For 103 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 44% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 53% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 1.2 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Allison Benedikt's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 58
Highest review score:
Critic Score 100
Lowest review score:
Critic Score 12
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 51 out of 103
  2. Negative: 22 out of 103
103 movie reviews
    • Metascore: 82
    • Allison Benedikt 100
    Steering clear of phony melodrama and indie pretense, Baumbach captures a crisis in one family's life that, though it shakes the foundation, leaves all four Berkmans drifting toward highs and lows unknown, each of them only dimly aware that, no matter what the movies tell us, we never really come of age.
    • Metascore: 59
    • Allison Benedikt 88
    All three men turn in superb and understated performances.
    • Metascore: 58
    • Allison Benedikt 88
    With husband and wife starring, you can't help but wonder which details here are autobiographical. No matter: This is obviously a deeply personal work for Attal, whose comic timing and passion can only serve him well both on screen and off.
    • Metascore: 73
    • Allison Benedikt 88
    Don't let the fast-and-loose vibe fool you: Right up to its operatic finale, this is one tight one last job.
    • Metascore: 67
    • Allison Benedikt 88
    Hilarious, inspired, frenzied.
    • Metascore: 76
    • Allison Benedikt 88
    It's a familiar dance, but something only July could invent, a vignette much like her characters: beautiful, flawed, organic--fine alone but better with the others.
    • Metascore: 73
    • Allison Benedikt 88
    Yes, Steve Carell can carry a movie. Yes, Judd Apatow can direct a movie. Yes, we'll all relate to a middle-aged virgin. And yes, when an aesthetician yells to her assistant "we're gonna need more wax," you best run.
    • Metascore: 84
    • Allison Benedikt 88
    An uplifting, funny and engaging star-studded affair.
    • Metascore: 77
    • Allison Benedikt 88
    With humor, honesty and awe, Feuerzeig's portrait may love Daniel Johnston, but it won't give his parents much hope.
    • Metascore: 68
    • Allison Benedikt 88
    Acutely perceptive and slyly quick-witted.
    • Metascore: 75
    • Allison Benedikt 88
    A compelling piece of press criticism as it probes the media as terror's conduit of choice, spreading message and validating violence in the 1970s and today.
    • Metascore: 75
    • Allison Benedikt 88
    It's hard to breathe in Andrew Lau and Alan Mak's Infernal Affairs, a relentlessly taut Hong Kong cop thriller that, unlike many of its cinematic peers, doesn't burn off tension in choreographed action sequences.
    • Metascore: 66
    • Allison Benedikt 88
    Grace and Quaid imbue what could have been caricatures--with heart, intelligence and great comic timing.
    • Metascore: 81
    • Allison Benedikt 75
    If this all sounds very heavy, well, it is, but it's also very, very funny. Cronenberg may want to say something important about violence, but he's also head over heels for it, ending each gunfight and neck-breaking with a close-up on the victim, blood either pooling behind his head or brains spilling from his face. Big laughs.
    • Metascore: 42
    • Allison Benedikt 75
    So what started as a female "Agent Cody Banks" happily and seamlessly becomes so much more, with style and substance existing in unusual harmony for a spy spoof.
    • Metascore: 56
    • Allison Benedikt 75
    The gall of Peter and Bobby Farrelly. To think that a romantic comedy might work absent a sleazy wager or maddening miscommunication takes a lot of chutzpah.
    • Metascore: 66
    • Allison Benedikt 75
    More often then not, the relationships and performances are strong and moving, with an effect both breezy-fun and profound.
    • Metascore: 68
    • Allison Benedikt 75
    Brewer achieves near perfection in this tense, intimate meeting between two lifelong hustlers.
    • Metascore: 72
    • Allison Benedikt 75
    But though you'll laugh your head off, the whole film kind of morphs into a blur, with one poop/sex/abuse joke after another. It's exhausting, really. And save for the very best tellings, you do start to wonder: What's so funny?
    • Metascore: 87
    • Allison Benedikt 75
    The movie here is Treadwell's footage--some of it beautiful, much of it difficult to watch.
    • Metascore: 63
    • Allison Benedikt 75
    Pairing monumental insensitivity with a bright-eyed delivery, Silverman is the current valedictorian of the nothing-is-sacred school of comedy, a modern-day Lenny Bruce spared her forefather's legal woes by time, breasts and porcelain skin.
    • Metascore: 65
    • Allison Benedikt 75
    Works remarkably well as a stylish and unconventional buddy flick--cruising along with wit and wisdom.
    • Metascore: 72
    • Allison Benedikt 75
    Match Point is fantastic to look at, sharply dramatic and Allen is--who knew?--a master of suspense.
    • Metascore: 35
    • Allison Benedikt 75
    Easygoing but surprisingly likable comedy.
    • Metascore: 65
    • Allison Benedikt 75
    Equally fascinating and frustrating.
    • Metascore: 64
    • Allison Benedikt 75
    It's a joy to see so many cheerful and contented characters on screen, especially on a screen that looks this good.
    • Metascore: 73
    • Allison Benedikt 75
    Sam Dunn's unabashed wet kiss to his favorite genre of music, heavy metal, a.k.a. devil's music.
    • Metascore: 65
    • Allison Benedikt 75
    Jacobson, whose earlier film is a docudrama about Jeffrey Dahmer, is clearly fascinated with men who would be monsters. It's a ripe and infinite topic to explore, but without Norton, theme alone could not have sustained Down in the Valley.
    • Metascore: 39
    • Allison Benedikt 75
    Overall the film is alluringly over-the-top without being overcooked.
    • Metascore: 65
    • Allison Benedikt 75
    It's a stunningly creepy specimen of Asian horror.