Washington Post's Scores

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For 11,478 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 46% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 52% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 5.4 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 60
Highest review score: 100 Oppenheimer
Lowest review score: 0 Dolittle
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6,014 out of 11478
  2. Mixed: 3,069 out of 11478
  3. Negative: 2,395 out of 11478
11478 movie reviews
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  1. Ray
    There may not be a bigger-hearted performance this year than Jamie Foxx's in Ray.
  2. Shaun of the Dead
    If the zombie genre steadfastly refuses to die, we can be grateful to Shaun of the Dead for breathing fresh, diverting life into the form, with subtle visual humor and a smart, impish sense of fun.
  3. South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut
    Sharp, wildly funny social satire behind the profanity and potty jokes.
  4. Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War
    A complex film about the minefield of loyalty and betrayal.
  5. Team America: World Police
    This is all terrifically nasty and shocking stuff.
  6. Thirteen
    The creation of teen-girl culture seems almost pitch-perfect. The flaw is the flaw of most works of muckraking when they are held to artistic standards: It's a question of proportion.
  7. The United States of Leland
    A compelling, exquisitely acted drama about the shock waves emanating from -- and toward -- a single act of almost inexplicable violence.
  8. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
    Wonderfully silly all the time.
  9. Intimate Strangers
    This is the kind of sophisticated and pleasurable movie you dream of seeing from France.
  10. Open Water
    Rarely have the dangers of drifting apart been given such a visceral and genuinely upsetting emotional wallop.
  11. Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself
    What makes Wilbur worth watching are its smaller bits: Mads Mikkelsen's hilarious performance as a taciturn psychiatrist and Julia Davis's equally funny portrayal of a needy group therapy counselor.
  12. Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
    Will seem a classic if you're stoned, and only slightly less funny if you're straight.
  13. Bend It Like Beckham
    You seldom leave a theater walking on air, much less float all through a movie. But the joyous Bend It Like Beckham never lets you down.
  14. Collateral
    If Collateral is all formula, it's polished to a fine sheen.
  15. Forrest Gump
    This is a captivating experience.
  16. Closer
    If you're the sort of person who laughs at funerals, train wrecks, earnest political documentaries and stories about the rape of nature, you'll love Closer.
  17. Finding Neverland
    Depp is a charm. He becomes his own, subtly compelling Barrie.
  18. I, Robot
    Smith makes it look easy, but underneath the physical high jinks and slick veneer of I, Robot lies a performance of real discipline and intelligence.
  19. The Motorcycle Diaries
    The movie's not heavyhanded about this coming of moral age; the revelations unfurl in subtle ways. What Bernal and this well-wrought movie convey so well is the charisma that would soon become a part of human history.
  20. Spanglish
    Above all, the movie's funny and wicked fun.
  21. Miller's Crossing
    Crossing should be watched not because it's their finest achievement (that's still to come), but because the brothers are keeping things refreshingly different and building a career, their minds still very much fixed on originality.
  22. Peter Pan
    Imbued with a greater degree of psychological darkness than before.
  23. Spider-Man
    With disarmingly entertaining movies like this, dare I say, who needs big bad superhero movies?
  24. The Woodsman
    Not to be missed, if only for an unforgettable leading performance by Kevin Bacon.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
    A gem of a movie, all its adversity and wickedness a backdrop for a story about the remarkable resilience of children
  26. Napoleon Dynamite
    I laughed. And I laughed primarily over Heder's hilarious performance. You ain't seen nothing till you've seen Napoleon attack that tether ball.
  27. Hotel Rwanda
    It sweeps over you with blunt, unequivocal conviction.
  28. Citizen Ruth
    Brave, funny and thoroughly irreverent.
  29. Courage Under Fire
    A downright entertaining combo of mystery, melodrama and action adventure.
  30. The Birdcage
    One of the loopiest, most hysterical family-values movies ever made.
  31. Tin Cup
    Sexy, slap-happy links comedy.
  32. When We Were Kings
    Though the Oscar-nominated documentary captures the fight and the fighters, it also explores Ali's role in reintroducing black Americans to their African culture.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Mask
    Carrey's a human cartoon, and his spontaneous, Avery-esque, anything-for-a-laugh outrageousness makes this otherwise blank Mask a must-see.
  34. Beautiful Girls
    Tender, touching and downright delightful.
  35. Superman
    Despite a lull here and a lapse there, this superproduction turns out to be prodigiously inventive and enjoyable, doubly blessed by sophisticated illusionists behind the cameras and a brilliant new stellar personality in front of the cameras -- Christopher Reeve.
  36. Wings of Desire
    An ingratiating West German "Heaven Can Wait." (Review of Original Release)
  37. Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey
    A most excellent sequel, funnier and livelier than the original.
  38. Eve's Bayou
    First and best, it's got a rip-roaring story. It sweeps you along, borne effortlessly by believable if flawed characters, as it flows toward the inevitable tragedy. But it's also got a heart: It watches as a child harsh of judgment learns that judgment is too easy a posture for the world, and it's best to love with compassion. [07Nov1997 Pg G.01]
    • Washington Post
  39. GoldenEye
    And yet, Goldeneye proves the character's viability as a pop icon: It isn't a great movie, but it's great, preposterous fun.
  40. The First Wives Club
    And thanks to great existential one-liners from scriptwriter Robert Harling (with appropriate plaudits to novelist Olivia Goldsmith, of course), gender warfare is made amusing for almost everyone.
  41. Star Trek: First Contact
    First Contact, written by Ric Berman, Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore, pulsates with great imagination, amusing characters and the fundamental optimism handed down by "Star Trek" founder Gene Roddenberry.
  42. Welcome to the Dollhouse
    Writer-director Todd Solondz is far from clueless when it comes to the agonies of early adolescence, which he mercilessly re-creates in his caustic suburban comedy Welcome to the Dollhouse.
  43. Kicking and Screaming
    As a writer, Baumbach loves smart, glib talk, and he has a sharp ear for fast-paced, overlapping dialogue; as a director, though, he prefers long takes that allow his characters to work out their feelings.
  44. The Crossing Guard
    The current of bereavement never flags even when the dramatic flood becomes stagnant. In every scene, Penn seems to know precisely where the nugget of feeling is hidden, and he doesn't let up until its uncovered.
  45. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
    Treat this project as you would a safari: It has its slow parts but the wildlife makes it worthwhile.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Spanking the Monkey
    This is dangerous, dissonant material, but writer/director David O. Russell, making his feature filmmaking debut, somehow pulls it off.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Firm
    Cruise was born to play company man, and the role is an opportunity to sum up his old roles and transcend them with his most potently emotional work.
  48. In the Line of Fire
    It's not the deepest thematic concern you ever saw on screen. But it's watchable, great fun.
  49. Mrs. Doubtfire
    And you will laugh till your ribs ache -- not because director Chris Columbus of the "Home Alone" movies has a gift for farce, which he does, but because Williams is to funny what the Energizer Bunny is to batteries. He keeps going and going and going.
  50. Free Willy
    There are extremely touching moments between Jesse and mystical Randolph, who seems to understand just about everything; and, more tellingly, between Jesse and mechanic Jim.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls
    Written and directed by Steve Oedekerk, the latest "Ace" has a little more of everything than the first: more special effects, goofy props and "Airplane"-like sight gags.
  52. The Santa Clause
    Aimed at kids, but written with parents in mind, The Santa Clause balances the sugar with the spice, which Allen sprinkles on just right.
  53. Ever After
    In this modern retelling of the well-known fable, she is one princess-in-waiting who does not need rescuing by any knight in shining armor. [31 Jul 1998, Pg. N.47]
    • Washington Post
  54. Children of the Revolution
    The movie is one of those brilliant and rare blends of paradoxical elements -- both the tragedy and the folly of history, the weight of inheritance, the pressure of the ideal, lots of fairly steamy sex, even a secret agent or two.
  55. That Thing You Do!
    It doesn't overreach, doesn't cannibalize some obvious predecessors and doesn't try to drown its story about innocent music of the early '60s in the troubled waters of music in the '90s.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Fire
    In filmmaker Mehta's deft hands, the outcome is handled with power and sensitivity. [22 Aug1 997, pg.N40]
    • Washington Post
  57. Dolores Claiborne
    The movie is given unusually wide dimension by director Taylor Hackford, who creates a subtly scary drama that emphasizes character over caricature (in most cases) and plausibility over formulaic stupidity (again, in most cases).
  58. Strictly Ballroom
    It practically celebrates convenience of plot, over-the-top acting and follow-the-footprints dialogue, but mostly it is a salute to sequins and sashay. With just a hint of sarcasm.
  59. Cold Comfort Farm
    Thanks to Schlesinger's exacting direction and Malcolm Bradbury's witty, restrained script, these characters are kept more amusing than horribly pitiable.
  60. A Family Thing
    The potential for hokum is there, but Duvall and co-star James Earl Jones capably avoid the sticky pitfalls of Tom Epperson and Billy Bob Thornton's sugar-cured script.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Cry, the Beloved Country
    Alan Paton's haunting novel is brought rather splendidly to life in this moving production.
  62. Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle
    As with many of his films, Rudolph creates an oyster of a work. You need to jimmy a little around the edges before its delicate wonder becomes apparent - which it does, beautifully.[23 Dec 1994, p.36]
    • Washington Post
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Last Emperor
    That Bertolucci -- with his momentous visual choreography, and Vittorio Storaro's velvety cinematography -- manages to touch on all of this makes The Last Emperor a remarkable achievement. The politics and pageantry tend to overrun the story at times, but it seems appropriate -- Emperor Pu Yi was overwhelmed by such things.
  64. A Little Princess
    Cuaron approaches the film not as a fairy tale for children, but a work of magic realism. And perhaps best of all, he doesn't talk down to young folks, in the audience or in the cast. The performances are as natural as skinned knees and missing teeth.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Flower of My Secret
    [Pedro Almodovar] does what he does best-finding poignance in the most melodramatic of modern lifestyles.
  66. Unstrung Heroes
    Diane Keaton's kooky sensibilities as a director are ideally suited to the sweet madness of Unstrung Heroes.
  67. The Basketball Diaries
    It's a tough, intense, wrenching picture about drugs and growing up and surviving, driven by a fierce, skinless performance by its star, Leonardo DiCaprio.
  68. Cronos
    An enormously enjoyable gothic yarn from Mexico, transfuses the genre with wry grotesquerie, but retains respect for the old, classic films.
  69. Swimming to Cambodia
    It's not the monotonous, neurotic's ego trip you'd imagine, but a karate-chop crawl against a rising tide of complacency.
  70. Something Wild
    But for the first time in a long while, this is a movie that lets Demme be Demme, and the result is a film that's more than enjoyable. It's a blast.
  71. RoboCop
    With its droll underpinnings, Robocop does for cyborgs and Detroit what "Blade Runner" did for androids and L.A.
  72. Maurice
    Subtle, sensitive and every bit as swoony as a Barbara Cartland bodice-ripper, James Ivory's superb screen translation of E.M. Forster's Maurice.
  73. Naked Lunch
    There's a synergistic overlap here between Cronenberg's own particular brand of weirdness and Burroughs's; they're both twisted in ways that complement each other nicely.
  74. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
    This is painless sexual politics, a fiendish comedy full of prickles and pain and the bright shiny pinks of a matador's cape. The farce falters from time to time, the pace is imperfect, but who can resist this "Twilight Zone" of limitless coincidences?
    • 51 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Poetic Justice
    Often graceful, sometimes brilliant, Poetic is an absorbing, amusing symphony of sound and image; it also gives equal weight to its male and female characters.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Drugstore Cowboy
    Neither federally admonishing nor irresponsibly romantic, Cowboy stays high without being highhanded.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Fatal Attraction
    Fatal Attraction rings the changes on your atavistic emotions. Walking out of the theater, you might have a sudden desire to club a woolly mammoth and hide your family in a dark cave -- away from people like Glenn Close.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Party Girl
    Party Girl, which director and co-writer Mayer made for less than $1 million, is hip and contemporary without being archly so.
  79. Tootsie
    Dustin Hoffman's on a roll in Tootsie, a role-reversal movie that plays like the flip side of "Victor/Victoria." Hoffman may be dressed as a woman, but this film is no drag. [17 Dec 1982, p.19]
    • Washington Post
  80. First Blood
    Stallone is feral this film, physically powerful; he's muddy and bloody, but he's still pretty even in a tarpaulin. He's the wild child coming home. First Blood is good to the last drop, if you like that sort of thing. [22 Oct 1982, p.17]
    • Washington Post
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Henry Fool
    It remains complex, offbeat and occasionally inscrutable - and worth the work. [24 Jul 1998]
    • Washington Post
    • 51 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Father of the Bride
    The movie, as a whole, isn't nearly so original. Still, it's a pleasing, well-crafted, surprisingly satisfying diversion. It's eager to entertain and has a quality that's genuinely rare these days, a spirit of gentle modesty.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Unbelievable Truth
    The unbelievable truth about The Unbelievable Truth is that this offbeat, accomplished darkish comedy is the feature film debut of its writer-director-editor-producer Hal Hartley, and lead actors Adrienne Shelly and Robert Burke.
  84. The Man Without a Face
    In The Man Without a Face, Mel Gibson reminds us that he doesn't need one-liners and explosive special effects to warrant our attention. Gibson, as actor and first-time director, is not only self-assured in these dual roles, but he seems relieved to let the drama carry him, rather than the reverse. The result is a movie that's both heartwarming and heart-wrenching.
  85. Class Action
    Grounded in a good cause but never puffed up or preachy, the father-daughter drama transcends the issues.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Doors
    It's a slick, smarter than average biopic.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Boomerang
    The movie benefits from a stylish, high-gloss look, a hit-filled soundtrack and up-to-the-minute dialogue (there's even a Korean shop-owner joke) that feels winningly off the cuff.
  88. Lethal Weapon 2
    Lethal Weapon, that BMW of buddy movies, spawns Lethal Weapon 2, a blacktop-blistering bad-guy-getter that's nearly twice as much fun.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Hamlet
    Thanks to director Franco Zeffirelli and an impressive cast, both the tale and the telling are strikingly fresh.
  90. Kindergarten Cop
    Part cop caper, part coo-fest, it is a feel-good movie, a jolly little button-pusher about a street-smart cop who brings law and order to a classroom full of unruly but adorable youngsters.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    JFK
    Stone creates a riveting marriage of fact and fiction, hypothesis and empirical proof in the edge-of-the-seat spirit of a conspiracy thriller.
  92. Days of Thunder
    If "Top Gun" was a stylish bimbo of a movie, all cleavage, white teeth and aerodynamic flash, then Days of Thunder is its paradoxical twin -- a bimbo with brains.
  93. What About Bob?
    Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss star in this hilarious brain-teaser about a patient who suffers acute separation anxiety when his psychiatrist goes on vacation.
  94. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
    Director Frank Oz has brought a devilish tang to the machinations here, and the actors bring a sense of a spoiled grandeur to their characters' mingy souls.
  95. Mississippi Burning
    Parker, a director of breadth, not depth, never supplies the big answers, but he does powerfully depict the climate of the Confederacy in the "Freedom Summer" of 1964.
  96. Ghostbusters II
    Here, the comedy breathes, and the illusion that it's not a factory-assembled product (which it most certainly is) is a nifty one. For a major studio blockbuster, the thing is darned chummy, and above all, that rare, modest thing, a good show.
  97. Parenthood
    Weaned on the homilies of "Happy Days" and the hominy grits of Mayberry, Ron Howard brings sitcom aphorisms to bear on the sticky-fingered realities of the beamish Parenthood.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Henry V
    An alert, rousing interpretation of "Henry V," Branagh beats down the doors of high art and drags the sleeping bard into the light of modern day.
  99. Little Women
    Armstrong applies a dusting of contemporary feminism, but the stubborn sentimentalism of Alcott's endearing family portrait endures. [21 Dec 1994]
    • Washington Post
  100. Broadcast News
    As it turns out, big secrets aren't revealed in Broadcast News, but the film is so ingratiatingly high-spirited, and the performances so full of sass and vigor, that in the long run it doesn't really matter much.
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