Variety's Scores

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For 17,833 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: 9,165 out of 17833
  2. Mixed: 7,031 out of 17833
  3. Negative: 1,637 out of 17833
17833 movie reviews
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  1. The Beach House
    In any case, it’s skillful enough to satisfy most viewers, if not quite sufficiently original in concept or striking in execution to leave a lasting imprint.
  2. All Together Now
    All Together Now has enough of Haley’s signature humanism to elevate it above the average teen melodrama, but only just.
  3. Pineapple Express
    This rambunctious paean to pot retains the trademark Apatow sweetness even as it careens from messy vulgarisms to even messier violence.
  4. Skin: A History of Nudity in the Movies
    Nudity, as “Skin” captures in its lively and disarming way, is the great leveler: the thing that makes us all gawk, no matter what the context.
  5. St. Vincent
    With St. Vincent, the chief pleasure is comedy, which typically arises from waiting to discover what Bill Murray might do next.
  6. Body Brokers
    A self-described former junkie who experienced the dirty side of going clean firsthand, writer-director John Swab delivers an entertaining and eye-opening insider’s take on the treatment racket.
  7. Silent Water
    Worthy intentions are drowned by schematic scripting and only OK direction in Silent Waters, an achingly PC drama on how Islamic fundamentalism wrecks families and oppresses women.
  8. West of Sunshine
    Arriving at a moment when parenting and child development are being closely analyzed and discussed, West of Sunshine is a timely and intelligent essay on the eternal theme of how fathers can both inspire and alienate their sons.
  9. Queen of the Ring
    Queen of the Ring is more of a montage of the highlights of Burke’s illustrious life, rather than an entertaining film.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Hand That Rocks the Cradle
    Helmer has obtained taut, impressive performances, notably from cast women.
  11. The Man Who Sold His Skin
    An audacious but not always palatable mix of drama, tragedy, romance, satire and dark humor.
  12. Cradle Will Rock
    Succeeds far more often than not in delivering a credible, kaleidoscopic portrait of creative, and often famous, individuals.
  13. Appaloosa
    Harris' first directorial outing since his impressive and entirely different "Pollock" biopic bears echoes of many genre predecessors, especially Howard Hawks' "Rio Bravo" -- but echoes they remain.
  14. The Villainess
    Channeling “La femme Nikita,” “Kill Bill,” Nikkatsu’s ’70s female exploitation films and a gazillion Hong Kong martial arts heroines, The Villainess nonetheless succeeds in being one-of-a-kind for its delirious action choreography and overall narrative dementia.
  15. Low Tide
    In addition to establishing a tangible sense of place, McMullin impresses by putting together such a strong ensemble and eliciting from them the performances he does. He’s a very visual director, jump-starting scenes with an unexpected extreme-closeup of some kind before allowing audiences to get their bearings — a strategy that subconsciously reinforces the notion that we can never get too comfortable in this otherwise familiar genre.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Fried Green Tomatoes
    Celebrating the crucial, sustaining friendships between two sets of modern-day and 1930s Southern femmes, pic [based on Fanny Flagg’s novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe] emerges as absorbing and life-affirming quality fare, but for a story celebrating fearlessness, it’s remarkably cautious.
  17. Arctic Tale
    Queen Latifah proves an amiably authoritative narrator, and is allowed more personality than most script readers.
  18. Everest
    Kormakur doesn’t make the mistake of exalting his subjects as extraordinary individuals, or suggesting that they were obeying some sort of noble higher calling. Everest is blunt, businesslike and — as it begins its long march through the death zone — something of an achievement.
  19. Downton Abbey
    As a series, Downton Abbey sprawled, giving viewers the drama and chaos they wanted before a season-ending resolution of conflicts. Here, there’s only time for the resolutions, even before the drama happens.
  20. Blood Diamond
    Africa's enduring sorrow is ripe for drama, but Blood Diamond is, finally, a fitting metaphor for the gems: Potentially brilliant from a distance, but upon closer inspection, one likely will see the flaws.
  21. Wedding Crashers
    Despite flashes of nudity, crudity and mockery of women's raging hormones at the first sight of a trousseau, at its core it's just a big pushover with the heart of a chick flick.
  22. Changing Times
    A Cathererine Deneuve-Gerard Depardieu vehicle that leaves ample room for interesting supporting characters, this moody, more-bitter-than-sweet ode to anxiety is intense adult fare reinforced by effective no frills lensing.
  23. Freedom Writers
    It takes the bold approach of being earnest, honest and unafraid to be called naive. As a result, it's extremely affecting.
  24. X-Men
    Plays like a so-so middle chapter of an epic series rather than a fitting kickoff.
  25. Bright Young Things
    An easy-to-digest slice of literate entertainment for upscale and older audiences that lacks a significant emotional undertow to make it a truly involving -- rather than simply voyeuristic -- experience.
  26. Stage Beauty
    This skillfully acted, handsomely crafted frock piece toys cleverly with gender confusion and sexual identity.
  27. Stealing the Fire
    Sometimes wavers, but its stylistic unevenness is trumped by its topicality.
  28. How I Killed a Saint
    Though weak in the drama department, the story of a brother and sister who love each other but have different political ideas and personal agendas effectively captures the tension of the time.
  29. The Other Guys
    The laughs ultimately take a backseat to a convoluted white-collar crime story.
  30. Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon
    It’s an affectionate, sometimes downright slobbery career salute with a soft, unexamined center — a moving experience for all involved, no doubt, but one of limited interest outside the celebrity bubble it depicts.
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