Variety's Scores

Select another publication »
For 17,758 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 17758
  2. Mixed: 7,002 out of 17758
  3. Negative: 1,635 out of 17758
17758 movie reviews
view
per page
    • tbd Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Victory Through Air Power
    Disney and his battalion of artists, animators and backgrounders have not permitted the seriousness of the theme to completely dwarf their humor. There are the usual imaginative complement of Disneyisms in his cartoonics, and an excellent musical score to point it up.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    For Whom the Bell Tolls
    For Whom the Bell Tolls is one of the important pictures of all time although almost three hours of running time can overdo a good thing.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man
    [Siodmak] delivers a good job of fantastic writing to weave the necessary thriller ingredients into the piece, and finally brings the two legendary characters together for a battle climax.
    • 100 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Casablanca
    Despite the fact that the fortunate turn or military events has removed the city of Casablanca, in French Morocco, from the Vichyfrance sphere and has thus in one respect dated the film, the combination of fine performances, engrossing story and neat direction make that easily forgotten. Film should be a solid moneymaker everywhere.
    • 94 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Shadow of a Doubt
    Hitchcock deftly etches his small-town characters and homey surroundings. Wright provides a sincere and persuasive portrayal as the girl, while Cotten is excellent as the motivating factor in the proceedings.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Cat People
    This is a weird drama of thrill-chill caliber, with developments of surprises confined to psychology and mental reactions, rather than transformation to grotesque and marauding characters for visual impact on the audiences. Picture is well-made on moderate budget outlay.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Random Harvest
    The film transcription of James Hilton’s novel Random Harvest, under Sidney Franklin’s production and Mervyn LeRoy’s direction, achieves much more than average importance.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Road to Morocco
    Morocco is a bubbling spontaneous entertainment without a semblance of sanity; an uproarious patchquilt of gags, old situations and a blitz-like laugh pace that never lets up for a moment. It's Bing Crosby and Bob Hope at their best, with Dorothy Lamour, as usual, the pivotal point for their romantic pitch.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Now, Voyager
    Now, Voyager, an excursion into psychiatry, is almost episodic in its writing.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    One of Our Aircraft Is Missing
    Script, production, direction and photography are splendid.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Major and the Minor
    A sparkling and effervescing piece of farce-comedy.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Holiday Inn
    Loaded with a wealth of songs, it's meaty, not too kaleidoscopic and yet closely knit for a compact 100 minutes of tiptop filmusical entertainment. The idea is a natural, and Irving Berlin has fashioned some peach songs to fit the highlight holidays.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Bambi
    Bambi is gem-like in its reflection of the color and movement of sylvan plant and animal life. The transcription of nature in its moments of turbulence and peace heightens the brilliance of the canvas. The story [by Felix Salten] is full of tenderness and the characters tickle the heart.
    • 93 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Magnificent Ambersons
    This film hasn't a single moment of contrast; it piles on and on a tale of woe, but without once striking at least a true chord of sentimentality.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Yankee Doodle Dandy
    Yankee Doodle Dandy is something to cheer about from any perspective.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Mrs. Miniver
    Superbly catching the warmth and feeling of Jan Struther’s characters in her best-selling book of sketches, “Mrs. Miniver,” Metro has created out of it a poignant story of the joys and sorrows, the humor and pathos of middle-class family life in wartime England.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Tortilla Flat
    A sincere, tender, beguiling and at times exalting picture. It is sympathetically and adroitly adapted, handsomely produced, expertly directed and eloquently acted.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Saboteur
    Saboteur is a little too self-consciously Hitchcock. Its succession of incredible climaxes, its mounting tautness and suspense, its mood of terror and impending doom could have been achieved by no one else. That is a great tribute to a brilliant director. But it would be a greater tribute to a finer director if he didn't let the spectator see the wheels go round, didn't let him spot the tricks - and thus shatter the illusion, however momentarily.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Kid Glove Killer
    Kid Glove Killer is one of those moderately-budgeted programmers that appear at long intervals to rise far above the level intended. Spotlight shines brightly on Van Heflin in the lead. His skillful timing and delivery of lines holds interest in many sequences that might easily have crumbled in less capable hands.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    My Favorite Blonde
    A progressively funny film.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    To Be or Not to Be
    To Be or Not to Be, co-starring Carole Lombard and Jack Benny, under expert guidance of Ernst Lubitsch, is absorbing drama with farcical trimmings. It's an acting triumph for Lombard, who delivers an effortless and highly effective performance that provides memorable finale to her brilliant screen career.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Sullivan's Travels
    Sullivan’s Travels is a curious but effective mixture of grim tragedy, slapstick of the Key- stone brand and smart, trigger-fast comedy.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Man Who Came to Dinner
    Superb casting and nifty work by every member of the company rates plenty of breveting.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Woman of the Year
    Picture runs 112 minutes and frequently seems every moment of that. Tracy and Hepburn go a long way toward pulling the chestnut out of the fire.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Ball of Fire
    A simple gag is hardly enough on which to string 110 minutes of film. And that's all - one funny situation - that Samuel Goldwyn's director and writers have to support Ball of Fire. It's sufficient, however, to provide quite a few chuckles.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    They Died with Their Boots On
    The liberties which the screen writers have taken with well established and authenticated facts are likely to be a bit trying in spots. But the test of the yarn is not its accuracy, but its speed and excitement. Of these it has plenty.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Wolf Man
    The Wolf Man is a compactly-knit tale of its kind, with good direction and performances by an above par assemblage of players, but dubious entertainment.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Suspicion
    Alfred Hitchcock’s trademarked cinematic development of suspenseful drama, through mental emotions of the story principals, is vividly displayed in Suspicion, a class production [from the novel Before the Fact by Francis Iles] provided with excellence in direction, acting and mounting.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Shadow of the Thin Man
    Harry Kurnitz has fashioned the story with a good deal of ingenuity, using the characters of the private detective and his wife, as created in the original yarn by Dashiell Hammett.
    • 96 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Dumbo
    There’s a pleasant little story, plenty of pathos mixed with the large doses of humor, a number of appealing new animal characters, lots of good music, and the usual Disney skillfulness in technique.
Page:

Top Trailers

See all »
See all trailers »