Variety's Scores

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For 17,805 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: 9,148 out of 17805
  2. Mixed: 7,020 out of 17805
  3. Negative: 1,637 out of 17805
17805 movie reviews
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  1. Beverly Hills Chihuahua
    A filthy-rich fantasy for these cash-strapped times, Beverly Hills Chihuahua features the voices of Drew Barrymore and much of the industry's top Latino talent in a live-action talking-dog lark that should please young pups.
  2. Blindness
    Meirelles' slickly crafted drama rarely achieves the visceral force, tragic scope and human resonance of Saramago's prose.
  3. Flash of Genius
    Moderately inspiring in the way such true-life stories of "the indomitable human spirit" are always constructed to be.
  4. An American Carol
    Conservatives score a few political points but aren't very funny in An American Carol, a cheesy spitball directed at the very large target of a Michael Moore-like filmmaker.
  5. How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
    Cleverly titled but noxious British comedy.
  6. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
    This is the kind of sparsely plotted comedy that depends on compelling characters, but it stars two young actors defined by ironic detachment.
  7. Allah Made Me Funny: Live in Concert
    This amusing rather than laugh-out-loud funny project is best suited to smallscreen exposure.
  8. Just Buried
    Bloody and irredeemably misanthropic, Canadian funeral farce Just Buried nonetheless has enough charm to make for a sporadically enjoyable if wildly uneven entry in the growing body of cheeky corpse comedies initiated by Hitchcock's "The Trouble With Harry."
  9. Ballast
    A rock-ribbed sense of committed, personal cinema and a core belief in people being able to pull themselves out of misery supports Ballast, an extraordinary debut by editor-writer-director Lance Hammer.
  10. The Lucky Ones
    It's hard to find the genuine heartfelt moments in The Lucky Ones.
  11. Fireproof
    Cameron is genuinely compelling as Caleb.
  12. Forever Strong
    The performances are credible across the board, excessive sentimentality is largely avoided, and the sequences devoted to rough-and-tumble rugby match-ups are expertly shot and edited.
  13. Smother
    Diane Keaton can still sink her actorly teeth into a wacked-out character, and Vince Di Meglio's screwball comedy provides her with one of her best purely comedic roles since "Annie Hall."
  14. Eagle Eye
    The picture's first 35 minutes sizzle until a Byzantine plot nudges the story toward near-parody in the final act.
  15. Miracle at St. Anna
    This is a sloppy stew in which the ingredients of battle action, murder mystery, little-kid sentiment and history lesson don't mix well.
  16. Choke
    Palahniuk's antic absurdism is duly present, but the hurtling pace and barely-underlying nihilism that transferred to screen so vividly in "Fight Club" aren't much in evidence here.
  17. Nights in Rodanthe
    Hardly groundbreaking, but for those with an appetite for an increasingly rare gust of unapologetic romance, well, as they say, any port in a storm.
  18. The Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela
    Likeable if rambling first feature by Icelandic helmer Olaf de Fleur Johannesson ("Africa United") evinces the helmer's background in documaking, and reps a kind of quasi-doc itself with real-life trannies riffing on their own personas.
  19. Humboldt County
    Its low-key charms are considerable enough to engage venturesome ticketbuyers.
  20. Obscene
    The case for publisher Barney Rosset's place as a hero in post-war America's battle for freedom of expression is persuasively argued in Obscene.
  21. Shoot on Sight
    A disappointingly stilted melodrama masquerading as a political thriller.
  22. Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story
    Deeply influential, even to his enemies, Atwater's career is viewed here with fascination and some sympathy.
  23. Elite Squad
    A one-note celebration of violence-for-good that plays like a recruitment film for fascist thugs.
  24. A Thousand Years of Good Prayers
    A quiet work with Ozu-like structure and concerns, but remains more an intellectual exercise than one from the heart.
  25. 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.
  26. Battle in Seattle
    Picture's ambition, cogency and decent performances make up for its uneven aspects. Woody Harrelson has some especially good moments as a cop.
  27. The Duchess
    A serviceable picture that offers all the sumptuous visual pleasures of a historical costume drama, yet little in the way of actual history.
  28. Hounddog
    An indigestible gumbo of Southern Gothic ingredients seasoned with snake oil, biblical hash and thoroughly unpalatable spice.
  29. Lakeview Terrace
    Delivers fairly tense and engrossing drama before succumbing to thriller convention.
  30. Ghost Town
    Smartly supernatural, and featuring sensational performances by Ricky Gervais and Tea Leoni, Ghost Town is a "Topper" for our times.
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