Variety's Scores

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For 17,839 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: 9,166 out of 17839
  2. Mixed: 7,035 out of 17839
  3. Negative: 1,638 out of 17839
17839 movie reviews
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  1. Distance
    There’s almost none of the generous, involving humanity (and warm humor) of the previous film, nor any clear take on the personalities in the slackly structured script, largely improvised by the actors.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Sharky's Machine
    Directing himself in Sharky’s Machine, Burt Reynolds has combined his own macho personality with what’s popularly called mindless violence to come up with a seemingly guaranteed winner [from the novel by William Diehl].
    • 58 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Green Card
    Although a thin premise endangers its credibility at times, Green Card is a genial, nicely played romance.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Explorers
    Throughout, director Joe Dante and writer Eric Luke load the proceedings with references to sci-fiers of an earlier day, such as War of the Worlds, This Island Earth, Journey to the Center of the Earth and many others, but this is nothing compared to what happens when the trio of youngsters finally take off into outer space and make contact with an alien race.
  5. Butterfly Jam
    Balagov, however, remains the star attraction of “Butterfly Jam,” his fluent, adventurous command of sound and image keeping the film interesting even when not much is happening on screen, and tangibly atmospheric when the narrative pendulum swings too far in the other direction.
  6. J.S.A.: Joint Security Area
    Despite its merits, is neither an art movie nor an out-and-out, propulsive actioner like "Shiri."
  7. The Lighthouse
    Economically deployed effects lend the gathering storm a genuine sense of anxious bluster, but tension and terror are harder to conjure in a narrative this sparse and emotionally one-note.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Thrill of It All
    Ultimately it is in the design and engineering of cumulative sight gag situations that Thrill of It All excels.
  9. The Seagull
    In a sense, each new take on Chekhov sheds insight on the timelessness of the material, and yet, this one does more to reveal missed opportunities for the next team to explore.
  10. City of Ember
    A fabulously designed underground metropolis proves more involving than the teenagers running through its streets in City of Ember, a good-looking but no more than serviceable adaptation of Jeanne Duprau's 2003 novel.
  11. The Night Before
    Rogen’s zonked-to-insanity performance is the lifeblood of The Night Before, giving it the sort of joyous, madcap energy that comes from letting loose with one’s closest comrades, even to the point of potential oblivion.
  12. Hotel Artemis
    It boasts snappy dialogue, memorable characters, and a gorgeously designed central location but doesn’t quite know what to do with any of the above.
  13. Undisputed
    With Undisputed, writer-director Walter Hill is back in contention as one of Hollywood's last defenders of the muscular, no-nonsense genre movie.
  14. Kiss of the Dragon
    Slick, straight-ahead action-thriller that marks a small step back and two bounding leaps forward for toplined Jet Li.
  15. The Myth of Fingerprints
    Proficiently written and directed by newcomer Bart Freundlich, handsome pic brandishes traditional qualities in the areas of acting, character revelation and middlebrow seriousness, but operates within a familiar and narrow emotional range that provides little surprise or excitement.
  16. American Pie
    Cheesy homage to a level of horniness Austin Powers could only imagine will be a dream movie for many a teenage boy.
  17. Ocean's Twelve
    This smooth inside job benefits from heightened bonhomie among the players, fab Euro locations and a diminished obligation to stick to the heist genre boilerplate.
  18. Burning Man: The Burning Sensation
    A knockout documentary with a renegade personality ideally suited to its anarchic subject matter.
  19. Forget Baghdad: Jews and Arabs - The Iraqi Connection
    Timely and thought-provoking, if a bit rambling.
  20. Blue Bayou
    Blue Bayou holds little back as it rails against the cruelties and hypocrisies of American immigration law to stirring effect — though this emotional pile-driver of a film could stand to trust more in the undeniable power of its core story.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi
    Hamill is not enough of a dramatic actor to carry the plot load here, especially when his partner in so many scenes is really little more than an oversized gas pump, even if splendidly voiced by James Earl Jones.
  22. Freakonomics
    This frisky adaptation of the Steven Levitt-Stephen Dubner bestseller on human behavior by the numbers adds up to a revelatory trip into complex, innovative ideas and altered perspectives on how people think.
  23. Away We Go
    Emerges as an oddly sour, unappealing road-trip scenario.
  24. Heartless
    There's more mood than matter here, but suspenseful atmospherics effectively distract from minor plot holes.
  25. Fading Gigolo
    John Turturro brings sensitivity and intelligence to a subject that could have gone terribly awry in Fading Gigolo.
  26. Escape from Tomorrow
    Escape From Tomorrow is a sneakily subversive exercise in low-budget surrealism and anti-corporate satire.
  27. Still the Water
    Kawase embraces nature worship and pompous philosophizing in her indulgently mannerist style, which, over the course of two hours, overwhelms a small yet potentially moving story of two teenagers dealing with separation within their families.
  28. Glory Road
    Slick enterprise buoyed by a Motown-flavored '60s soundtrack and an appealing ensemble cast.
  29. Charlotte
    What might have seemed a familiar if sad drama in live-action form benefits from this relative novelty of presentation, which lends a certain universality, as well as heightened viewer access, to Salomon’s story. But the rather pedestrian animation here also makes Charlotte a bit of a disappointment.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Flash Gordon
    The expensive new version of Flash Gordon is a lot more gaudy, and just as dumb, as the original series starring Buster Crabbe. Sam J. Jones in the title role has even less thespic range than Crabbe, but the badness of his performance is part of the fun of the film. Jones, a former Playgirl nude centerfold whose only previous film role was the husband of Bo Derek in 10, lumbers vacantly through the part of Flash Gordon with the naivete, fearlessness, and dopey line readings familiar from the 1930s serials. Film benefits greatly from the adroit performance of Max von Sydow as Emperor Ming.
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