Variety's Scores

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For 17,779 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: 9,134 out of 17779
  2. Mixed: 7,009 out of 17779
  3. Negative: 1,636 out of 17779
17779 movie reviews
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  1. Clifford's Really Big Movie
    Harmless tale of the giant pooch helping out some itinerant performing animals while longing for home will go down smoothly with the preschool faithful, but anyone over 5 will feel antsy even given the brief running time.
  2. EuroTrip
    Promising young cast flounders amid comic material that's staler than week-old bread.
  3. Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen
    Minimally funny comedy feels like a Disney Channel pic that got boosted to theatrical after Lohan scored a hit opposite Jamie Lee Curtis in the "Freaky Friday" remake.
  4. Kitchen Stories
    The film appears consistently poised to go deeper but instead hangs back, making it less substantial than it might have been. Yet the sweet-natured story's gentle humor and poignancy should draw appreciative audiences.
  5. Welcome to Mooseport
    Lacks the antic energy and inspired imagination that might have put this over as a sharp-witted community comedy in the Preston Sturges vein.
  6. Lost Boys of Sudan
    A potent, engrossing look at several young refugees from Sudan's disastrous, endless civil war who've been relocated to the U.S.
  7. After the Life
    It certainly wraps the trilogy on a very powerful, emotionally draining note. It's refreshing to see the precision and audacity with which Belvaux and his excellent cast succeed in imbuing the increasingly familiar story with completely new angles, insights and nuances.
  8. Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin
    A throughly researched and extremely informative survey of the life and work of one of the great figures of world cinema, Richard Schickel's Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin is a must for lovers of cinema.
  9. The Code
    Gallic gangster actioner fuses many disparate generic and stylistic conventions, but, although script by co-star Samy Naceri's brother was purportedly pared down from several hundred pages, it still bears the weight of its pretensions.
  10. The Seagull's Laughter
    A sprightly, enjoyable comedy-drama from veteran Agust Gudmundsson that's buoyed by a raft of excellent distaff performances.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (re-released)
    It takes nerve to make a pic in which all dialog is sung. Also, there is no dancing and this is not a filmed operetta or opera. [review of original release]
  12. Love Object
    While the premise has possibilities for some creepy, pulpy fun, writer-director Robert Parigi brings too little style or humor, instead going a more obvious, overwrought route.
  13. 50 First Dates
    Schneider hams it up as a paunchy middle-aged Hawaiian stoner in an eyebrow-raising ethnic caricature that more than once calls to mind Mickey Rooney's unfortunate Japanese turn in "Breakfast at Tiffany's."
  14. Robot Stories
    Greg Pak understands the short form well, mercifully avoiding blatant O'Henry twists while pulling off neat reversals of expertly set-up genre expectations.
  15. Highwaymen
    Lean, mean and stripped for speed, Highwaymen fires on all cylinders as an edgy and unnerving road-kill thriller.
  16. An Amazing Couple
    The briefest of the three pics, it's also the least successful, suggesting that this kind of character-driven comedy isn't the genre with which Belvaux is most comfortable. Still, there are delightful sequences and ideas and the film carries a great deal more substance and resonance when placed alongside the other two in the series.
  17. Osama
    Apart from its historical interest, this tragic tale of religious extremism and misogyny is a very good film able to catch audiences up emotionally.
  18. The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra
    Affectionate spoof merits appreciation as a not-so-dumb salute to another era's ultra-dumb genre conventions.
  19. Miracle
    Key to drama's success is the artful underplaying by Kurt Russell in the lead role of Herb Brooks.
  20. Barbershop 2: Back in Business
    A less raucous and more serious-minded neighborhood comedy than its entertaining predecessor.
  21. Catch That Kid
    Feels like a prolonged episode of "Power Rangers" minus the colorful costumes. Whatever charm the original had was clearly lost in translation, resulting in a tedious exercise that 6- to 10-year-olds may find mildly diverting.
  22. The Return
    Constructed like an eerie, metaphorical thriller, this tense, riveting character study offers viewers nearly two hours of emotions with a stunning pay-off no one will be expecting.
  23. The Dreamers
    The whole spirit of rebellion, passion and protest that should be a driving force for the characters plays more like a cultivated affectation.
  24. Blind Shaft
    Has a low-key power that comes as much from its off-handed approach to the dark material as from any manipulative techniques.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Golden Age
    Bunuel's anger at society, particularly its attitude on morality, seems not only dated today, but laugh provoking. [Review is of a 1964 screening at Lincoln Center, NY, first showing of pic in the US.]
  26. On the Run
    Fluid camerawork, a resonant music score and tightly wound editing combine to produce a superior suspense film with a conclusion that is somewhat reminiscent of the final acts of Robert Altman's "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" and of Joseph Losey's "The Criminal."
  27. The Perfect Score
    Energetic, smarter-than-expected teen comedy.
  28. Latter Days
    Falls back on the broad characterizations and stereotypical situations that typified the earliest gay-themed movies, while preaching a familiar (though not entirely ingenuous) message of tolerance.
  29. The Big Bounce
    Modestly engaging, albeit instantly forgettable shaggy-dog story only gradually reveals itself as a seriocomic take on standard-issue noir.
  30. You Got Served
    A serviceable youth pic that's marginally less dumb than November's urban quasi-musical "Honey."
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