Variety's Scores

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For 17,765 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: 9,125 out of 17765
  2. Mixed: 7,004 out of 17765
  3. Negative: 1,636 out of 17765
17765 movie reviews
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  1. Apt Pupil
    A creepy, well-acted story of contagious evil, Apt Pupil has more than enough chilling dramatic scenes to rivet the attention but suffers from some hokey contrivances and underlying insufficiencies of motivation.
  2. Orgazmo
    Massively inventive and spiked with perversely wicked humor.
  3. The Cruise
    There is unquestionably enough lively material here to snare one’s attention but, even at just 76 minutes, many will feel that this cruise has gone on plenty long enough.
  4. The Last Days
    A hard-hitting, well-organized documentary grounded in the stories of five Hungarian Jews who lived through the Holocaust.
  5. Happiness
    Baker does an amazingly sensitive job with the ticklish part and is joined in this by Read, who is superlative as his inquisitive young son.
  6. Beloved
    At nearly three hours, however, it rather overstays its welcome, trying the patience even as it sustains intrigue regarding its final revelations.
  7. Practical Magic
    Part comedy, part family drama, part romance, part special-effects mystery-adventure, and not entirely satisfying on any of these levels, this hodgepodge suffers from the conflicting sensibilities of its three credited scripters: Robin Swicord, who has done good work before, Akiva Goldsman, who has not, and Adam Brooks.
  8. Bride of Chucky
    After an eight-year series hiatus, Bride of Chucky emerges with recharged batteries and a mordantly funny edge that's attuned to the dawning millennium. [19 Oct 1998]
    • Variety
  9. Holy Man
    Complex issues of ambition and consumerism taken to televangelic levels aren't truly addressed or resolved but simply tied up in a box with the message that love conquers all.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Celebration
    A propulsively inventive but uneven family comedy-cum-melodrama.
  11. Slam
    The fervent performances by the central duo, real-life poets Williams and Sohn (who wrote their own material), are impeccable, clearly stemming from their deep moral commitment to their work.
  12. Flowers of Shanghai
    Gorgeously mounted, but butt-numbingly slow.
  13. What Dreams May Come
    A heaping serving of metaphysical gobbledygook wrapped in a physically striking package.
  14. A Night at the Roxbury
    The track record of SNL-drawn movies is dire ("It's Pat," "Stuart Saves His Family," "Blues Brothers 2000"), and this one stands just a peg higher, as an amiable, if flyweight, di-version.
  15. Antz
    A dazzling delight.
  16. Clay Pigeons
    Visual flourishes (handsomely lensed by Eric Edwards on Utah locales standing in for Montana) are polished but derivative, with too many time-lapse sky views, reminiscent of Van Sant's "My Own Private Idaho."
  17. Ronin
    A pleasurable throwback to the sort of gritty, low-tech international thriller that was a staple of the 1960s.
    • 35 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Urban Legend
    Before long, however, the suspense becomes repetitious and predictable. In its denouement, the film breaks faith with its audience, violating credibility in an attempt to deliver a surprise villain.
  19. Pecker
    A pleasant but ephemeral spoof that may disappoint Waters' hard-core fans while not recruiting many new devotees.
  20. Monument Ave.
    The only problem is that the great majority of screen time is devoted to the kind of loutish, drunken, small-minded, confrontational macho posturing that, in assorted ethnic stripes, has been paraded across the screen innumerable times in recent years.
  21. One True Thing
    As sensitively written, fluidly directed and expertly acted as it is, and as elemental as its dramatic conflicts may be, One True Thing has trouble breaking free of its limitations as a small-scale, modestly aimed family drama.
  22. Rush Hour
    A frankly formulaic but raucously entertaining action comedy.
  23. A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries
    The filmmakers give new saga a freer, looser form than is usual, allowing a superlative ensemble to develop rich characterizations.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Permanent Midnight
    Stiller’s attempted image makeover, though admirable, doesn’t make it. His perform-ance is strictly from the clenched-teeth, “Look at me, I’m acting!” school.
  25. Rounders
    Intermittently engaging but dramatically slack, this tale...is more interesting around the edges than it is at its core, thanks to the dull nature of the lead character played by Matt Damon.
  26. Simon Birch
    Johnson (who scripted "Grumpy Old Men") flattens out any promise so completely that the feature resembles nothing so much as a subpar "Hallmark Hall of Fame" entry.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Without Limits
    Robert Towne's Without Limits reps a distinct improvement over Steve James' Prefontaine in the filmmaking department.
  28. Knock Off
    Working from a formulaic script by Steven E. De Souza, Hark employs a variety of visual stratagems to keep the action fast and flashy.
  29. 54
    Director Mark Christopher gives the picture a brisk pace and a colorful, party-like mood that makes the experience painless and sporadically even enjoyable.
  30. Dead Man on Campus
    Although it falls far short of fulfilling its full potential as a dark comedy of desperation, Dead Man on Campus is a modestly amusing trifle that merits a passing grade as lightweight entertainment.
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