The defence The Sentimental Softie
“Sincerity is not manipulation.”
The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.
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Mannequin
Comedy · Romance · Fantasy · 1987
Jonathan Switcher, an unemployed artist, finds a job as an assistant window dresser for a department store. When Jonathan happens upon a beautiful mannequin he previously designed, she springs to life and introduces herself as Emmy, an Egyptian under an ancient spell. Despite interference from the store's devious manager, Jonathan and his mannequin fall in love while creating eye-catching window displays to keep the struggling store in business.
Movie details
Mannequin
“Just because Jonathan's fallen in love with a piece of wood, it doesn't make him a dummy.”
1987 Comedy · Romance · Fantasy 1h 29m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.9 / 10
Community rating
Jonathan Switcher, an unemployed artist, finds a job as an assistant window dresser for a department store. When Jonathan happens upon a beautiful mannequin he previously designed, she springs to life and introduces herself as Emmy, an Egyptian under an ancient spell. Despite interference from the store's devious manager, Jonathan and his mannequin fall in love while creating eye-catching window displays to keep the struggling store in business.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Mannequin?
For the defence
The Sentimental Softie
“You came to feel something, and you will.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Cool Ironist
“Feeling things is a little embarrassing.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
Girl Haunts Boy
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Cole, a teen grieving the loss of his dad, forms an unlikely bond with Bea, a ghost. As they navigate life and death, they must break an ancient curse.
Penelope
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Forlorn heiress Penelope Wilhern is cursed, and the only way out is to fall in love with someone of suitable stock. But how can she find her soulmate when she's sequestered inside her family's estate with only her parents to keep her company? This untraditional fairy tale is about a girl who bucks convention to create her own happy ending.
It's a Boy Girl Thing
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A visit to a natural history museum proves catastrophic for two high school rivals, an overachiever and a jock, when an ancient Aztec statue casts a spell that causes them to switch bodies and see exactly what it's like to walk in the other's shoes.
Every Day
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16-year old Rhiannon falls in love with a mysterious spirit named “A” that inhabits a different body every day. Feeling an unmatched connection, Rhiannon and “A” work each day to find each other, not knowing what the next day will bring.
Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas
Animation · 1997
Astonished to find the Beast has a deep-seated hatred for the Christmas season, Belle endeavors to change his mind on the matter.
Irish Wish
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Maddie's dream guy is days away from marrying her best friend when a wish for true love made on an ancient stone in Ireland magically alters her fate.
How to Marry a Millionaire
Comedy · 1953
Three women set out to find eligible millionaires to marry, but find true love in the process.
The Wrong Paris
Romance · 2025
Dawn thinks she's joining a dating show in Paris, France, only to land in Paris, Texas. She has an exit plan — until sparks fly with the cowboy bachelor.
Enchanted
Comedy · 2007
The beautiful princess Giselle is banished by an evil queen from her magical, musical animated land and finds herself in the gritty reality of the streets of modern-day Manhattan. Shocked by this strange new environment that doesn't operate on a "happily ever after" basis, Giselle is now adrift in a chaotic world badly in need of enchantment. But when Giselle begins to fall in love with a charmingly flawed divorce lawyer who has come to her aid - even though she is already promised to a perfect fairy tale prince back home - she has to wonder: Can a storybook view of romance survive in the real world?
La Dolce Villa
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When his daughter decides to buy a crumbling Tuscan villa, Eric rushes to Italy to talk her out of it — and instead finds beauty, romance and new purpose.
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Michael Gottlieb
Written by
Edward Rugoff · Michael Gottlieb
Andrew McCarthy
Jonathan Switcher
Kim Cattrall
Ema 'Emmy' Hesire
Estelle Getty
Claire Prince Timkin
James Spader
Mr. Richards
G.W. Bailey
Captain Felix Maxwell
Carole Davis
Roxie Shield
Meshach Taylor
Hollywood
Court is in session
Put Mannequin on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Cool Ironist
“The strings are showing.”
Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.