Variety's Scores

Select another publication »
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
view
per page
  1. High Heels and Low Lifes
    An entertaining chick pic for all ages and sexes.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Sword and the Sorcerer
    Combine beaucoup gore and an atrocity-a-minute action edited in fastpace style. Then, toss in a scantily clad cast of none-too- talented performers mouthing dimwitted dialog and garnish with a touch of medieval gibberish. The result would be something resembling The Sword and the Sorcerer.
  3. Body Cam
    Intriguing, though not exactly visionary; it’s more twisted puzzle than horror ride. Not that there aren’t jumpy moments, and tense interludes.
  4. The Exorcist: Believer
    The Exorcist: Believer, in its superficially competent and poshly mounted way, feels about as dangerous as a crucifix dipped in a bottle of designer water.
  5. Dot the I
    But behind its slick veneer and the glibness of its preposterous premise and dark twists, there's a yawning absence of charm or substance in this London-set love triangle, as well as a lack of chemistry between its three leads.
  6. Angels Sing
    Working from a script by Lou Berney, which in turn was adapted from a novel by Turk Pipkin, director Tim McCanlies maintains an even hand throughout, so that neither the moments of broad comedy nor the stretches of tearjerking sentimentality get out of hand.
  7. The Strongest Man
    Thinly amusing, The Strongest Man stretches a short’s worth of potentially funny ideas to feature length, where they slowly and surely lead nowhere in particular.
  8. Paul Blart: Mall Cop
    An almost shockingly amateurish one-note-joke comedy.
  9. The Darkest Minds
    Without watering down the action, Nelson soft-pedals the most disturbing ideas in such a way that young audiences won’t be overwhelmed with gloom, instead inviting them to identify with the film’s empowered female heroine as she struggles to overcome her crippling lack of self-confidence and embrace what makes her special.
  10. Intruders
    Less than a home run, then, Intruders is still an efficiently engineered suspenser, with solid performances and a tight pace.
  11. UglyDolls
    UglyDolls is “Trolls Lite,” and the way things work I have no doubt we’ll be seeing a movie in the next few years that’s “UglyDolls Lite.” Yet this is still a winsomely appealing and joke-happy bauble for kiddies.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    City Heat
    City Heat is an amiable but decidedly lukewarm confection geared entirely around the two star turns.
  13. The Kissing Booth 2
    It delivers a few refreshing details by giving the heroine more agency in her quest to find happiness — yet not quite enough to justify its interminable run time.
  14. Beauty and the Beast
    There’s digital wizardry galore in this Beauty and the Beast, but precious little magic.
  15. Chick Fight
    Instead of the cleavage, hair-pulling and Jerry Springer antics it teases, Chick Fight serves up a blandly formulaic and scrupulously inoffensive tale of female empowerment.
  16. As Above, So Below
    It all makes for clumsy-fun escapism, not bad as end-of-summer chillers go.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Resident Evil: Retribution
    Even devoted fans may wonder whether this installment is actually a haphazard patchwork of outtakes from previous "Resident Evil" pictures.
  18. The Gunman
    Penn’s veiny, sweat-glazed biceps are the most objectively impressive feature of this rote, humorless thriller, a distinctly unconvincing attempt to refashion the star — who also co-wrote and produced — as a middle-aged action hero in the Liam Neeson mold.
  19. Daddy Day Care
    Scarcely more amusing than spending 90 minutes in a pre-K classroom.
  20. World Traveler
    Although occasionally both overwritten and overly symbolic, tale carries a satisfying emotional charge.
  21. When Will I Be Loved
    Campbell's performance is attuned to the extremes of unnerving calm and intensely erotic; unlike the pic, she pulls it off.
  22. In the Face of Evil: Reagan's War in Word and Deed
    Archival material -- especially rare B&W Soviet footage -- is a knockout, though the assembly of talking heads, nearly all Reagan loyalists, is predictable and uninspired.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    Creepshow 2
    Tied together with some humdrum animated sequences, three vignettes on offer obviously were produced on the absolute cheap, and are deficient in imagination and scare quotient.
    • Variety
    • 39 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment
    Follow-up features much of the original’s cast but none of its key behind-the-scenes creative talent, save producer Paul Maslansky. Only actor to get any mileage out of this one is series newcomer Art Metrano, as an ambitious lieutenant bent upon taking over the department.
  25. Final Destination
    Generates a respectable amount of suspense and takes a few unexpected turns while covering familiar territory.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Down Periscope
    The makers of Police Academy and Major League team up to take on the submarine corps in Down Periscope, and the result is a testosterone comedy that's crude fun, with a pinch of corn-pone morality. It's good-natured, innocuous frivolity that should raise a few smiles and generate good but not great spring box office.
  27. Frank the Bastard
    Coley’s screenplay contains a few witty references and sharp one-liners, but they often work at cross-purposes with the overall narrative drive, drawing scenes out and stretching believability needlessly.
  28. Lazy Eye
    Lazy Eye makes you realize how rare it is to see a movie, even an indie movie, that gives you the privilege of listening to authentically smart conversation. The understated flow of talk makes us feel like we’re eavesdropping.
  29. Three Christs
    As audiences, we trust filmmakers to do a reasonably accurate job of representing stories based in truth, and we get angry when they take the kind of liberties Avnet and company allow themselves here. As if it weren’t bad enough that Three Christs were boring, it’s impossible to believe, and for that, there is no cure.
  30. The Other Woman
    As it winds its way toward an unexpectedly grisly final showdown, The Other Woman often feels stranded between gross-out comedy, romantic fantasy and distaff psychodrama in a way that compels fascination and impatience alike.
Page:

Top Trailers

See all »
See all trailers »