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Kramer vs. Kramer

Kramer vs. Kramer

Drama · 1979

Ted Kramer is a career man for whom his work comes before his family. His wife Joanna cannot take this anymore, so she decides to leave him. Ted is now faced with the tasks of housekeeping and taking care of himself and their young son Billy.

Movie details

Kramer vs. Kramer

“There are three sides to this love story.”

1979 Drama 1h 45m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

7.8 / 10

165.2K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

90 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

77 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

7.6 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

Ted Kramer is a career man for whom his work comes before his family. His wife Joanna cannot take this anymore, so she decides to leave him. Ted is now faced with the tasks of housekeeping and taking care of himself and their young son Billy.

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 Kramer vs. Kramer?

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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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Robert Benton

Written by

Robert Benton

Dustin Hoffman

Dustin Hoffman

Ted Kramer

Meryl Streep

Meryl Streep

Joanna Kramer

Jane Alexander

Jane Alexander

Margaret Phelps

Justin Henry

Justin Henry

Billy Kramer

Howard Duff

Howard Duff

John Shaunessy

George Coe

George Coe

Jim O'Connor

JoBeth Williams

JoBeth Williams

Phyllis Bernard

Court is in session

Put Kramer vs. Kramer on trial.

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

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Ambition earns the room.”

The film reaches for consequence and scale, accepting the risk of seriousness instead of shrinking from it.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Importance has entered the chat.”

The production keeps announcing its significance, as though awards-season posture were proof of insight.