Variety's Scores

Select another publication »
For 17,782 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: 9,136 out of 17782
  2. Mixed: 7,010 out of 17782
  3. Negative: 1,636 out of 17782
17782 movie reviews
view
per page
  1. Drop Dead Gorgeous
    A relatively pain-free, if brain-free, diversion.
  2. Inspector Gadget
    A new standard for wretched excess is established by Inspector Gadget, a joyless and charmless disaster in which state-of-the-art special effects are squandered on pain-in-the-backside folly.
  3. The Haunting
    A wannabe horror classic that turns deadly dull once the sense of anxious expectation wears off.
  4. Lake Placid
    To be sure, Kelley's Emmy-winning brand of off-kilter humor and cockeyed affection for rural folk is on display, but his attempt here to blend the citified angst of "Ally McBeal" (co-star Bridget Fonda was Kelley's first choice as that series' lead) with the countrified absurdisms of "Picket Fences," plus bits out of the Peter Benchley playbook, doesn't hold water.
  5. The Wood
    This rambling and episodic autobiographical saga of three friends coming of age in Inglewood, Calif. (aka The Wood) in the '80s is so determined to be likable that it forgets to be interesting.
  6. Eyes Wide Shut
    A riveting, thematically probing, richly atmospheric and just occasionally troublesome work, a deeply inquisitive consideration of the extent of trust and mutual knowledge possible between a man and a woman.
  7. The Blair Witch Project
    An intensely imaginative piece of conceptual filmmaking that also delivers the goods as a dread-drenched horror movie.
  8. Muppets from Space
    A modestly clever comedy in which nothing gets seriously out of hand.
  9. Arlington Road
    An intelligent, insidiously plotted Hitchcockian thriller directed in souped-up, modern expressionistic style.
  10. American Pie
    Cheesy homage to a level of horniness Austin Powers could only imagine will be a dream movie for many a teenage boy.
  11. Late August, Early September
    A kaleidoscopic but engrossing study of the shifting sands of friendship among a group of Parisians, "Late August, Early September" reps a major advance by writer-director Olivier Assayas in warmth and maturity of observation.
  12. Summer of Sam
    Summer of Sam is never less than absorbing but feels just a bit like yesterday's news, both narratively and cinematically.
  13. Wild Wild West
    As impressive as the industrial-style special effects may be, they're both too much and not enough for this mild mild West.
  14. South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut
    Bigger, Longer & Uncut will make it harder still to dismiss, or kill, this cultural mini-phenom — not least because the feature is a more clever diversion than anyone had any right to expect.
  15. The Dinner Game
    Abetted by an excellent cast, vet writer Weber weaves a simple premise into comedy gold.
  16. Big Daddy
    While the loyal male-teen aud core will not be disappointed with the spate of gags just for them, story contains solid date-movie material.
  17. Tarzan
    Swings, even if it doesn't always soar.
  18. An Ideal Husband
    Shines like a freshly minted coin in Oliver Parker's adaptation.
  19. Run Lola Run
    A highly accomplished, compact feature, which, while it may be light on depth, is rich in humor, rhythm, energy and inventiveness.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The General's Daughter
    The cinematic equivalent of a disposable airplane read, a hokey, kinky military thriller that's twisty and compelling enough to hook viewers in the mood for a trashy good time.
  21. The Red Violin
    Fails on a number of counts, mostly because the individual stories aren't very gripping.
  22. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
    Script just doesn’t have it in terms of fresh narrative developments or individual gags.
  23. Buena Vista Social Club
    Wenders lets the music and the sprightly people who make it speak for themselves, although the director's ongoing fascination with the urban environment is in top form as the camera serenely cruises the streets of Havana, often at a velvety dusk.
  24. Limbo
    Limbo is half-priced Sayles. After a promising opening in which numerous interesting aspects of life in modern Alaska are laid out, the potentially fascinating social dynamics are dropped in favor of a thinly realized survival tale that falls flat dramatically and cinematically.
  25. The Thirteenth Floor
    Comes too late, far surpassed by similar and more visually stunning devices in "The Matrix," and even by the mind-bending realities of "eXistenZ."
  26. Notting Hill
    Has buckets to spare of that rarest screen commodity — genuine, engaging charm.
    • Variety
  27. Southie
    Bottom-drawer plot of a South Boston bad boy returning to tie up loose ends reads like every other "Mean Streets" knockoff in the past decade, with no scene, development or performance standing out from undifferentiated din.
  28. The Loss of Sexual Innocence
    Boasting sublime imagery, but no characters to ground his reverie, the new pic heavily relies on an opaque narrative and elliptical editing.
  29. Eternity and a Day
    Eternity and a Day finds Angelopoulos refining his themes and style. Just as other great filmmakers have in the past explored similar themes time and again, so Angelopoulos has evolved and come up with one of his most lucid and emotional journeys thus far.
  30. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
    Phantom is easily consumable eye candy, but it contains no nutrients for the heart or mind.
Page:

Top Trailers

See all »
See all trailers »