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. Moulin Rouge!
    McGregor, the movie's most engaging performer, is convincing enough to sell the mutual attraction. The "Trainspotting" star is usually playing some kind of freak, and this is a nice stretch for him.
  2. The Yes Men
    Yes, The Yes Men is funny, but it's humor that hurts.
  3. The Shape of Things
    Packing a dizzying array of motives and tensions into his careful, densely layered round robin, LaBute orchestrates The Shape of Things like a suspense thriller, full of hidden agendas and emotional switchbacks.
  4. Casa de los babys
    If Casa de los Babys isn't necessarily a fully realized film, it's still a deeply felt glimpse into dizzyingly complex political and psychological forces that shape the most crucial decisions of a woman's life.
  5. Zelary
    For fans of old-fashioned European filmmaking, this may have its pleasing qualities.
  6. Latter Days
    Although the rest of the story plays out with melodramatic predictability, it's timely, not to mention refreshing, to see an affirmation of true love over hot sex, along with a reminder that the two aren't necessarily mutually exclusive.
  7. Burn! (re-release)
    Pontecorvo's pointed 1969 drama of the politics of war feels surprisingly timely.
  8. La grande strada azzurra
    The film is nowhere near the level of Pontecorvo's masterpiece, or even his subsequent flawed allegory on Vietnam, "Burn!," but is clearly the work of a natural coming into the full range of his powers.
  9. Conspiracy Theory
    With it's many knotty connections and complex exposition, the movie is definitely something of a muddle, but for that matter so are most conspiracy theories.
  10. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
    Rather than the mad, kinetic video-game vigor you'd expect, the movie proceeds at a more leisurely and methodical gait. I rather liked that.
  11. The General's Daughter
    The movie, directed by Simon West isn't bad, although the repeated shots of Campbell lying spread-eagled on the ground, and the amount of detail we're forced to swallow about the horrors she underwent border on the offensive.
  12. Stateside
    So unexpected and unpredictable and so full of tiny grace notes that its ultimate collapse seems almost irrelevant.
  13. The Limey
    (Stamp and Fonda's) polar-opposition in acting styles and temperament, their cultural differences and their pop-cultural synergy come together with almost delicious cacophony.
  14. Tying the Knot
    Jim de Seve's cogent pro-gay-marriage argument appeals equally to emotion and reason.
  15. The Good Girl
    It's tough, astringent, darkly funny and . . . well, it's also generic, untidy, condescending and mild of impact rather than stunning.
  16. Russian Ark
    For the truth is, given the audacity, the organization, the seriousness of purpose, the movie isn't nearly as provocative as you think it might be.
  17. Criminal
    The main reason to see Criminal isn't for the mental workout it might offer but simply to watch these two appealing performers act and act and act.
  18. The Ice Storm
    The decade has been fondly spoofed in capers like "The Brady Bunch," but Lee's film takes a much more searing, if initially hilarious look at the sexual revolution's migration to a New England suburb and the community's subsequent meltdown. [17 October 1997, p.D6]
    • Washington Post
  19. Private Parts
    Unfortunately, the movie is likely to earn more money than praise. If it showcases him in all his glory, it also shows what little glory there is to celebrate.
  20. No Man's Land
    You want a happy ending? You want sunshine, sentimentality, a sense of justice and honor and duty? Me too. But you won't find it here.
  21. Vodka Lemon
    A thematically bleak yet subtly comic film.
  22. Go Further
    A warmly spirited travel diary of a movie.
  23. The Animal
    Genial rather than an affront to good taste. It's also pretty darn funny.
  24. Arlington Road
    Though a thematically ambitious and deftly acted thriller, the film is also shockingly coldblooded and not a little reactionary.
  25. Entrapment
    There's your intrigue. There's your romance. There's your x factor, by which I mean your willingness to give two appealing stars an incredible break throughout most of the major obstacles between them and a successful robbery.
  26. Hidalgo
    One rousing, if rote, adventure.
  27. The Golden Bowl
    Another handsome, dramatically moribund adaptation of a grand old classic.
  28. The Rundown
    Turns out he's infinitely more likable than Vin Diesel, who carries his sense of stardom through every movie like an insufferable Atlas. In fact, Dwayne Johnson is a gentleman, the kind of Rock who puts you in a very easy place.
  29. Mona Lisa Smile
    The movie, with its panorama of emotional epiphanies and its belief in the talent and grace of young women, is nevertheless bracing.
  30. Pumpkin
    An odd and oddly endearing romantic black comedy.
  31. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi
    Brings things to an almost cheesy conclusion. Given the gripping, dark elements that creator George Lucas introduced in the two previous films, the third movie’s outcome smacks of PG-rated populism rather than artistic fulfillment. But the experience is still highly entertaining. [Special Edition]
    • 34 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed
    The overall effect is highly entertaining for grownups, and, judging from the squeals of delight from the young audience at a recent screening, for kids, too.
  33. Bad Lieutenant
    Ferrara is clearly drawing an equation between the criminals' actions and The Lieutenant's, and as trite (and potentially shameless) as this may sound, it actually works.
  34. P.S.
    Somehow, wondrous acting holds things together.
  35. Sex Is Comedy
    By Breillat's usually dire standards, this is practically a laff riot, and if you want to see her funniest, most accessible movie, this is the one to watch.
  36. The Peacemaker
    Slick, gripping and largely believable.
  37. Bright Young Things
    Engaging, energetic film.
  38. Stuck on You
    The movie's sweeter than funny, but still has a fair share of guffaws.
  39. Blind Shaft
    Slow going, but it provides an absorbing glimpse of a rarely seen side of Chinese life.
  40. The Center of the World
    Wang is working on your mind, not your body.
  41. Clifford's Really Big Movie
    The movie's sweet, gentle nature may lack the subtle irony of the "Toy Storys" and "Shreks" of the world, but parents won't be bored.
  42. Next Stop Wonderland
    It's the individual characters, so carefully crafted, who count, as opposed to a tidy conclusion.
  43. Tears of the Sun
    This is an odd amalgam of bleeding-heart sentimentality and over-the-top guts-and-glory action. You're not sure how to feel. But you're certainly not as moved and stunned as you were in "Black Hawk Down."
  44. Cellular
    Its adroit use of suspense makes you overlook the silliness.
  45. Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
    Documentary about rock history's biggest heavy metal band is -- variously -- serious, funny, frustrating and touching.
  46. Suspect Zero
    With its spooky atmosphere to spare and a riveting central performance by Kingsley, an actor who manages to elicit both terror and sympathy, I was able to forget all those things, basking in the pleasure of my own goose bumps. So, for an hour and a half, will you.
  47. Lost Boys of Sudan
    A touching documentary on the immigrant experience -- or at least one very tough slice of it.
  48. Braveheart
    A completely adequate modern facsimile of the classic romantic epic.
  49. Best in Show
    Just isn't as fresh, focused or uniformly funny as "Waiting for Guffman."
  50. Clerks
    Much of "Clerks" is extremely funny and dead-on—in terms of its intentionally satirical, Gen-X-istential gloom.
  51. The Girl Next Door
    An entertaining affair whose wild-card creativity never ceases to surprise.
  52. Final Destination 2
    Can't wait for the next sequel . . .
  53. Mostly Martha
    A sweet, even delectable diversion from the more explosive cinematic fare of the season.
  54. Narc
    This is a stirring movie, if relentless intensity, handheld camera work, cover-your-eyes violence and ear-splitting yelling matches are what you're craving.
    • Washington Post
  55. A Night at the Roxbury
    I will admit that this TV skit stretched out to a filament-thin 83 minutes is idiotic, but I mean that in a good way.
  56. The Punisher
    Unlike some of its recent ilk – "Spider-Man," for example – The Punisher is, no disrespect, a thoroughly morose and bilious affair. That is precisely what I like best about it.
  57. Road to Perdition
    There's something impressive and yet lacking about everything.
  58. The Recruit
    Compelling, if throwaway, drama.
  59. Waterworld
    If the story seems a little waterlogged, it's still big, loud, and fun to watch.
  60. The Ladykillers
    A amusing trifle that might fit somewhere between "The Big Lebowski" and "Intolerable Cruelty"; for those expecting "Fargo," it's no "Fargo."
  61. Seducing Doctor Lewis
    Most important, the film has a terrific supporting character in St. Marie herself, portrayed by the real Canadian island of Harrington Harbour (pop. 300).
  62. Starsky & Hutch
    A perfect example of a really good not-great movie, the kind that would be classified as a guilty pleasure were it not executed with guilt-free honesty and good nature.
  63. Scooby-Doo
    You don't want to love this, but you will. Although Scooby-Doo falls far short of becoming the "Blazing Saddles" of Generations X, Y and Z, it is hard to resist in its moronic charms.
  64. Mulan
    Mulan may be exotic, but it's hardly a risky enterprise, what with its sentimental show tunes, wholesome morals and plucky teen heroine.
  65. Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry
    A lucid, emotionally affecting portrait not just of one man but of his times.
  66. I'm Not Scared
    Good but it SEEMS even better because of its evocative setting.
  67. White Oleander
    A lot of White Oleander is heavy sledding of the waa-waa, touchy-feely kind. But just as much of it has the sting of something so real it hurts.
  68. The Last Seduction
    A spirited attempt at modern film noir, and huge parts of it are enjoyable.
  69. The Dreamers
    By equal measure tragic and hopeful, it is both a love song to escapism and a warm embrace of the real world.
  70. Galaxy Quest
    Funny without being flip.
  71. The Last Shot
    Despite its generic title and flat ending, tickles most of the way through.
  72. Voices of Iraq
    Fairly fascinating little documentary.
    • Washington Post
  73. George of the Jungle
    Brendan Fraser breathes loopy new life into the swinging '60s TV cartoon icon.
  74. Along Came Polly
    Is Along Came Polly a great film? No, probably not, but it is a very amusing one.
  75. The Boxer
    Where the movie succeeds-and succeeds wonderfully-is when it stays a heartbeat away from politics. For two-thirds of the movie, it's an involving, boxing saga and romance.
  76. The Sixth Sense
    It's like an enema to the soul as it probes the ways of death ? some especially grotesque in a family setting. You leave slightly asquirm. You know it will linger.
  77. Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War
    A shorter version of which was shown last year in a series of house parties sponsored by the anti-Bush organizations MoveOn.org and the Center for American Progress -- Greenwald marshals dozens of impeccably credentialed witnesses to debunk the case made for going to war.
  78. Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There
    If you love the theater, you've got to see the film.
  79. The Patriot
    Mostly, the movie is riveting, well-done fare -- the stuff of Hollywood epic adventure.
  80. The Mother
    You may not enjoy The Mother (I certainly didn't), but it's a movie so heavy on truth, its spell cannot be denied.
  81. Recess: School's Out
    The movie's great fun, particularly for kids used to that satirically hard-edged kind of kid show.
  82. Scream 2
    [Craven's] stroke of genius is to offer the horror movie in an ironic mode. He's winking at viewers and inviting them to share a clever conspiracy that we on the cholesterol-clogged side of 30 cannot begin to understand.
  83. The Thin Red Line
    A big, fat, gorgeous, mesmerizing mess.
  84. Waking the Dead
    This wonderfully acted romance brings the touching fantasy "Truly, Madly, Deeply" to mind.
  85. The Alamo
    Its egotistical, wishy-washy and otherwise flawed protagonists are no less heroic because they look -- and act -- like you and me. On the contrary, they are more so.
  86. Valentin
    Quietly, with pathos and tinges of melancholy humor, Valentin pays homage to the heroism of creating your own world when the one that's on offer breaks your heart.
  87. Something's Gotta Give
    It is a well written, nicely acted and smoothly directed battle of the sexes.
  88. A Home at the End of the World
    Watching Spacek dance around the bedroom, slowly loosening up while Laura Nyro plays, is one of the joys of this cinematic season.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Lightning in a Bottle
    The movie manages to educate without losing steam.
  90. Snatch.
    Although the plot is crucial, it's the interaction among characters that makes Snatch percolate. Ritchie knows when to stop and smell the comedy.
  91. Gozu
    It somehow feels richly, hilariously real, even -- at its most bizarre -- familiar.
  92. Save the Last Dance
    This is a spirited, dirty dance between the polished inauthenticity of Hollywood romance-musicals and hip-hop's central tenet: keeping it real. It's an intriguing combination, if nothing else.
  93. Jurassic Park
    A dumbed-down adaptation of Michael Crichton's techno-novel on the dangers of dinosaur cloning, it's not Spielberg at the top of his game, but it's dino-mite just the same.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Prince and Me
    Nothing is new about the movie's premise, but it is entertaining all the same.
  95. Series 7: The Contenders
    The suspense may be fraudulently manufactured but it captivates us nevertheless, and by the end we're reduced to the bloodlusting anonymity of the true culprits in all this jaded junk, and that is the TV audience.
  96. American History X
    Trenchant and visceral, American History X may not be perfect, but it's a darn sight better than good.
  97. Stage Beauty
    Ultimately this is a celebration of the theater, a big, wet kiss to the craft of acting and the artists who inhabited London's early stages.
  98. A Knight's Tale
    The action scenes are beautifully mounted and photographed and offer a sense of the rigors of the sport.
  99. After Midnight
    A movie that longs for a return to a cinema that, rather than marketing, merchandise and corporate synergy, is about the mysteries that flicker to life after the lights go down.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Hiding and Seeking: Faith and Tolerance After the Holocaust
    Thoughtful documentary.
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