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Black Sheep

Black Sheep

Comedy · 1996

When dignified Albert Donnelly runs for Governor, his team moves to keep his slow-witted and klutzy younger brother, Mike, out of the eye of the media. To baby-sit Mike, the campaign assigns sarcastic Steve, who gets the experience of a lifetime when he tries to take Mike out of town during the election.

Movie details

Black Sheep

“There's one in every family.”

1996 Comedy 1h 26m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

6.2 / 10

45.6K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

29 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

34 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

6.1 / 10

Community rating

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

When dignified Albert Donnelly runs for Governor, his team moves to keep his slow-witted and klutzy younger brother, Mike, out of the eye of the media. To baby-sit Mike, the campaign assigns sarcastic Steve, who gets the experience of a lifetime when he tries to take Mike out of town during the election.

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 Black Sheep?

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.

The Distinguished Gentleman

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Comedy · 1993

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Big Business

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Comedy · 1988

In the 1940s in the small town of Jupiter Hollow, two sets of identical twins are born in the same hospital on the same night. One set to a poor local family and the other to a rich family just passing through. The dizzy nurse on duty accidentally mixes the twins unbeknown to the parents. Our story flashes forward to the 1980s where the mismatched sets of twins are about to cross paths.

Silent Movie

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Comedy · 1976

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Comedy · 2007

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Comedy · 1987

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Penelope Spheeris

Written by

Fred Wolf

Chris Farley

Chris Farley

Mike Donnelly

David Spade

David Spade

Steve Dodds

Tim Matheson

Tim Matheson

Al Donnelly

Gary Busey

Gary Busey

Drake Sabitch

Chris Owen

Chris Owen

Hal

Bruce McGill

Bruce McGill

Neuschwander

Boyd Banks

Boyd Banks

Clyde Spinoza

Court is in session

Put Black Sheep 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.