Variety's Scores

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For 17,825 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: 9,159 out of 17825
  2. Mixed: 7,029 out of 17825
  3. Negative: 1,637 out of 17825
17825 movie reviews
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  1. War Dance
    While the pic may be targeting Westerners who want to feel less awful about genocide and global negligence, it's hard to imagine War Dance appealing to that crowd -- or any other.
  2. Awake
    Harold's thriller does have an attention-getting plot hook, but piles on too many narrative gimmicks to maintain suspense or credibility.
  3. Sex and Breakfast
    What tyro helmer Miles Brandman serves up is a tortured talkfest with a premise far less ripe than its title.
  4. The Perfect Holiday
    Neither perfect nor much of a holiday, more like a fruitcake passed around from arthritic aunt to demented uncle -- stale, predictable and made with fossilized ingredients.
  5. Youth Without Youth
    Attempting to harness multiple genres, pic is brought down by ponderous dialogue (much of it dubbed) and an inability to connect with its characters.
  6. One Missed Call
    This decent if derivative scare machine should benefit from a lack of genre competition.
  7. Mad Money
    Banking on the appealing chemistry of Diane Keaton and Queen Latifah -- with co-star Katie Holmes awkwardly upsetting the balance -- this strained heist comedy about three cash-strapped femmes is watchable enough for a few reels, but lacks the requisite wit and amoral energy to capitalize on its get-rich-quick premise.
  8. First Sunday
    A near-claustrophobic comedy that manages to be both predictable and preachy. Solid actors in supporting roles offer minor redemption.
  9. Elite Squad
    A one-note celebration of violence-for-good that plays like a recruitment film for fascist thugs.
  10. Over Her Dead Body
    Even the weakest "Desperate Housewives" episode packs more heat than this tepid romantic comedy-fantasy, whose basic plot gimmick has been done as far back as "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir."
  11. Shrooms
    By-the-numbers item, in which five American college students literally get wasted while tripping out on magic mushrooms in rural Ireland, is OK vid fodder with few real scares and not an ounce of originality.
  12. Fool's Gold
    A listless romantic comedy that, almost out of desperation, turns a little more violent than necessary near the end.
  13. Be Kind Rewind
    It's a quick trip from whimsy to silliness in Be Kind Rewind, a notably ephemeral work by Michel Gondry, whose flights of fancy can't overcome the egregious illogic of the premise.
  14. 10,000 BC
    Conventional where it should be bold and mild where it should be wild, 10,000 BC reps a missed opportunity to present an imaginative vision of a prehistoric moment.
  15. Shutter
    A blandly cast and crafted remake of the same-titled 2004 Thai pic that itself emulated J-horror norms, which seemed a lot fresher back then.
  16. Meet Bill
    A labored screwball comedy about disenchanted people of privilege yearning for fulfillment, pic is full of leaden hijinx directed and played with all the subtlety of a myocardial infarction.
  17. Nim's Island
    A picturesque adventure-comedy that quickly capsizes under the weight of its obnoxious slapstick, pedestrian dialogue and general unwillingness to rise above stock ideas and situations.
  18. The Ruins
    Ultimately less dependent on suspense or even scares than on squirm-inducing grossouts, this tale of Yank hardbodies vs. carnivorous creepers should flower briefly in hardtops, then spread like an invasive weed in ancillary.
  19. The Life Before Her Eyes
    A femme-centric drama about the aftermath of a high school massacre, profoundly confusing "In Bloom" arrives at some very tenuous moral conclusions that might alienate much of its supposed target audience.
  20. Deception
    Strip out Deception's fleeting nudity and what's left is a throwback to "B" movie days -- a thin thriller, burdened by clunky dialogue and prone to telegraphing its twists.
    • 37 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Made of Honor
    Like a shopworn wedding gown disguised with a new sash, Made of Honor feels recycled from top to bottom. That's because it's essentially a gender-swapped version of "My Best Friend's Wedding."
  22. War, Inc.
    A blackly comic take on the first totally outsourced war? We're too close to being in one right now, which makes this John Cusack vehicle too close for comfort. It's also so close to being funny you can just about taste it -- just about.
  23. You Don't Mess with the Zohan
    The off-the-wall comedy of Robert Smigel and Judd Apatow leaves a mark on the script, but it would require a talent of Peter Sellers' magnitude to conquer this material, and he's not around.
  24. The Love Guru
    So relentlessly juvenile as to merit a new twist on the PG-13 rating -- one that strongly cautions not only those under 13 but anyone much above it, too.
  25. Postal
    This anything-goes exercise isn't dull -- one just wishes the outrageousness were more consistently funny.
    • 36 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Space Chimps
    Enjoyably slim family entertainment.
  27. Death Defying Acts
    A handsome contraption that's never very engaging, let alone convincing.
  28. Cthulhu
    The acting is so emotionally unhinged and erratic it borders on camp, diluting any suspense.
  29. College
    Hardly superbad, but sorta OK.
  30. Everybody Wants to Be Italian
    A clumsy but inoffensive romantic comedy.
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