Variety's Scores

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For 17,760 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: 9,121 out of 17760
  2. Mixed: 7,003 out of 17760
  3. Negative: 1,636 out of 17760
17760 movie reviews
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  1. Sleepless in Seattle
    Yet for all the enjoyable flourishes, and there are many, Ephron keeps pausing to remind us, through various contrivances, that this is a movie, making it hard for anyone to really get lost in the story.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    What's Love Got to Do with It
    This immensely enjoyable biography of songstress Tina Turner [from her and Kurt Loder's book I, Tina] is a passionate personal and professional drama that hits both the high and low notes of an extraordinary career.
  3. Dennis the Menace
    Dennis the Menace isn't really appropriate for anyone over the age of 12. Very young children may find the numskull, by-the-numbers gags here amusing, but teens will consider this kids' stuff and adults will be pained.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Jurassic Park
    Spielberg's scary and horrific thriller may be one-dimensional and even clunky in story and characterization, but definitely delivers where it counts, in excitement, suspense and the stupendous realization of giant reptiles.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Orlando
    Orlando provides exciting, wonderfully witty entertainment with glorious settings and costumes and Tilda Swinton’s sock performance in the title role.
  6. Cliffhanger
    But where most rugged he-man films feature a few action sequences scattered throughout, director Renny Harlin keeps the adventure stuff in this reputed $ 65 million production coming at an astonishing pace.
  7. The Long Day Closes
    Strength of Davies’ vision is the crux, and it holds the line to the final, confident fadeout.
    • 35 Metascore
    • 10 Critic Score
    Super Mario Bros.
    There are plenty of gags, but not one laugh in the whole farrago...There’s nothing original about “Mario,” and the absence of tension or an interesting narrative makes it tedious in the extreme.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Made in America
    Made in America has the distinction of being better than the last movie involving a sperm bank, Frozen Assets, though at times the humor - overplayed to nearly shrill levels - seems to come from the same test tube.
  10. Menace II Society
    Fierce, violent and searing in its observation, the film makes previous excursions seem like a stroll through the park.
    • 38 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Sliver
    Blame it on the editing and reediting, but even the sex scenes aren’t all that steamy, and the movie suffers from some choppy moments and highrise-size lapses in logic.
  12. Hot Shots! Part Deux
    If the first mission made roughly $50 million domestically, the sky could be the limit for this much better sequel -- a clever spoof of "Rambo" and a dozen other movies that employs the usual scattershot "Airplane!" approach but boasts a higher shooting percentage than its forebear. Look out, comedy fans: Fox is coming to get you.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Map of the Human Heart
    An immensely ambitious and audacious love story spanning 30 years and two continents.
  14. Posse
    Despite all its agreeable revisionism and breezy bonhomie, Posse has the feel of a mish-mash of elements all thrown into a big pot and stirred. Lacking dramatic grounding and structuring, even the pertinent revelations that will be most surprising and interesting to modern audiences carry more intellectual than emotional resonance.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Dave
    A delightful, buoyant new take on an old theme, deftly mixing political cynicism with elements of Mr Smith Goes to Washington.
  16. Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story
    The brief, meteoric, tragic life of martial arts star Bruce Lee forms the basis of Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. The film is an unlikely pastiche of traditional biography, Hollywood saga, chopsocky set pieces and inter-racial romance. Seemingly contrary elements and styles nonetheless mesh into an entertaining whole and the result proves extremely touching and haunting.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Blood In, Blood Out
    Producer-director Taylor Hackford clearly wants this to be a major cinematic exploration of the Latino experience, from its ponderous near-three-hour length to its more-than-occasional sermonizing. Unfortunately, disjointed storytelling and uneven performances undermine those aspirations.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Night We Never Met
    Wonderfully atmospheric use of New York locations and familiar characters brings “Night” to life. Unfortunately, there are many scenes, particularly those of Anderson and his obnoxious pals, that kill time and detract from the romantic leads. Ultimately it’s not really an ensemble piece but closer to a film with alternating casts or vignettes.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Dark Half
    The writer's desk intriguingly becomes a gladitorial arena for warring manifestations of the same personality in The Dark Half, George A. Romero's adaptation of Stephen King's 1989 bestseller, a classic Jekyll-and-Hyde story.
    • Variety
  20. Benny & Joon
    Johnny Depp and Mary Stuart Masterson render such startling performances in the romantic fable Benny & Joon that they almost overcome the trappings of an emotional tale that is not particularly well written or directed.
  21. Indian Summer
    Awash in romantic nostalgia for bygone childhood spent in summer camps, Indian Summer is a sentimental, TV sitcom-like, feel-good film. However, its humor and first-rate acting could ensure a strong opening and modest longterm B.O. life.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Boiling Point
    Low-key and bland in the extreme, it’s strictly for film buffs.
  23. This Boy's Life
    Unfortunately, after a relatively promising warmup, pic actually proceeds to flatten out the characters in the latter sections and to make them less dimensional and interesting than they initially seemed.
  24. Indecent Proposal
    This is one of those high-concept pictures with a big windup and weak delivery.
  25. The Sandlot
    Sweet and sincere, the film is also a remarkably shallow wade, rife with incident and slim on substance.
  26. The Crush
    In fact, with its basic shortage of gore and only brief glimpses of nudity, it’s hard to imagine what in the film prompted an R rating, unless it stands for “ridiculous.”
  27. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III
    The music is overbearing, the camera and lighting too bright and obvious, and the production design borders on the cheesy. Performances range from competent to just plain embarrassing.
  28. Point of No Return
    If imitation is the highest form of flattery, then “Point of No Return,” a soulless, efficiently slavish remake of “La Femme Nikita,” creates a whole new category of homage-paying.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.
    Although the film is punched up by some energetic cutting and hip-hop music, many dialogue scenes, particularly early on, are badly written and awkwardly staged.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    CB4
    Tamra Davis, a music video director with the well-received feature debut Guncrazy on her resume, might have really had something here had she settled on any one of the many paths the movie starts down.
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