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The Catered Affair

The Catered Affair

Drama · Comedy · Romance · 1956

An Irish cabby in the Bronx watches his wife go overboard planning their daughter's wedding.

Movie details

The Catered Affair

“When you're in love, nothing else matters”

1956 Drama · Comedy · Romance 1h 34m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

7.2 / 10

Community rating

An Irish cabby in the Bronx watches his wife go overboard planning their daughter's wedding.

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 Catered Affair?

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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Not Easily Broken

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Richard Brooks

Written by

Gore Vidal · Paddy Chayefsky

Bette Davis

Bette Davis

Agnes Hurley

Ernest Borgnine

Ernest Borgnine

Tom Hurley

Debbie Reynolds

Debbie Reynolds

Jane Hurley

Barry Fitzgerald

Barry Fitzgerald

Jack Conlon

Rod Taylor

Rod Taylor

Ralph Halloran

Robert F. Simon

Robert F. Simon

Mr. Halloran

Madge Kennedy

Madge Kennedy

Mrs. Halloran

Court is in session

Put The Catered Affair 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.