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The Associate

The Associate

Comedy · 1996

Laurel Ayres is a businesswoman trying to make it but unfortunately she works at a investment firm where she does all the work but all the senior investors like Frank Peterson grab all the credit. She then leaves and starts her own firm. While trying to find clients Laurel pretends that she has a male partner named Robert Cutty. And when she starts to do well all of her clients wants to meet Cutty which is difficult since he doesn't exist.

Movie details

The Associate

“Behind every great man is a woman... Wishing he'd get the hell out of her way.”

1996 Comedy 1h 54m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.2 / 10

Community rating

Laurel Ayres is a businesswoman trying to make it but unfortunately she works at a investment firm where she does all the work but all the senior investors like Frank Peterson grab all the credit. She then leaves and starts her own firm. While trying to find clients Laurel pretends that she has a male partner named Robert Cutty. And when she starts to do well all of her clients wants to meet Cutty which is difficult since he doesn't exist.

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 Associate?

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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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Donald Petrie

Written by

Nick Thiel

Whoopi Goldberg

Whoopi Goldberg

Laurel Ayres

Dianne Wiest

Dianne Wiest

Sally Dugan

Eli Wallach

Eli Wallach

Donald Fallon

Tim Daly

Tim Daly

Frank Peterson

Bebe Neuwirth

Bebe Neuwirth

Camille Scott

Austin Pendleton

Austin Pendleton

Aesop Franklin

Lainie Kazan

Lainie Kazan

Cindy Mason

Court is in session

Put The Associate on trial.

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

The defence The Popcorn Loyalist

“It owes the canon nothing.”

The movie pursues immediacy and audience pleasure without begging institutions to certify its worth.

The prosecution The Big-Idea Head

“Easy pleasure, short half-life.”

It moves efficiently through the moment but offers little reason to keep arguing once the credits end.