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.
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What Dreams May Come
Drama · Fantasy · Romance · 1998
Chris Nielsen dies to find himself in a heaven more amazing than he could have ever dreamed of. There is one thing missing: his wife. After he died, his wife Annie killed herself and went to hell. Chris decides to risk eternity in Hades for the small chance that he will be able to bring her back to heaven.
Movie details
What Dreams May Come
“After life there is more. The end is just the beginning.”
1998 Drama · Fantasy · Romance 1h 53m
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
IMDb
7.0 / 10
117.5K votes
Rotten Tomatoes
51 %
Tomatometer
Metacritic
44 / 100
Metascore
TMDB
7.2 / 10
Community rating
External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.
Chris Nielsen dies to find himself in a heaven more amazing than he could have ever dreamed of. There is one thing missing: his wife. After he died, his wife Annie killed herself and went to hell. Chris decides to risk eternity in Hades for the small chance that he will be able to bring her back to heaven.
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 What Dreams May Come?
For the defence
The Sentimental Softie
“You came to feel something, and you will.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
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.
A Ghost Story
Drama · 2017
Recently deceased, a white-sheeted ghost returns to his suburban home to console his bereft wife, only to find that in his spectral state he has become unstuck in time, forced to watch passively as the life he knew and the woman he loves slowly slip away.
The Time Traveler's Wife
Drama · 2009
Due to a genetic disorder, handsome librarian Henry DeTamble involuntarily zips through time, appearing at various moments in the life of his true love, the beautiful artist Clare Abshire.
City of Angels
Drama · 1998
When a guardian angel – who invisibly watches over the citizens of Los Angeles – becomes captivated by a strong-willed heart surgeon, he ponders trading in his pure, otherworldly existence for a mortal life with his beloved. The couple embarks on a tender but forbidden romance spanning heaven and Earth.
Endless
Romance · 2020
When madly in love high school graduates Riley and Chris are separated by a tragic car accident, Riley blames herself for her boyfriend's death while Chris is stranded in limbo. Miraculously, the two find a way to connect. In a love story that transcends life and death, both Riley and Chris are forced to learn the hardest lesson of all: letting go.
The In Between
Romance · 2022
After surviving a car accident that took the life of her boyfriend, a teenage girl believes he's attempting to reconnect with her from the after world.
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
Romance · 1974
After her husband dies, Alice and her son, Tommy, leave their small New Mexico town for California, where Alice hopes to make a new life for herself as a singer. Money problems force them to settle in Arizona instead, where Alice takes a job as waitress in a small diner.
Untamed Heart
Drama · 1993
Caroline, a young waitress who seems to have bad taste in men, is on her way home one night when thugs attempt to rape her. Adam, the mysterious busboy who works at the same diner, helps fight off the assailants, and she begins a relationship with him -- but not all their fellow Minnesotans are happy for them. Meanwhile, the couple face their own difficulties when Caroline finds about Adam's past, including his unique health condition.
2 Hearts
Romance · 2020
When illness strikes two people who are polar opposites, life and death bring them together in surprising ways.
The Lovely Bones
Fantasy · 2009
After being brutally murdered, 14-year-old Susie Salmon watches from heaven over her grief-stricken family -- and her killer. As she observes their daily lives, she must balance her thirst for revenge with her desire for her family to heal.
Jane Eyre
Drama · 2011
After a bleak childhood, Jane Eyre goes out into the world to become a governess. As she lives happily in her new position at Thornfield Hall, she meets the dark, cold, and abrupt master of the house, Edward Rochester. Jane and her employer grow close in friendship and she soon finds herself falling in love with him. Happiness seems to have found Jane at last, but could Rochester's terrible secret be about to destroy it forever?
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Vincent Ward
Written by
Ronald Bass
Robin Williams
Chris Nielsen
Cuba Gooding Jr.
Albert Lewis
Annabella Sciorra
Annie Collins-Nielsen
J
Josh Paddock
Ian Nielsen
Jessica Brooks Grant
Marie Nielsen
Max von Sydow
The Tracker
Wilma Bonet
Angie
Court is in session
Put What Dreams May Come on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist
“The strings are showing.”
Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.