Variety's Scores

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For 17,791 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: 9,139 out of 17791
  2. Mixed: 7,015 out of 17791
  3. Negative: 1,637 out of 17791
17791 movie reviews
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    • 65 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Mississippi Burning
    Though its credibility is undermined by a fanciful ending, Mississippi Burning captures much of the truth in its telling of the impact of a 1964 FBI probe into the murders of three civil rights workers.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Ghostbusters II
    Ghostbusters II is babyboomer silliness. Kids will find the oozing slime and ghastly, ghostly apparitions to their liking and adults will enjoy the preposterously clever dialog.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Parenthood
    An ambitious, keenly observed, and often very funny look at one of life's most daunting passages, Parenthood's masterstroke is that it covers the range of the family experience, offering the points of view of everyone in an extended and wildly diverse middle-class family.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Henry V
    Henry V is a stirring, gritty and enjoyable pic which offers a plethora of fine performances from some of the U.K.'s brightest talents.
  5. The Maker
    Acreditable mix of character study and thriller elements, Tim Hunter's The Maker skirts but manages to elude several current genre traps - particularly those cliches surrounding both angstful-teen dramas and hip neo-noirs.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Big
    A 13-year-old junior high kid Josh (David Moscow) is transformed into a 35-year-old's body (Tom Hanks) by a carnival wishing machine in this pic which unspools with enjoyable genuineness and ingenuity.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Animal House
    Steady readers of the National Lampoon may find National Lampoon's Animal House a somewhat soft-pedalled, punches-pulled parody of college campus life circa 1962. However, there's enough bite and bawdiness to provide lots of smiles and several broad guffaws.
  8. The Pillow Book
    It is at first daunting but ultimately awesomely impressive and beautiful.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Johnny Suede
    One-time cameraman, DiCillo exploits pastel colors to advantage in order to flesh out Johnny's fantasy world. Brad Pitt, fresh from stealing scenes in Thelma & Louise, gives Johnny the right kind of innocent appeal, and the rest of the cast surround him with loving care.
  10. Kalifornia
    Though somewhat overplayed and coy about its destination, the film packs a helluva wallop.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Clue
    Clue is campy, high-styled escapism. In a short 87 minutes that just zip by, the well-known board game's one-dimensional card figures like Professor Plum and others become multi-dimensional personalities with enough wit, neuroses and motives to intrigue even the most adept whodunnit solver.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Pump Up the Volume
    Writer-director Allan Moyle's story about a shy high school student who galvanizes an Arizona suburb with a rebellious pirate radio show has rambunctious energy and defiant attitude.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A Christmas Story
    Writer-director Bob Clark had long dreamed of making a movie based on Shepherd’s work and his reverence for the material shows through as detail after nostalgic detail rings true with period flavor.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Muppet Movie
    Jim Henson, Muppet originator, and Frank Oz, creative consultant, have abandoned the successful format of their vidshow, and inserted their creations into a well-crafted combo of musical comedy and fantasy adventure.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    After Hours
    The cinema of paranoia and persecution reaches an apogee in After Hours, a nightmarish black comedy from Martin Scorsese. Anxiety-ridden picture would have been pretty funny if it didn't play like a confirmation of everyone's worst fears about contemporary urban life.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Aliens
    James Cameron's vault into the big time after scoring with the exploitation actioner The Terminator makes up for lack of surprise with sheer volume of thrills and chills - emphasis is decidedly on the plural aspect of the title.
  17. Mademoiselle Chambon
    Mademoiselle Chambon offers a touching, soft-spoken portrait of two adults fighting to contain their carnal passions from spilling over into a full-blown affair.
  18. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
    Employing a bigger budget, better effects and an edgier director ("Hard Candy's" David Slade), Eclipse focuses on what works -- the stars.
  19. Dinner for Schmucks
    An uproarious odd-couple remake of Francis Veber's hit French farce "The Dinner Game."
  20. Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
    Mixing hilarious standup footage with admiring if not exactly cuddlesome behind-the-scenes glimpses.
  21. Micmacs
    Turning the volume of his slapstick surreality down from 11 to 10, Gallic auteur Jean-Pierre Jeunet ("Amelie") hits the sweet spot with Micmacs.
  22. Warrior of Light
    Universally embraceable subject matter, coupled with helmer's sterling rep as benevolent booster of humanistic pioneers.
  23. Diamonds and Rust
    Expertly edited chronicle doesn't lead to any major explosion, but reveals plenty -- little of it pleasant -- en-route.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Fighter
    A powerful, heartfelt and funny documentary that serves as a respectful nod to the aging generation of WWII survivors.
  25. Ouch
    Delightful comedy of manners.
  26. Burning Man: The Burning Sensation
    A knockout documentary with a renegade personality ideally suited to its anarchic subject matter.
  27. Santa vs. the Snowman
    The lively visuals, busy story, zippy pace and TV show running time will make this go down very easily with the target moppet audience.
  28. Children of Love
    The daunting logistics and emotional juggling act of child custody and visitation rights post-divorce are examined via spot-on acting and deft helming in docu-styled Children of Love.
  29. Empathy
    Helmer-poet Amie Siegel delivers a provocative, confident film.
  30. Down by Love
    A terrific performance by young actress Patricia Kovacs makes the high-stakes gamble of Down by Love -- a light psychodrama almost entirely centered on one character in an apartment -- into an engrossing 90-odd minutes.
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