Variety's Scores

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For 17,765 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 2.3 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: 9,125 out of 17765
  2. Mixed: 7,004 out of 17765
  3. Negative: 1,636 out of 17765
17765 movie reviews
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  1. Washington Heights
    Believable characters trump the retread plot and hokey message.
  2. Only the Strong Survive
    Less an historical flashback than a present-tense valentine.
  3. The Trip
    The cataclysmic changes in attitude and lifestyles the characters pass through at irregular intervals from 1973 to 1984... seem to consist wholly of changes in hairstyle that look as wildly stereotyped and inauthentic as the gestures and lines that accompany them.
  4. Man on the Train
    The comedy-drama hinges on the captivating dynamic between the two men, combining gentle humor and charm with a melancholy undercurrent of yearning.
  5. Daddy Day Care
    Scarcely more amusing than spending 90 minutes in a pre-K classroom.
  6. The Shape of Things
    Very much in line with his maiden screen efforts "In the Company of Men" and "Your Friends and Neighbors"...ends with a satisfying shudder of recognition at the extreme cruelty possible within human relationships, particularly those conceived by Neil LaBute.
  7. Down with Love
    Stars Zellweger and McGregor are too knowingly nudge-wink in their performances, too much contrived constructs to become real characters, let alone fuel the romantic comedy engine and make an audience care much whether they end up together.
  8. Reno: Rebel Without a Pause
    Nancy Savoca's workmanlike record of a La Mama stage performance taped last December finds the comic spinning some not-especially-interesting anecdotes about her bewildered actions that day, before turning toward more incisive political commentary.
  9. Charlotte Sometimes
    The deft shading he (Byler) elicits from his thesps is of a piece with his dramatics and his understated, artful approach to compositions and movement.
  10. X2: X-Men United
    About twice as good as the original...bigger and more ambitious in every respect, from its action and visceral qualities to its themes.
  11. The Dancer Upstairs
    The film is powered by a superbly controlled performance from Javier Bardem. While it lacks economy and could have used a firmer hand in shaping the key central relationship, this intelligent, arrestingly sober drama packs a cumulative punch.
  12. Owning Mahowny
    Philip Seymour Hoffman and John Hurt give compelling performances... But the coldly unrewarding drama is as distant and joyless as its protagonist, representing a disappointment for director Richard Kwietniowski.
  13. Blue Car
    This melancholy, insightfully scripted coming-of-age drama is moving without being manipulative and makes an assured calling card for writer-director Karen Moncrieff.
  14. The Lizzie McGuire Movie
    Just two weeks after successfully targeting boys with "Holes," Disney is giving girls something they want with this mild, quasi-romantic romp.
  15. New Suit
    Another satirical view of the everyday insanity of working within the Industry, slickly made New Suit adds no special insight to the subgenre.
  16. Spellbound
    Docu dispassionately examines this strange phenomenon of anachronistic Americana, created as a newspaper promotion in 1925.
  17. Returning Mickey Stern
    Undone by an idea capable of hanging together for 30 minutes at best.
  18. The Real Cancun
    Unabashedly tasteless, wholly trashy and, also, hugely entertaining.
  19. House of Fools
    Has the comically grotesque appeal of a Fellini film and could reach out to auds in specialized release. It lacks the originality and invention to go much beyond that.
  20. City of Ghosts
    Despite a name cast, with Dillon playing an insurance crook, pic is holed by a plot-heavy script that's unsatisfying at a character level and plays like a cut-down version of a much longer, more ambitious saga.
  21. A Decade Under the Influence
    An entertaining, deeply respectful assessment of the directors and actors who rode the countercultural wave of the 1970s.
  22. The Scoundrel's Wife
    A bland gumbo of wartime intrigue and home-front soap opera in the bayou country of Louisiana.
  23. Confidence
    Stylish, compelling crime caper full of smoothly navigated plot twists.
  24. Identity
    Some fancy footwork in the writing and directing can't disguise the hoary "Ten Little Indians" origins of Identity.
  25. It Runs in the Family
    Uneasily pivots between comedy and drama, with its best parts strongly reminiscent of Schepisi's previous, British-made drama about aging and dying buddies, "Last Orders."
  26. People I Know
    Compelling 24-hour odyssey into the life of a world-weary Gotham publicist, driven by a vivid performance from Al Pacino.
  27. Mr. and Mrs. Iyer
    A drama of impeccable intentions flawed by arch dialogue and only OK direction.
  28. Jersey Guy
    The unfocused writing makes the film increasingly less convincing as it stumbles toward an awkwardly structured resolution -- closing on a conga line that makes "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" seem cutting-edge.
  29. Onmyoji: The Yin Yang Master
    The effects prove extremely uneven, with sub-par touches alongside astonishing and truly unforgettable shots.
  30. Winged Migration
    Visually stunning, practically dialogue-free and very family-friendly.
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