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 5.3 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. A Walk on the Moon
    It believes, in the end, in the decency of most people.
  2. An Ideal Husband
    We are amused. We are not sputtering into our teacups, but we are chortling lightly.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Varsity Blues
    This flick has modest ambitions, but it delivers the goods in a fresh manner.
  4. From Hell
    It's not a great movie by any means, but it grips tighter than a chokehold and it cuts as deep as a knife.
  5. S.W.A.T.
    Offers up the kind of pleasures that only a summer movie can...The cast is good-looking, the soundtrack is loud, the plot is stupid.
  6. Office Space
    A knowing, somewhat slight, often hilarious sendup of cubicle culture.
  7. Teacher's Pet
    The writing (by Bill and Cherie Steinkellner) has a non-sentimental appeal for that young preteen (and early teen) crowd that fancies itself too cool for kiddie stuff.
  8. The Rules of Attraction
    Oddly compelling.
  9. The Fifth Element
    There’s so much high-voltage fun running throughout this comic sci-fantasy -- engineered gleefully by director Luc Besson -- you’re hard-pressed to be unaffected.
  10. One True Thing
    Admirably restrained melodrama.
  11. U.S. Marshals
    Although this film doesn't have the classy quality of The Fugitive, it certainly goes down like an action milkshake. And Jones, one of the most enjoyable actors on the screen, plays himself to the hilt.
  12. High Crimes
    Satisfies a hunger for the basics: a decent mystery to chew on, a bit of juicy suspense, maybe a plot twist as garnish. The fare is all on the standard menu, but it goes down well just the same.
  13. Out of Time
    Until that sugar coating at the end, Out of Time is clever, believable and gripping, and seems to be headed to a wondrous, bad place as it carefully modulates classic '40s themes.
  14. The Prince of Egypt
    If nothing else it's a wonderful essay on the meaning of freedom and the courage it takes to wrestle it from despots. In that sense, it feels more political and cultural than religious.
  15. Rugrats in Paris: The Movie - Rugrats II
    Your children are almost certain to have a great time.
  16. Rock Star
    The most unlikely of undertakings: an energetic feel-good movie about sex, drugs and other rock-related depravities.
  17. The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra
    A parody of B-movies stupid enough -- and yet with just enough brains -- to appeal to the most discriminating fans of the genre.
  18. Happiness
    It lacks Altman's wisdom, but its sense of humor is corrosive, if dispiriting, and its willingness to show the human animal at his most disgusting has a kind of anti-grandeur to it.
  19. I Know What You Did Last Summer
    Another Kevin Williamson triumph, a smart, sharply drawn genre film with a moral center and a solid cast of young actors to hold it.
  20. Summer School
    Proud to be junk food, but it still tackles the serious subjects of illiteracy, teen-age pregnancy and young adult alcoholism. [22 July 1987]
  21. Girlhood
    Sobering yet faintly optimistic documentary.
  22. The Negotiator
    Fortunately, Jackson and Spacey have enough sassy wit and crackling intensity between them to keep The Negotiator from becoming hostage to its own inanity.
  23. Let's Get Frank
    The outspoken congressman is just as entertaining as his liberal fans already know him to be.
  24. Horns and Halos
    A thoughtful and surprisingly affecting portrait of a screwed-up man who dared to mess with some powerful people, seen through the eyes of the idealistic kid who chooses to champion his ultimately losing cause.
  25. The Bread, My Sweet
    Enriched by a strong and unforced supporting cast, "Bread" nourishes the heart, even if its fairy-tale ending feels tacked on and unnecessary.
  26. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
    With its outrageous double-entendre, gonzo performances and appalling lack of restraint, the sequel is more than a guilty pleasure.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
    We may not need as many Austin Powers movies as there are James Bond pictures, but one or two more might be nice.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    G.I. Jane
    Guts-and-green-beret saga.
  29. Human Resources
    Far from an amusing romp.
  30. Solomon & Gaenor
    It doesn't lack for emotional intensity or persuasive, three-dimensional characters.
  31. Wild Things
    The movie is as tawdry as someone else's lingerie, yet not without a certain prurient watchability.
  32. Mighty Aphrodite
    It's a mixed bag--deftly and hilariously philosophical in some places, deeply disengaged and prosaic in others.
  33. Crimes and Misdemeanors
    Whiny, quirky and urbane.
  34. Small Time Crooks
    Diverting and provides a satisfying alternative to teen-oriented summer comedy.
  35. Hollywood Ending
    It's a brilliant concept, one of Allen's finest. Love the concept, baby. But the execution is, well, average.
  36. Bamboozled
    What the movie lacks in clarity, it makes up for in honesty, toughness, relentlessness and passion.
  37. Beloved
    Powerful, depressing and very, very long. At close to three hours, it virtually enslaves an audience, which may be part of the point.
  38. The Full Monty
    Beaufoy and Cattaneo handle this potentially racy material with an engaging balance of good taste and outright slapstick.
  39. 8 Women
    A gorgeous, if disjointed, spectacle, made endurable – if not entirely comprehensible – by its eye-popping cast.
  40. Greendale
    To watch Greendale is to understand everything about Neil Young. Like him, it's grungy, honest, disarming and unapologetically original.
  41. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
    At least it's a pleasant walk, with attractive people and nice conversation
  42. 50 First Dates
    A chick flick for guys, with a pH balance in perfect equilibrium between the crass and the sweet.
  43. Bang Rajan
    A wartime epic in the most flamboyant, operatic tradition of the genre.
  44. The Business of Strangers
    After an hour of brilliant, bitchy dialogue and deceit, it simply runs out of energy; or possibly the budget ran out.
  45. Joe the King
    Leads you through a miserable childhood without sentimentality or relief. The effect is torturous.
  46. 24 Hour Party People
    The manic swirl of characters (most speaking in thick Northern accents that are sometimes muffled and incomprehensible) may leave you exhausted and confused.
  47. October Sky
    Paint-by-numbers feel-gooder, in which Homer and his friends decide to win a national science fair for their little town and, ultimately, for America.
  48. Barbershop 2: Back in Business
    What separates Calvin and Eddie from the typical comic hero -- and each "Barbershop" movie from the standard yuk-fest -- is that these folks know how to back up all the hot air with meaningful action.
  49. Veronica Guerin
    Does a respectable job of showing how a journalist constructs a story, the small exchanges, endless wheedling and occasional veiled threat. But most of all, it captures an impressive performance from Blanchett.
  50. Six Days Seven Nights
    Romantic comedies don't get more formulaic than this bouncing-screwball valentine, but then they don't get much more delightful, either.
  51. Daddy Day Care
    If you attend the movie with your expectations lowered by Murphy's recent films, you'll be reasonably amused.
  52. The Green Mile
    From its deceptively easygoing beginning to the heart-wrenching finale, The Green Mile keeps you wonderfully high above the cynical ground.
  53. Almost Peaceful
    There's something rather lovely about the mood and intentions of Michel Deville's French movie.
  54. The Dancer Upstairs
    It's not a great film, but in its reckless audacity -- an American director working from a British novel set in Latin America, dealing with the largest themes of Latin American art, politics and history -- it's reassuring. Someone's still willing to take a big chance.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Breakfast Club
    Their conversations give The Breakfast Club its snap, crackle and pop. And this is that rare movie that could benefit from another half hour of talking time. [15 Feb 1985]
    • Washington Post
  56. Nicotina
    A gimmick film, but it's brought off with such verve it's great fun.
  57. Iron Monkey
    Showcases its cast's athleticism and Ping's kinetic high-wire artistry. But unlike similar Western-made fare, it doesn't take itself seriously.
  58. Deep Blue Sea
    This movie's entire raison d'etre (that's French for "shark meat") is to toy creatively with the "rules."
  59. Rosenstrasse
    A modest yet moving fact-based drama.
  60. The Holy Land
    The acting of the main cast is uniformly nuanced, and, except for some bad makeup on Mendy's father, the film never looks as low-budget as it must have been.
  61. Chasing Liberty
    Will probably win over as many fuddy-duddy fathers as fillies with its mixture of sweetness tempered with genial cynicism.
  62. Laws of Attraction
    A tame, fitfully amusing and generally inoffensive romantic comedy.
  63. The Wedding Singer
    Adam Sandler is surprisingly likable as Robbie, a struggling musician who is left at the altar early in this modest romantic comedy.
  64. Pretty Woman
    But it's Roberts's memorably comic performance that is the most distinguishing aspect of the movie. As the gawky professional companion, she's ticklishly appealing.
  65. Maryam
    High on melodrama. But it's emotionally engrossing, too, thanks to strong, credible performances from the whole cast.
  66. The Princess Diaries
    Fitfully amusing comedy from director and one-time sitcom king Garry Marshall, the fantasy is alive and well among little girls of all ages.
  67. Rat Race
    And even though the jokes keep on coming, not all are side-splitters. But before it's all over, they will have viewers howling at one or more pants-wettingly silly moments.
  68. Quills
    Rush is too sinfully good for the drama he's in.
  69. Road Trip
    It satisfies your appetite for totally tasteless but deliciously flaky boy movies.
  70. It Runs in the Family
    Much to my surprise and delight, the movie is nothing like its marketing.
  71. One Last Kiss
    It's not Fellini, by any means, but it's lively. Never stops moving, even though it crashes into cliches along the way.
  72. The Mexican
    Like many of his recent films, The Mexican would be an independent movie if Pitt, not to mention the queen of popcorn cinema, weren't part of the picture. This is not your typical star vehicle.
  73. A Civil Action
    A complex, compelling examination of personal-injury law as well as a portrait of personal redemption, the movie quickly sets its tone with a heartless summation of an individual's relative worth.
  74. The Whole Nine Yards
    This Matt Perry vehicle is funnier than anyone could hope to expect.
  75. The Winslow Boy
    The case is tried off-screen. Thank goodness for the maid (Sarah Flind), who runs home from her chores with tidings from the outside world -- we hear from the maid that Sir Bobby gave a helluva final argument. The jurors wept, the crowd went wild. Too bad we missed it.
  76. Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi
    Modest and winning.
  77. The Human Stain
    You feel as though you're watching a filmed play rather than a movie. Nothing wrong with that. But The Human Stain, directed more than well enough by Robert Benton, doesn't reach the emotional pitch it's shooting for.
  78. Last Night
    An end-of-the-world movie like no other.
  79. Twin Falls Idaho
    Entrancing, uncommonly compassionate film.
  80. Boyz n the Hood
    With its energetic cast and insistent street score, it still manages to be poignant without becoming bathetic, and violent without being exploitative.
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