Rita Kempley, Washington Post
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For 498 reviews, this critic has graded:
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42% higher than the average critic
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1% same as the average critic
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57% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 3.9 points lower than other critics.
(0-100 point scale)
Rita Kempley's Scores
- Movies
| Average review score: | 55 |
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| Highest review score: |
Critic Score
100
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| Lowest review score: |
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0
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Score distribution:
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Positive: 226 out of 498
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Mixed: 134 out of 498
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Negative: 138 out of 498
498
movie reviews
- By critic score
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Rita Kempley 80
An entertaining tangle of pop aesthetic and comic book myth that occasionally bogs down, but manages to be ingratiating for all its defects. -
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Rita Kempley 80
A downright entertaining combo of mystery, melodrama and action adventure. -
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Rita Kempley 80
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. -
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Rita Kempley 80
An ingratiating West German "Heaven Can Wait." (Review of Original Release) -
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Rita Kempley 80
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. -
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Rita Kempley 80
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. -
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Rita Kempley 80
Aimed at kids, but written with parents in mind, The Santa Clause balances the sugar with the spice, which Allen sprinkles on just right. -
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Rita Kempley 80
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. -
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Rita Kempley 80
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. -
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Rita Kempley 80
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. -
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Rita Kempley 80
Diane Keaton's kooky sensibilities as a director are ideally suited to the sweet madness of Unstrung Heroes. -
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Rita Kempley 80
It's not the monotonous, neurotic's ego trip you'd imagine, but a karate-chop crawl against a rising tide of complacency. -
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Rita Kempley 80
With its droll underpinnings, Robocop does for cyborgs and Detroit what "Blade Runner" did for androids and L.A. -
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Rita Kempley 80
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. -
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Rita Kempley 80
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? -
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Rita Kempley 80
Grounded in a good cause but never puffed up or preachy, the father-daughter drama transcends the issues. -
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Rita Kempley 80
"Lethal Weapon," that BMW of buddy movies, spawns Lethal Weapon 2, a blacktop-blistering bad-guy-getter that's nearly twice as much fun. -
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Rita Kempley 80
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. -
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Rita Kempley 80
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. -
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Rita Kempley 80
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. -
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Rita Kempley 80
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. -
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Rita Kempley 80
Armstrong applies a dusting of contemporary feminism, but the stubborn sentimentalism of Alcott's endearing family portrait endures. [21 Dec 1994] -
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Rita Kempley 80
It's rambunctiously entertaining, a loop-de-loopy bumper car ride through a firecracker sky, all bright lights, sonic booms and impossible heroics.- Posted Feb 11, 2013
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Rita Kempley 80
The story holds a potential for sap that is mostly unfulfilled thanks to Beresford's stately approach, the stars' better judgment and the protagonists' sharp wits. Admirably, Driving Miss Daisy takes the road less traveled.- Posted Feb 20, 2013
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Rita Kempley 70
Primarily, it's a warm, fuzzy and funny duet between Spacey and Bridges, one that brings to mind the interplay between Spock and Kirk. -
