, which scores solid hits on everyone from the NFL down to peewee hockey as it links contact sports, concussions and those calling for widespread reformation of the nation's athletic philosophies and priorities.
  19. Hannah Arendt
    Von Trotta’s Arendt biopic feels like a movie stuck in another era, stolid and rote, more of an outline for a dramatic treatment than the real thing.
  20. The Little Bedroom
    Though the script... is underdeveloped and pic is assembled in workmanlike fashion, it does feature some nicely modulated performances.
  21. Fatima
    This poignant slice-of-life proves as modest in length (78 minutes) as it is generous in rueful insight and emotional complexity.
  22. The Little Hours
    A medieval convent comedy for the megaplex crowd.
  23. Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary
    “Chasing Trane” is a seductive piece of middle-of-the-road documentary filmmaking; it gives you the basics, but beautifully.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Escape from the Planet of the Apes
    Escape from the Planet of the Apes is an excellent film, almost as good as the original Planet of the Apes. Arthur Jacobs’ production is marked by an outstanding script, using some of the original Pierre Boulle novel characters; excellent direction by Don Taylor; and superior performances from a cast headed by encoring Roddy McDowall and Kim Hunter.
  25. Diamond Island
    this compassionate film is as much about its very specific Cambodian setting as it is the characters, with the film’s standout star its neon-pastel location work.
  26. Kubrick by Kubrick
    Kubrick by Kubrick is most interesting for the ways that it undercuts the Kubrick mythology.
  27. Monsoon
    Monsoon is a graceful and truthfully irresolute investigation into the strange, often poignantly unreciprocated relationship that many first- and second-generation emigrants have with the far-off foreign country of the past.
  28. Transhood
    While wholly sympathetic to the cause, Transhood isn’t just a work of blandly cheery activism: Liese frankly observes the practical obstacles and psychological swings endured by its four young subjects and their families, sometimes to upsetting effect.
  29. Roh
    Emir Ezwan’s directorial debut is a spare, eerie tale rooted in folk superstitions that are rendered credibly vivid by its thick yet subtle atmospherics.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming
    An outstanding cold-war comedy depicting the havoc created on a mythical Massachusetts island by the crew of a grounded Russian sub.
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