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Drop Dead Fred

Drop Dead Fred

Comedy · Fantasy · Family · 1991

An unhappy housewife gets a lift from the return of her imaginary childhood friend, Drop Dead Fred.

Movie details

Drop Dead Fred

“Dishes. Relationships. Wind. This Guy Breaks Everything.”

1991 Comedy · Fantasy · Family 1h 39m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

5.8 / 10

Community rating

An unhappy housewife gets a lift from the return of her imaginary childhood friend, Drop Dead Fred.

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 Drop Dead Fred?

The 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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The Gnome-Mobile

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The 3 Worlds of Gulliver

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Ate de Jong

Written by

Anthony Fingleton · Carlos Davis · Elizabeth Livingston

Phoebe Cates

Phoebe Cates

Elizabeth

Rik Mayall

Rik Mayall

Drop Dead Fred

Marsha Mason

Marsha Mason

Polly

Tim Matheson

Tim Matheson

Charles

Carrie Fisher

Carrie Fisher

Janie

K

Keith Charles

Murray

Ashley Peldon

Ashley Peldon

Young Elizabeth

Court is in session

Put Drop Dead Fred on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

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.

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.