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.
Back to trending 
Housesitter
Comedy · Romance · 1992
Con artist Gwen moves into Newton's empty home without his knowledge and begins setting up house, posing as his new wife.
Movie details
Housesitter
“She's turning his house into a home...hers!”
1992 Comedy · Romance 1h 42m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.2 / 10
Community rating
Con artist Gwen moves into Newton's empty home without his knowledge and begins setting up house, posing as his new wife.
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 Housesitter?
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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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.
The Baxter
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Mild mannered tax accountant Elliot Sherman is what he calls a "Baxter": the kind of calm, unexciting fellow who "wears sock garters" and "enjoys raking leaves." Loved by bosses and parents, Elliot is a perfectly nice guy. And that's his problem.
Cousins
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When Larry and Maria learn that their respective spouses are cheating on them, they try to turn the tables on them by pretending to have an affair. However, they soon find themselves falling in love.
Love, Weddings & Other Disasters
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A fussy celebrity caterer, a blind woman, a tour-bus guide and an inexperienced wedding planner search for love.
Crossing Delancey
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Thirty-something Isabelle spends her time going from her tiny, solitary West Side apartment to that of her grandmother on the Lower East Side. While her grandmother plots to find her a romantic match, Isabelle is courted by a married, worldly author, Anton, yet can't seem to shake the down-to-earth appeal of Sam, a pickle vendor.
The Rebound
Romance · 2009
Upon discovering her husband's infidelity, Sandy leaves the suburbs and moves into the city. There, she befriends Aram, a guy whose wife only married him so she could get a green card. Sandy hires Aram to be her nanny, and it isn't long until Aram and Sandy find out they get along wonderfully and start to date. But is their relationship real or is it, in fact, just a rebound for both of them?
The Right Kind of Wrong
Romance · 2013
A stubborn idealist spies a bride on her way to her wedding and immediately falls in love with her.
Easy Virtue
Comedy · 2008
A young Englishman marries a glamorous American. When he brings her home to meet the parents, she arrives like a blast from the future - blowing their entrenched British stuffiness out the window.
Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Frank Oz
Written by
Mark Stein · Brian Grazer
Steve Martin
Newton Davis
Goldie Hawn
Gwen Phillips
Dana Delany
Becky Metcalf
Julie Harris
Edna Davis
Donald Moffat
George Davis
Peter MacNicol
Marty
Richard B. Shull
Ralph
Court is in session
Put Housesitter 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.