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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How to Marry a Millionaire
Comedy · Romance · 1953
Three women set out to find eligible millionaires to marry, but find true love in the process.
Movie details
How to Marry a Millionaire
“The Most Glamorous Entertainment Of Your Lifetime in CinemaScope. You See It Without Glasses!”
1953 Comedy · Romance 1h 36m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.8 / 10
Community rating
Three women set out to find eligible millionaires to marry, but find true love in the process.
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 How to Marry a Millionaire?
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.
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Watching the Detectives
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Relationship Goals
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When TV producer Leah Caldwell aims to become the first woman running New York's top morning show, her ex competes for the same role. Leah stays focused on her career, until chemistry with her ex challenges her priorities.
Yoh! Bestie
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Thando is perpetually unlucky in love, but when her bestie returns from his travels with a fiancée in tow, she's forced to face a new emotion — jealousy.
Love Is in the Air
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A fiercely independent pilot fighting to keep her family business afloat starts to fall for the man sent by corporate to ground her operation forever.
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Jean Negulesco
Written by
Nunnally Johnson
Marilyn Monroe
Pola Debevoise
Lauren Bacall
Schatze Page
Betty Grable
Loco Dempsey
David Wayne
Freddie Denmark
Rory Calhoun
Eben
Cameron Mitchell
Tom Brookman
Alexander D'Arcy
J. Stewart Merrill
Court is in session
Put How to Marry a Millionaire 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.