Variety's Scores

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For 17,771 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 2.5 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: 9,130 out of 17771
  2. Mixed: 7,005 out of 17771
  3. Negative: 1,636 out of 17771
17771 movie reviews
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  1. Tom Dowd & the Language of Music
    Dowd's graciousness and enthusiasm, and the enormous respect afforded him by industryites on record here, make this a thorough and satisfying acknowledgement of one man's unique contribution to popular music.
  2. The Tracker
    Think of an Anthony Mann Western made by an experimental film director and you get an indication of the challenging components of The Tracker, the story of a manhunt that is politically sensitive because of its depiction of atrocities perpetrated on aboriginals by a fanatical white cop.
  3. Along Came Polly
    Writer-director John Hamburg does everything he can to pair up Ben Stiller's stiff, safety-first corporate man with Jennifer Aniston's free spirit in Along Came Polly, but the two are so fundamentally incompatible that story loses credibility long before the gags stop coming.
  4. Tokyo Godfathers
    With its masterful grasp of comedy, pathos, social commentary and mystical weirdness, Tokyo Godfathers takes anime to a whole new level.
  5. My Baby's Daddy
    Isn't an embarrassment. Rather, it's an acceptably executed, thoroughly routine time-killer.
  6. Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer
    It's the interviews with Aileen herself that steal the show as she insists her mind is being controlled by radio waves -- her Mad Hatter personality beyond the scope of Broomfield's disingenuous tone to interpret.
  7. Chasing Liberty
    Inoffensive adolescent escapism laced with surprising amounts of genuine charm.
    • 96 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Battle of Algiers
    It's a dedicated effort with importance as a 'document.' (Review of original release)
  9. Yves Saint Laurent 5 avenue Marceau 75116 Paris
    Companion piece to Teboul's "Yves Saint Laurent -- Time Regained" nicely complements that excellent film but is less riveting as a free-standing experience.
  10. Secret Things
    There's plenty for both the eyes and intellect to groove over in Secret Things, a taut, juicy, low-key feast of sexual and office politics filtered through helmer Jean-Claude Brisseau's customary blend of expedient formality and all-stops-out baroque behavior.
  11. Millennium Mambo
    A slow, empty, over-mannered snoozer that shows Taiwanese helmer Hou Hsiao-hsien asleep at the wheel.
  12. Japanese Story
    Develops into a powerfully emotional experience thanks to a career-best performance by Toni Collette.
  13. The Company
    Robert Altman takes an elegant, appealingly unemphatic look at the world of ballet.
  14. Paycheck
    Uninspired star turns from Ben Affleck and Uma Thurman suggest something less than full belief in this quickly forgettable thriller.
  15. The Young Black Stallion
    A visually opulent but dramatically undernourished prequel to the 1979 hit of almost the same name.
  16. Cold Mountain
    A grim picaresque odyssey across a beautiful scarred landscape laced together by private romantic longing. Handsomely made and vividly acted.
  17. Cheaper by the Dozen
    Unfortunately knows no tone between schmaltzy/gooey and slapstick/gross-out. Pic is as far from the original pic and its autobiographical memoir source as it can be while retaining the same title.
  18. Peter Pan
    Handsome, respectable and well cast, elaborate production lacks the excitement and magic that would elevate the film to beloved status, and sheer abundance of CGI work weighs on it too heavily.
  19. Monster
    Gritty and compelling as Monster is, the script's not entirely satisfying elaboration of the central relationship and Ricci's somewhat ungiving performance limit the material to that of a superior telemovie rather than something emotionally richer, like "Boys Don't Cry."
  20. 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.
  21. Calendar Girls
    Though the film is never dull, and playing by the cast is spirited, it's actually a surprisingly gentle movie, with no big "Full Monty"-like finale to send auds buzzing into the street.
  22. The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara
    Errol Morris delivers a compelling, thoughtful and entirely involving documentary in The Fog of War.
  23. The Butterfly
    A solidly entertaining, cross-generational two-hander, The Butterfly strikes the right balance between humor and observational bite.
  24. Mona Lisa Smile
    An appealing female cast gives the hollowly formulaic Mona Lisa Smile more dignity than it perhaps deserves, yet it's Julia Roberts in an ill-suited starring role that represents one of the film's chief shortcomings.
  25. House of Sand and Fog
    A faithful, powerful and superbly acted adaptation of Andre Dubus III's international bestseller.
  26. The Hebrew Hammer
    Although amusing as often as not, the material remains more comedy-sketch fodder than a fully developed feature.
  27. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
    Represents that filmmaking rarity -- a third part of a trilogy that is decisively the best of the lot. With epic conflict, staggering battles, striking landscapes and effects, and resolved character arcs all leading to a dramatic conclusion to more than nine hours of masterful storytelling.
  28. Power Trip
    Made with deft evenhandedness, Paul Devlin's accomplished film plays almost like a fictional drama, containing suspense, comedy and some colorful characters.
  29. Hotel Room
    Spanish writer-director Cesc Gay and Argentine co-director Daniel Gimelberg cook up one or two agreeably tart episodes in this uneven pic, but ultimately, it plays like "Four Rooms" without a budget.
  30. AKA
    Always watchable yet ultimately self-defeating in terms of its tonal/aesthetic choices.
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