Variety's Scores

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For 17,786 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: 9,137 out of 17786
  2. Mixed: 7,013 out of 17786
  3. Negative: 1,636 out of 17786
17786 movie reviews
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  1. Collateral
    Occupying a dramatic, philosophical and sensory twilight zone that casts a considerable spell, this intensely focused piece soars not only on the director's precision-tooled style but also on the outstanding interplay between leads Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx.
  2. Finding Neverland
    An impeccably made and genuinely moving account of how Scottish author J.M. Barrie came to write "Peter Pan."
  3. Ginger Snaps
    A quietly subversive my-sister-is-turning-into-a-werewolf movie that doesn't wimp out at the end.
    • 100 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Godfather
    Overlong at about 175 minutes (played without intermission), and occasionally confusing. While never so placid as to be boring, it is never so gripping as be superior screen drama.
  5. The Motorcycle Diaries
    This intelligently made picture is artful but not arty, political without being didactic.
  6. Ratcatcher
    There’s a light touch in evidence, balancing the bleakness with odd lyrical moments and unexpected humor and tenderness that infuse the gentle drama with a bracing freshness.
  7. Love Actually
    A roundly entertaining romantic comedy, Love Actually is still nearly as cloying as it is funny…its cheeky wit, impossibly attractive cast and sure-handed professionalism are beguiling.
  8. The Woodsman
    A stunningly crafted work from first-time feature director Nicole Kassell.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Courage Under Fire
    Edward Zwick's high-minded new outing offers plenty of old-fashioned movie virtues such as believable action, plausible psychology, fully played-out confrontations and honest emotions.
  10. From Dusk Till Dawn
    A deliriously trashy, exuberantly vulgar, lavishly appointed exploitation picture, this weird combo of road-kill movie and martial-arts vampire gorefest is made to order for the stimulation of teenage boys.
  11. U Turn
    The stylistic fun Stone has in dramatizing this crime of passion thoroughly revitalizes the well-worked genre.
  12. The Mask
    This showcase for the talents of Jim Carrey is adroitly directed, viscerally and visually dynamic and just plain fun.
  13. Clear and Present Danger
    Narrative complexity and momentum make this a true cinematic equivalent of an absorbing page-turner.
  14. Love! Valour! Compassion!
    It is so sharply written and entertaining that in its stage-to-screen transfer the material easily overcomes its theatrical sensibility and the static direction of Joe Mantello, who also staged the Broadway production.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Soul Food
    Soul Food serves up family melodrama-cum-comedy that's tasty and satisfying, if not particularly profound or original.
  16. Crimson Tide
    While skillfully crafted to maximize visual excitement and dramatic fireworks through the first hour, relentlessly paced pic sports a fancy new package for a rather shopworn doomsday scenario that unravels to increasingly familiar effect as the finale breathlessly approaches.
  17. GoldenEye
    Most crucially, Brosnan makes the grade as 007. He handles the action capably and gets the standard quips out in a commendably straightforward way that's wry but not dismissive.
  18. 101 Dalmatians
    Where the film misses its biggest bet, however, is in depriving the animals of the voices they had in the animated version.
  19. The First Wives Club
    The familiar setup sparkles a little brighter here thanks to the ensemble and their deft delivery of the bitchy dialogue in Robert Harling's adaptation of the Olivia Goldsmith novel.
  20. Stealing Beauty
    A model of poise and restraint, the film flows in a way that is deliberately undramatic, but made no less involving by the dreamy gentleness of its approach.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Videodrome
    Film is dotted with video jargon and ideology which proves more fascinating than distancing. And Cronenberg amplifies the freaky situation with a series of stunning visual effects. (Review of Original Release)
  22. In the Line of Fire
    What neophyte scripterscripter Jeff Maguire's plot comes down to, however, is the cat-and-mouse game between Horrigan and Leary, and the craftiness and strategies involved on both sides, while not exactly ingenious, are tantalizing enough to compel interest.
  23. Speed
    First-time helmer Jan De Bont, the ace lenser of most of Paul Verhoeven's films as well as "Die Hard" and numerous other large-scale pix, handles the action with great nimbleness and dexterity; film can hardly be faulted for its visual presentation of very complex action.
  24. Ever After
    Barrymore continues to prove herself as a performer of extraordinary range and charisma, and is simply sublime in the leading role.
  25. Emma
    A fine cast, speedy pacing and playful direction make this a solid contender for the Austen sweepstakes.
  26. Marvin's Room
    The whole film is laced with shards of humor and irony, which proves helpful, considering the basically downbeat nature of the material.
  27. Children of the Revolution
    Brimming with almost too many ideas for its 99-minute running time, Duncan's film boasts a strong cast of top actors who flesh out a group of bizarre yet recognizable characters involved in the political scene from the '50s to the present day.
  28. That Thing You Do!
    A top-notch production, exuberant period music and Hanks the actor in an important role cunningly disguise a rather slight and inconsequential narrative.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Superman II
    Superman II emerges as a solid, classy, cannily constructed piece of entertainment which gets down to action almost immediately.
  30. Copycat
    Ending is on the conventional side, more so than anything else in the picture , but script by Ann Biderman and David Madsen keeps the tart surprises coming throughout most of the picture with only occasional lapses into red herrings and artificial manipulation.
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