Variety's Scores

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For 17,847 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: 9,172 out of 17847
  2. Mixed: 7,036 out of 17847
  3. Negative: 1,639 out of 17847
17847 movie reviews
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  1. Down from the Mountain
    Before the music takes over, the film inserts a few bits of charm, such as Emmylou Harris excitedly following the latest Major League Baseball scores.
  2. Auggie Rose
    Unspectacular but quietly absorbing.
  3. Songcatcher
    Unfolds at a leisurely but enjoyable pace, its dramatic contrivances never pushed too hard.
  4. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
    Has the distinction of being a major motion picture that's far less imaginative, and quite a bit more stupid, than the interactive game it's based on.
  5. Russian Doll
    A romantic comedy that treads familiar "Green Card" terrain with considerable charm if no great style or originality.
  6. Sexy Beast
    Often enjoyable, massively uneven Brit ganglander with an almost surreal approach to the genre.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Let It Snow
    Smarter and more appealing than many other recent romantic comedies.
  8. Atlantis: The Lost Empire
    Recycles familiar adventure and cartoon devices with minimal wit and flair, and the lack of imagination will seem all the more dramatic to audiences in comparison to the winningly sophisticated "Shrek."
  9. Evolution
    A consistently amusing action romp.
  10. Bride of the Wind
    An odd case of filmmaking with a crystal-clear subject but no guiding dramatic premise.
  11. The Anniversary Party
    Too familiar in its basic trajectory to be fresh or compelling.
  12. Whatever Happened to Harold Smith?
    Pic's busy direction and bright performances partly compensate for a script that goes in too many directions at the same time.
  13. Erleuchtung garantiert
    Ochsenknecht and Wohler are a strong double act, displaying exemplary comic timing and making the brothers a problem-plagued but likable pair.
  14. Swordfish
    A half-absorbing, half-ridiculous techno-thriller that often goes too far in search of audience-rousing effects.
  15. Divided We Fall
    Confronts an incendiary topic head-on with grace, style, compassion and exquisitely practical wit.
  16. Rape Me
    This hard-core pic is a half-baked, punk-inflected porn odyssey masquerading as a movie worth seeing and talking about.
  17. The Animal
    A sweethearted trifle.
  18. What's the Worst That Could Happen?
    The star in this case is Martin Lawrence, who is not only thoroughly upstaged by nemesis Danny DeVito but is completely boxed out of his comfort zone for broad physical comedy.
  19. Barking Dogs Never Bite
    While the slender idea feels stretched at feature length and fails to brings its themes of societal chaos together in a fully cohesive way, the film is fresh and lively enough to score further festival bookings, particularly at events devoted to new talent.
  20. The Man Who Cried
    Sally Potter, who leapt to critical attention with her 1992 adaptation of Virginia Woolf's "Orlando" -- makes a serious misstep with The Man Who Cried.
  21. The Road Home
    Takes the simplest of stories and weaves a seductive, extremely moving portrait of a young woman’s unshakable love.
  22. Pearl Harbor
    Just compare their superficiality to the complex characters in "From Here to Eternity" and what's missing here becomes terribly clear.
  23. Fast Food Fast Women
    Boasts engaging characters, inventive situations and a series of satisfying punchlines that will send viewers out with a smile.
  24. Strange Fits of Passion
    Technically raw, and amusing only in hit-and-miss fashion, the no-budget independent production recalls too many other entries about erudite young adults wrestling with questions of love and sex.
  25. Angel Eyes
    Darts back and forth from being a psychological thriller to a vaguely metaphysical drama to a fate-driven romance -- it all becomes a blur.
  26. Moulin Rouge!
    A tour de force of artifice, a dazzling pastiche of musical and visual elements at the service of a blatantly artificial story.
  27. Shrek
    This spirited and often very funny lark accomplishes something that most films in the bygone Hollywood studio era used to do but is remarkably rare in today's world of niche markets: It offers entertainment equally to viewers from 4 to 104.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    Performance
    Co-director Nicolas Roeg’s lensing is tricky, the characters gamey, the dialog dull, performances flat, impact none.
  29. Sordid Lives
    When Sordid Lives does what it does best -- showing Southern gals in the full flight of rabid self-denial -- it's as screamingly funny as this subgenre can get.
  30. Startup.com
    Topical film, which goes beyond its potentially dry diet of facts to incorporate the juicy human drama of Machiavellian manipulations, ambition, torn loyalties and crushing betrayal.
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