Variety's Scores

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For 17,810 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: 9,150 out of 17810
  2. Mixed: 7,023 out of 17810
  3. Negative: 1,637 out of 17810
17810 movie reviews
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  1. American Gangster
    Absorbing, exciting at times and undeniably entertaining, and is poised to be a major commercial hit. But great it's not.
  2. Bee Movie
    Amiable but no more, Bee Movie puts a hiveful of potent talent at the service of a zig-zigging, back-of-an-envelope story that's short on surprise and originality.
  3. Martian Child
    Knockout performances by John Cusack and child actor Bobby Coleman help legitimize a whimsical but sententiously moralizing script.
  4. Sharkwater
    As an eco-political inquiry, the film is compelling even if its grounding in scientific fact could be more solid.
  5. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
    The wrenching tale has something for anyone who likes their melodrama spiked with palpable tension and genuine suspense.
  6. Bella
    Mexican-born helmer Alejandro Monteverde's debut will be remembered as a curious case of a mediocre film that wows crowds.
  7. Dan in Real Life
    Deftly interlaces heart and humor in a witty, warm and well-observed comedy about the unexpected and inconvenient blooming of romance at the weekend gathering of an extended family.
  8. Jimmy Carter Man from Plains
    Thanked and vilified from coast to coast, Carter remains steadfast in his belief that Israel's policies in the Occupied Territories are unjust and counterproductive.
  9. Music Within
    Helmed by Steve Sawalich, this real-life dramedy is anchored by Michael Sheen’s captivating performance as the severely handicapped, profoundly acerbic Art Honeyman.
  10. Rails & Ties
    Reserved, careful and largely predictable in the way it plays out its wrenching emotional crises.
  11. Saw IV
    Even by the standards of the recent "Saws," which have enjoyed considerably larger budgets than the first pic, the new edition is more frenetically cut (by editors Kevin Greutert and Brett Sullivan), more dimly lit (by lenser David A. Armstrong), sweatier in terms of perfs by the grimly serious cast, more madly packed with micro-incidents and action, and more brazen in requiring suspension of disbelief.
  12. Slipstream
    Apparently needing to release some private thoughts, musings and images to the world, Anthony Hopkins takes a leap into stunning self-indulgence with his directorial debut, Slipstream.
  13. Mr. Untouchable
    Alternately seduced and repelled by its subject, the garish and power-hungry Harlem gangster and '70s cocaine kingpin Nicky Barnes, Mr. Untouchable is one seriously confused documentary.
  14. 30 Days of Night
    Excels at bloodthirsty action, though dialogue and human-interest aspects are a tad anemic. Result is a mixed bag but has a catchy premise and quite enough splatter to satisfy gorehounds.
  15. The Comebacks
    An exceptionally lame genre parody that plumbs depths of ineptitude heretofore charted only by the marginally less abysmal "Date Movie."
    • Variety
  16. Gone Baby Gone
    Moral ambiguity is the real star of Ben Affleck's helming debut, Gone Baby Gone, an involving Boston-set tale of mixed motives, selflessness and perfidy in the wake of a 4-year-old girl's disappearance.
  17. Out of the Blue
    Chilling, often moving docudrama focuses not so much on the mayhem or murderer, but on the bewildered, occasionally courageous reactions of ordinary citizens caught in the inexplicable violence.
  18. Rendition
    By underplaying the melodrama in the presumed hope of seeming subtle when Kelley Sane’s script is so baldly melodramatic, the “Tsotsi” helmer drains the life out of an obviously explosive subject.
  19. Reservation Road
    A dramatic situation that should be wrenching is mostly tedious in Reservation Road.
  20. Sarah Landon and the Paranormal Hour
    There's something clumsily charming about Sarah Landon and the Paranormal Hour.
  21. Things We Lost in the Fire
    A live-wire performance by Benicio Del Toro sparks an otherwise morose study of loss, addiction and catharsis.
  22. Wristcutters: A Love Story
    Though its absurdist inventions occasionally border on twee, this affectionate slow-blooming romance mines an understated vein of comic melancholy that the actors' wistful performances perfectly capture.
  23. Meeting Resistance
    Proves a welcome addition to the growing body of films on Iraq, but ultimately promises more than it delivers.
  24. The Ten Commandments
    A well-intentioned misfire featuring 3-D CGI animation that recalls lesser vidgames of the mid-1990s.
  25. O Jerusalem
    Features some first-rate cinematography and solid acting, but absolutely no sense of emotional boundaries.
  26. Berkeley
    Dull casting and cliche-ridden writing drain everyone of vividness.
  27. Canvas
    First-rate performances, an uncompromising point of view and a fresh take on a well-worn movie subject -- madness.
  28. Elizabeth: The Golden Age
    Without the pleasure of watching Cate Blanchett continue the role that launched her to stardom, there would be little to recommend this latest of many cinematic and television accounts of the celebrated monarch's life.
  29. The Final Season
    There's not quite as much corn in The Final Season as there is in the Iowa farm fields that run through it, but it's close.
  30. Lars and the Real Girl
    Helmer Craig Gillespie's sweetly off-kilter film plays like a Coen brothers riff on Garrison Keillor's "Lake Woebegone" tales, defying its lurid premise with a gentle comic drama grounded in reality.
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