Variety's Scores

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For 17,847 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: 9,172 out of 17847
  2. Mixed: 7,036 out of 17847
  3. Negative: 1,639 out of 17847
17847 movie reviews
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  1. Don't Go
    All this adds up to a big “whatever.” Don’t Go isn’t sure whether it wants to be a frightening fantasy or a poignantly warm-and-fuzzy one.
  2. The Little Vampire
    A mildly entertaining but dramatically messy kidpic.
  3. Whiteboyz
    Too many scenes play like actors acting rather than life being lived as pic lurches around with ragged variations in tone.
  4. Maid in Manhattan
    Gets into trouble when it reaches for laughs.
  5. Life as a House
    A family melodrama that becomes less authentic as it progressively takes itself more seriously.
  6. 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.
  7. Love Me If You Dare
    Valiant attempt to create a modern fairytale ends up being frustratingly creepy instead of haunting and memorable.
  8. Evergreen
    Land gives the drama some poignancy, revealing the pain, anger, envy and longing of a girl burdened by life's imbalances. But her character exists in a vacuum, surrounded by stock figures and unconvincing actors.
  9. Happy Life
    Set in cramped apartments and hole-in-the-wall storefronts in the East Village, Michael M. Bilandic's nanobudget comedy Happy Life plays like a poor schlub's "High Fidelity."
  10. Sound of Violence
    The spectacularly gruesome and grotesquely elaborate murder scenes do ample justice to even the most revered of its slasher forebears, but the procedural elements feel stilted, and despite a lead performance that oozes empathy as much as her hapless victims ooze blood, the emotional impact is barely discernible: an ebbing heartbeat.
  11. Valiant
    Fails to get off the ground due to a by-numbers script and dodo-ugly character design.
  12. American Dreamz
    Combining a gallery of targets including President Bush, "American Idol," the Iraq War and the overarching theme of a nation of citizens held in the thrall of phony dreams, pic and its ambitions are undermined by insistent cartoonishness and comic ineptitude.
  13. Come What May
    Director Christian Carion’s first feature since 2009’s “Farewell” is bolstered by a sweeping Ennio Morricone score, yet his narrative is too episodic, and his characters too one-dimensional, to carry the weight of grand historical tragedy, resulting in a picturesque, middle-of-the-road effort.
  14. The Possession
    A ho-hum exorcism chiller that tries to spice up a formulaic screenplay by converting a predominantly Catholic-fixated horror subgenre to Judaism.
  15. Miral
    Schnabel's signature blend of splintered storytelling and sobering humanism feels misapplied to this sweeping multigenerational saga.
  16. The Laws of Thermodynamics
    The final result is a curiosity, sure, but a cute, quick-witted one, with much (maybe too much) on its mind.
  17. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
    Serves as a welcome corrective, reviving the fun, feather-light frivolity that any film based on a Disneyland ride ought to exhibit.
  18. By the Sea
    By the Sea always offers something to tickle the eye and ear, even as it leaves the heart and mind coolly unstirred.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Damien: Omen II
    Alas, Little Orphan Damien, lucky enough to be taken in by a rich uncle after bumping off his first pair of foster parents, can’t resist killing the second set, too, along with assorted friends of the family. Damien is obviously wearing out his welcome.
  20. A Minecraft Movie
    A Minecraft Movie never stops goofing on itself, and that’s appealing.
  21. 23 Blast
    A fairly predictable yarn that’s lighthearted and well-acted.
  22. The Paperboy
    A risibly overheated, not unenjoyable slab of late-'60s Southern pulp trash, marked by a sticky, sweaty atmosphere of delirium and sexual frustration that only partly excuses the woozy ineptitude of the filmmaking.
  23. Unforgettable
    It’s tawdry “Sleeping With the Enemy”-style fun while it lasts, boasting a better cast and splashier production values than the next closest Lifetime movie, while being so ridiculous at times that audiences can’t help but talk back to the screen.
  24. The Marine
    Junky, jokey and sometimes both at once, pic marks yet another attempt by World Wrestling Entertainment to establish one of its burly superstars as a movie lead.
  25. Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead
    Tartly written and vividly performed by a fine ensemble cast, Gary Fleder's bracingly entertaining first feature covers familiar ground in a fresh, breezy way.
  26. American Autumn: an Occudoc
    This strong, well-crafted documentary preaches eloquently to the choir.
  27. JeruZalem
    The movie’s occasional stabs at political commentary never quite pay off. Nor can the writer-directors, brothers Yoav and Doron Paz, fully sustain the film’s novelty into the second half, when the script reverts to timeless, tired monster-movie tropes.
  28. There's Someone Inside Your House
    While a bit of ironic detachment isn’t necessarily a hindrance, too many latter-day horror flicks’ attempts to show they’re in on the joke make it difficult to get invested in their stories. Despite initially appearing poised to repeat this too-cool-for-school mistake, “Someone” moves past it by emphasizing not vengeance but redemption.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Sniper
    Sniper is an expertly directed, yet ultimately unsatisfying psychological thriller. Luis Llosa’s first-rate action direction is undermined by underdeveloped characters and pedestrian dialogue.
  30. Click
    Adam Sandler's recent low-key phase continues with this cleverly conceived but conspicuously unfunny comedy.
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