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. Tennessee
    Ultimately, nothing can save this pic from the warm fuzzies.
  2. 24 City
    Result is far more accessible than Jia's previous two pictures, with moments of genuine emotion by the real-life interviewees.
  3. Up
    A captivating odd-couple adventure that becomes funnier and more exciting as it flies along.
  4. Drag Me to Hell
    The picture is single-mindedly devoted to pushing the audience's buttons, and who better than Raimi to do the honors?
  5. Departures
    TV scribe Kundo Koyama's first bigscreen script peppers the proceedings with rich character detail and near-screwball interludes that shouldn't fit but somehow do.
  6. Pontypool
    A zombie flick sans bite.
  7. What Goes Up
    A pointless and pretentious drama.
  8. The Girlfriend Experience
    Fascinating study of free enterprise in free fall. While it may disappoint thrill-seekers, "Girlfriend" should still delight Soderbergh fans and niche auds.
  9. O'Horten
    On screen non-stop, Owe is Buster Keaton-like perfection.
  10. Easy Virtue
    An effervescent entertainment that marks a welcome return for "Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" director Stephan Elliott after a nine-year absence.
  11. New World Order
    Luke Meyer and Andrew Neel's New World Order is less about an international cabal seeking world enslavement than about those who fervently believe such conspiracies exist and who crusade to defeat them.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
    Where the original had a vaguely tenable narrative hook (deadbeat dad finds redemption through nocturnal heroics), the new pic seems purely a vehicle for lavish visuals and cheap gags.
  13. Dance Flick
    This slapstick and scatological spoof settles for obvious punchlines, delivering just enough laughs to justify its existence without coming anywhere near the bar set by "Scary Movie."
  14. The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story
    Engaging documentary draws on plentiful archival footage and A-list interviewees, and should lure dedicated nostalgists.
  15. Terminator Salvation
    Darker, grimmer and more stylistically single-minded than its two relatively giddy predecessors, Terminator Salvation boasts the kind of singular vision that distinguished the James Cameron original, the full-throttle kinetics of "Speed" and an old-fashioned regard for human (and humanoid) heroics.
  16. Burma VJ: Reporter i et lukket land
    Has some style as well as compelling content.
  17. Summer Hours
    A family ensembler of utter simplicity, Oliver Assayas' Summer Hours is a salutory (and belated) reminder that, as with his earlier Cold Water and Late August, Early September, some of this writer-director's best work comes in modest packages.
  18. Angels & Demons
    Less turgid and aggravating than its predecessor, this cleverly produced melodrama remains hamstrung by novelist's Dan Brown's laborious connect-the-dots plotting and the filmmakers' prosaic literal-mindedness in the face of ripe historical antagonisms, mystery and intrigue.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Big Man Japan
    Decidedly odd, even by Japanese standards, this mockumentary about an electrically charged, skyscraper-high superhero saddled with misfortune, bad press and even worse TV ratings is tears-down-the-face funny and a genuine, jaw-dropping oddity.
  20. The Big Shot-Caller
    The result is a rough-edged, head-scratching mix of tones. Fortunately, musicvideo vet Rhein's competent helming skills counterbalance her off-putting dialogue and flat acting style so that the picture doesn't come off strictly amateur.
  21. Jerichow
    A tightly constructed "dramatic thriller" in which the tension comes as much from what the characters are thinking as from what they end up doing, Jerichow again confirms writer-helmer Christian Petzold ("Yella," "The State I Am In") as a world-class talent who remains underappreciated beyond Germany.
  22. Management
    Picture benefits greatly from appealing performances by Jennifer Aniston and Steve Zahn, who deftly apply darker emotional shadings to their characters when necessary, and equally fine work from a small ensemble of solid supporting players.
  23. Adoration
    This ambitious think-piece ultimately smothers its good intentions in didactic revelations, earnest pleading and incessant violin music. Engrossing nonetheless, the story of a high schooler troubled by his parents' legacy reps one of the Canadian writer-director's most accessible efforts.
  24. Julia
    The miscalculated and overlong Julia proves a startling misfire for "The Dreamlife of Angels" writer-helmer Erick Zonca and dependably fearless actress Tilda Swinton.
  25. Little Ashes
    For much of its running time, Little Ashes wavers between the polite, stuffy style of a "Masterpiece Theater" production and the more pointed agenda of gay indie cinema, with real Spanish locations classing up the otherwise low-budget affair. Acting is stagy and hindered by thick Spanish accents.
  26. Love N' Dancing
    Bland as its title, Love N' Dancing extends the cliches of the dance-and-romance genre -- so overplayed that it's targeted for a Wayans brothers spoof later this month -- to the world of West Coast Swing.
  27. Next Day Air
    An altogether bumbling excuse for an action-comedy.
  28. Outrage
    An exploding bathroom stall of a movie, Outrage makes an excellent ipso facto case for itself: If closeted gay politicians vote against equal rights for gays to protect their own secrets, outing them is for the common good.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Powder Blue
    The heartstring-pulling contrivances of the film, set during Christmastime, go way over the top.
  30. Rudo y Cursi
    Picture scores a solid goal for its national cinema and the cause of comedy.
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