Variety's Scores

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For 17,782 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 2.4 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: 9,136 out of 17782
  2. Mixed: 7,010 out of 17782
  3. Negative: 1,636 out of 17782
17782 movie reviews
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  1. Saving Grace
    Harvests a bumper crop of laughs.
    • 26 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Phantoms
    Pic's virtues all stem from taking its genre imperatives absolutely seriously rather than condescending to them or playing cute. Even venerable O'Toole resists what must have been an obvious temptation to wink at his role, and delivers a solid, enjoyable turn.
    • 96 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A Hard Day's Night
    A wacky, offbeat piece of filming, charged with vitality, and inventiveness by director Dick Lester.
    • 92 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Umberto D (re-release)
    The ending is happy, but the general effect of the film is disturbing, so compelling is De Sica's description of a man's solitude.
  5. Hey, Happy!
    Despite occasional bad-taste outrageousness, overall tone is surprisingly sweet, even lyrical and romantic at times.
    • 100 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sweet Smell of Success (re-release)
    It's a no-holds-barred account of the sadistic fourth estater played cunningly by Burt Lancaster.
  7. Tarzan
    Swings, even if it doesn't always soar.
  8. The Embalmer
    Director Matteo Garrone's measured approach and soulfully humane focus combine to dignify the characters, allowing the tale of solitude, longing and sorrow to inch quietly under the viewer's skin.
  9. Prey for Rock & Roll
    Emerges as an engaging, upbeat saga of an all-girl band on its way to nowhere in particular. Helmed by ace music supervisor Alex Steyermark and written by punk rocker Cheri Lovedog, pic feels authentic from first frame to last.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    High Noon
    Cooper does an unusually able job of portraying the marshal. (Review of Original Release)
  11. In the Company of Men
    Pics greatest achievement is its sharply poignant dialogue which, despite the horrible consequences of the contest it describes, is also darkly amusing.
  12. Saudate for the Future
    A breezy, good-humored love letter to the city itself.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    3 Women
    Absorbing moody and often compelling story.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Kiss of the Spider Woman
    Some will find him (Hurt) mesmerizing, others artificially lowkeyed.
  15. Jerry Maguire
    An exceptionally tasty contempo comedic romance.
  16. Startup.com
    Topical film, which goes beyond its potentially dry diet of facts to incorporate the juicy human drama of Machiavellian manipulations, ambition, torn loyalties and crushing betrayal.
  17. Frida
    Salma Hayek makes the character an icon of female independence, courage and nonconformity, forecasting special appeal for women viewers.
  18. Our Lady of the Assassins
    Schroeder's first non-American film in 16 years feels like a rejuvenation; his adaptation of Fernando Vallejo's 1994 novel has a naturalistic freedom and ease that is both refreshing and direct in the way it tells a deeply disturbing story.
  19. Enigma
    Intelligent, involving and intricately plotted thriller.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Get Shorty
    Good, sly fun.
  21. Kandahar
    A visually exalting, emotionally horrifying view of Afghanistan under the Taliban regime.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    L.A. Story
    Goofy and sweet, L.A. Story constitutes Steve Martin's satiric valentine to his hometown and a pretty funny comedy in the bargain.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Beetlejuice
    Beetlejuice springs to life when the raucous and repulsive Betelgeuse (Keaton) rises from his moribund state to wreak havoc on fellow spooks and mortal enemies.
  24. Lost in La Mancha
    There's no shortage of disaster stories in the history of film production, but none have been recorded with such frankness, immediacy and aching sense of disappointment.
  25. Better Luck Tomorrow
    Lin's nicely turned out picture is sometimes both predictable and a bit far-fetched narratively, but still provides a generally absorbing look at a slice of society normally taken for granted, both in life and onscreen.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    My Sister Maria
    A tender, achingly poignant portrait of the Austrian actress Maria Schell, My Sister Maria is a valentine from her younger brother Maximilian.
  27. Confidence
    Stylish, compelling crime caper full of smoothly navigated plot twists.
  28. The Faculty
    Results may not be Nobel Prize material, but they're zesty and cogent.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A Simple Plan
    The key differences are in emphasis and tone: “Fargo” is deadpan noir; A Simple Plan, with Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton as Mutt and Jeff siblings, is a more robust Midwestern Gothic that owes as much to Poe as Chandler.
  30. The Ignorant Fairies
    The well-structured film goes beyond issues of sexuality, giving nuanced consideration to broader questions of love and loss, family and friendship, trust, lies and deception.
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