The defence The Popcorn Loyalist
“It owes the canon nothing.”
The movie pursues immediacy and audience pleasure without begging institutions to certify its worth.
Back to trending 
The Freshman
Comedy · Crime · 1990
After a film student gets his belongings stolen, he meets a mobster bearing a startling resemblance to a certain cinematic godfather. Soon, he finds himself caught up in a caper involving endangered species and fine dining.
Movie details
The Freshman
“He was on his way to the Dean's List, but he wound up on the hit list.”
1990 Comedy · Crime 1h 42m
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
IMDb
6.5 / 10
22.4K votes
Rotten Tomatoes
94 %
Tomatometer
Metacritic
78 / 100
Metascore
TMDB
6.3 / 10
Community rating
External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.
After a film student gets his belongings stolen, he meets a mobster bearing a startling resemblance to a certain cinematic godfather. Soon, he finds himself caught up in a caper involving endangered species and fine dining.
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 The Freshman?
For the defence
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Prestige Tourist
“You like your greatness pre-approved.”
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.
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Thick as Thieves
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Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Andrew Bergman
Written by
Andrew Bergman
Marlon Brando
Carmine Sabatini, aka Jimmy The Toucan
Matthew Broderick
Clark Kellogg
Bruno Kirby
Victor Ray
Penelope Ann Miller
Tina Sabatini
Frank Whaley
Steve Bushak
Jon Polito
Chuck Greenwald
Kenneth Welsh
Dwight Armstrong
Court is in session
Put The Freshman on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Prestige Tourist
“Easy pleasure, short half-life.”
It moves efficiently through the moment but offers little reason to keep arguing once the credits end.