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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    • 29 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    8 Million Ways to Die
    What could have been a better film delving into complexities of one tough-but-vulnerable alcoholic sheriff out to bust a cocaine ring, instead ends up an oddly-paced work that is sometimes a thriller and sometimes a love story, succeeding at neither.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Salvador
    The tale of American photojournalist Richard Boyle’s adventures in strife-torn Central America, Salvador is as raw, difficult, compelling, unreasonable, reckless and vivid as its protagonist.
    • 30 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Legend
    Legend is a fairytale produced on a grand scale, set in some timeless world and peopled with fairies, elves and goblins, plus a spectacularly satisfying Satan. At the same time, the basic premise is alarmingly thin, a compendium of any number of ancient fairytales.
    • Variety
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    At Close Range
    Audiences will respond to the very strong performances of the two leads, especially Walken in one of his best roles.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Absolute Beginners
    Absolute Beginners is a terrifically inventive original musical for the screen. Daring attempt to portray the birth of teenagedom in London, 1958, almost exclusively through song is based upon Colin MacInnes' cult novel about teen life and pop fashion in the percolating moments just before the youth cultural explosion in the early 1960s.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Toxic Avenger
    This madcap spoof on The Incredible Hulk is an outlandish mix of gory violence and realistic special effects.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Critters
    Critters resemble oversize hairballs and roll like tumbleweeds when prodded into action, the perfect menace for this irritatingly insipid and lightweight film which unfolds with plodding predictability and leaves few cliches unturned.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    My Beautiful Laundrette
    As always, director Stephen Frears does a superb job of work when given a good script, and this is a very good script. It’s peopled with interesting characters, allowing for a gallery of fine performances and situations.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    A Room with a View
    Distinguished by superb ensemble acting, intelligent writing and stunning design.
    • Variety
    • 49 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    The Money Pit
    The Money Pit is simply the pits. There is really very little else to be said about this gruesomely unfunny comedy. Unofficial remake of the 1948 Cary Grant-Myrna Loy starrer Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House begins unpromisingly and slides irrevocably downward from there.
    • Variety
    • 33 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Police Academy 3: Back in Training
    Cast of cartoon misfits is still basically intact and if Police Academy 3 has any charm it’s in the good-natured dopeyness of these people. No bones about it, these people are there to laugh at.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Gung Ho
    Drawn from real life, the conflict between cultures is good for both a laugh and a sober thought along the way.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Crossroads
    Seneca acquits himself very nicely, while director Walter Hill pulls of the expected professional mob, but he pushes so hard for pace that he skates right over the opportunities for thought that the subject calls for.
    • 24 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Highlander
    Director Russell Mulcahy can’t seem to decide from one scene to the next whether he’s making a sci-fi, thriller, horror, music video or romance – end result is a mishmash.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Desert Hearts
    Helen Shaver, playing the lead, does a most commendable job as a character who starts by being all tied up inside, and ends up by melting and opening up to emotions she couldn’t even conceive before.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Pretty in Pink
    A rather intelligent (if not terribly original) look at adolescent insecurities.
    • 44 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    House
    Filmmakers Sean S. Cunningham and Steve Miner scored hits with several simple Friday the 13th films but tackle a more complex story here with embarrassing results.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    Nine 1/2 Weeks
    The virtual absence of anything interesting happening between them - like plausible attraction, exotic, amazing sex, or, God forbid, good dialog - leaves one great big hole on the screen for two hours.
    • 32 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    The Hitcher
    The Hitcher is a highly unimaginative slasher that keeps the tension going with a massacre about every 15 minutes.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Wildcats
    Michael Ritchie’s direction lacks his usual bite and eye for detail. There is nothing spontaneous about the action and football footage is also surprisingly dull.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    F/X
    Basic premise here is so strong that it proves well-nigh indestructable, even in the face of numerous implausibilities, some silly dialogue and less-than-great casting in secondary roles.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Lady Jane
    With its emphasis on youthful idealism despoiled by treacherous, manipulative adults, Lady Jane emerges as a tragic historical romance tinged with a strong 1960s feeling...Performances are all top-drawer, beginning with newcomer Helena Bonham Carter in the title role.
    • 90 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Hannah and Her Sisters
    He (Allen) makes nary a misstep from beginning to end in charting the amorous affiliations of three sisters and their men over a two-year period.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Down and Out in Beverly Hills
    It’s a loving caricature of the nouveau riche (Beverly Hills variety) and although it is more of a comedy of manners than a well-developed story, there are enough yocks and bright moments to make it a thoroughly enjoyable outing.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Youngblood
    Scenes on the ice look great and Lowe truly looks like the fast and accurate son-of-a-gun hockey player he’s supposed to be.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Power
    Not so much about power as about p.r., this facile treatment of big-time politics and media, featuring Richard Gere as an amoral imagemaker, revolves around the unstartling premise that modern politicians and their campaigns are calculatedly packaged for TV. In spite of relentless jet-propelled location hopping that helps to stave off boredom, Power never gets airborne.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    The Trip to Bountiful
    The Trip to Bountiful is a superbly crafted drama featuring the performance of a lifetime by Geraldine Page.
    • 37 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    My Chauffeur
    David Beaird avowedly set out to imitate the screwball comedies of the 1930s and 1940s and has succeeded admirably, thanks to adorably spunky Deborah Foreman and her stuffy foil, Sam J. Jones. They make quite a pair.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Iron Eagle
    Director Sidney J. Furie fills in the rest with breakneck action and some dandy dogfights. Much of the dialog is simply laughable.
    • 30 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Troll
    Troll is a predictable, dim-witted premise executed for the most part with surprising style.
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