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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  1. A Previous Engagement
    Stevenson casts her usual magic in this frankly adult, determinedly lighthearted comedy of romantic errors.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Tracey Fragments
    Page is generally commanding as the self-pitying teenager, but there are several moments when, let down by the text, the young thesp obviously does not believe what she is saying.
  3. Unsettled
    Hootnick seems determined to make everyone likable, no matter how vapid, objectionable or ill-articulated their views are. The emphasis on personality over politics or serious debate makes the pic feel lightweight, ill-suited to theatrical exposure.
  4. Battle for Haditha
    Intense, fair-minded entry in the pileup of Iraq pictures.
  5. Iron Man
    Ever-eclectic director Jon Favreau, who briefly pops up onscreen as a Stark minion, maintains a brisk but not frantic pace, and, in concert with lenser Matthew Libatique, production designer J. Michael Riva and the first-rate visual effects team, has made an unusually elegant looking film for the genre.
  6. Fugitive Pieces
    The cool hand of Canadian writer-director Jeremy Podeswa proves a disappointing match for Fugitive Pieces, a generally dull and unmemorable adaptation of Anne Michaels' extraordinary prose-poetry novel.
    • 37 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Made of Honor
    Like a shopworn wedding gown disguised with a new sash, Made of Honor feels recycled from top to bottom. That's because it's essentially a gender-swapped version of "My Best Friend's Wedding."
  8. Mister Lonely
    Less outre than "Gummo" and "Julien Donkey-Boy," Korine's most lavishly produced pic to date begins as a sweet-tempered tale of social misfits-turned-celebrity impersonators, but falls short of its ambition to say something meaningful about the obsessive nature of celebrity culture.
  9. Redbelt
    An absorbing and colorful, if not particularly convincing, excursion into a demi-monde of fighters, scammers, promoters and self-styled modern samurai, Redbelt gives the impression of Mamet coyly toying with the idea of making a populist little-man-against-the-system sports melodrama without actually attempting to create a film for the masses.
  10. Son of Rambow
    A sweetly raucous adventure. Widely quoted comparisons to "Billy Elliot" and Tim Burton overstate the case for what is really a modestly eccentric entertainment.
  11. XXY
    Picture has more in common with standard child-parent conflict dramas than it would probably care to admit, but its sensitive treatment of an equally sensitive theme elevates it into something memorable.
  12. The Favor
    A pair of beautifully mismatched lead performances elevate a predictable drama to unexpected resonance in The Favor.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Viva
    Viva...is faithful to those cult-adored obscurities in nearly every detail, including their soporific pace. Here, however, sly in-jokes come often enough to make said pacing funny in itself. Performances are slightly stilted or over-the-top in ways true to the original genre.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    A Plumm Summer
    Montana-set, reality-inspired picture feels like an homage to a bygone era of moviemaking: It takes its time to build character and story, there's hardly a CG effect in sight, and there's nothing high-concept about it.
  15. Baby Mama
    Fey is a delight to watch throughout.
  16. Deception
    Strip out Deception's fleeting nudity and what's left is a throwback to "B" movie days -- a thin thriller, burdened by clunky dialogue and prone to telegraphing its twists.
  17. Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
    An over-the-top and beyond-PC comedy that sometimes deftly, sometimes slapdashedly infuses party-hearty anarchy with hectoring moral outrage.
  18. Rogue
    A competent horror yarn filmed in eye-catching Aussie outback locations.
  19. Roman de gare
    Picture gets an undeniable boost from the ace performance of the short, beady-eyed Pinon.
  20. Standard Operating Procedure
    Adds relatively little insight to the public understanding of wayward military behavior more incisively analyzed in "Taxi to the Dark Side."
  21. Then She Found Me
    A smart, subtle and seriously funny dramedy bound to find favor with sophisticated auds.
  22. Up the Yangtze
    A gloriously cinematic documentay of epic, poetic sadness.
  23. Deal
    Public fascination with Texas Hold 'em and other poker variations will likely bolster B.O., though more discriminating auds may choose to pass.
  24. Without the King
    With Swaziland providing this mother lode of material, helmer Michael Skolnik extracts only the most pedestrian of films.
  25. 88 Minutes
    Ludicrous in the extreme, the picture easily snatches from "Revolution" the prize as Al Pacino's career worst.
  26. The Forbidden Kingdom
    On its own terms, it's a handsome albeit unexceptional juvenile adventure shot on some magnificent Chinese locations.
  27. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
    Segel makes an engaging impression throughout Forgetting Sarah Marshall, gamely making himself the butt of many jokes that involve Peter's non-macho proclivities.
  28. Kiss the Bride
    Formulaic gay comedy delivers its share of grins on the way to an (arguably) unexpected ending.
  29. The Life Before Her Eyes
    A femme-centric drama about the aftermath of a high school massacre, profoundly confusing "In Bloom" arrives at some very tenuous moral conclusions that might alienate much of its supposed target audience.
  30. Pathology
    Like its characters, the picture is too clever for its own good, allowing the meticulously researched scenario to be undone by implausible behavior and gaping plot holes.
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