Movie Scores: How the critics rated the new movies

“Battleship” has heavy-duty weaponry and an unflagging spirit of patriotism on its side, but that doesn’t mean it’s winning the war with critics.

The big-budget adaptation of the 1960s board game, starring Taylor Kitsch, Alexander Skarsgard, Liam Neeson and Rihanna, is receiving less-than-lukewarm reviews in its opening weekend. AP Movie Critic Christy Lemire gave it two and a half stars out of four, though, calling it “big, dumb fun that knows it’s big, dumb fun and enthusiastically embraces its big, dumb, fun nature.”

Also opening this week is “The Dictator,” starring Sacha Baron Cohen as the ruler of a fictional, oil-rich North African country who finds himself living among the common people when he comes to New York. Lemire gave the comedy one and a half stars out of four, saying: “For a long time, it’s hard to tell what Baron Cohen’s point is in spoofing this type of despot: that torture and rape are bad? Could it really be that simple?”

Here’s a look at how these movies and others fared on the top review websites as of Friday afternoon. Each score is the percentage of positive reviews for the film:

_ “Polisse”: Metacritic, 73; Movie Review Intelligence, 78.7; Rotten Tomatoes, 88. Average: 79.9.

_ “The Dictator”: Metacritic, 59; Movie Review Intelligence, 60; Rotten Tomatoes, 63. Average: 60.7.

_ “Hysteria”: Metacritic, 53; Movie Review Intelligence, 60.6; Rotten Tomatoes, 48. Average: 53.9.

_ “Battleship”: Metacritic, 40; Movie Review Intelligence, 45.9; Rotten Tomatoes, 36. Average: 40.6.

_ “What to Expect When You’re Expecting”: Metacritic, 43; Movie Review Intelligence, 47.2; Rotten Tomatoes, 22. Average: 37.4.

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Online:

http://www.metacritic.com/

http://moviereviewintelligence.com/

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/

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