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Foul Play

Foul Play

Comedy · Mystery · Thriller · 1978

A shy San Francisco librarian and a bumbling cop fall in love as they solve a crime involving albinos, dwarves, and the Catholic Church.

Movie details

Foul Play

“It's a highly dangerous comedy!!”

1978 Comedy · Mystery · Thriller 1h 56m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.3 / 10

Community rating

A shy San Francisco librarian and a bumbling cop fall in love as they solve a crime involving albinos, dwarves, and the Catholic Church.

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 Foul Play?

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.

Young Sherlock Holmes

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Kept Woman

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Thriller · 2015

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Overdrive

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Thriller · 2017

Master car thieves square off against French gangsters in the South of France with money, women and lives all on the line.

The Seven-Ups

The Seven-Ups

Thriller · 1973

A tough detective who is part of an elite New York City unit is trying to find out who killed his partner, but uncovers a plot to kidnap mobsters for money.

The Ladykillers

The Ladykillers

Comedy · 2004

An eccentric, if not charming Southern professor and his crew pose as a band in order to rob a casino, all under the nose of his unsuspecting landlord – a sharp old woman.

See How They Run

See How They Run

Mystery · 2022

In the West End of 1950s London, plans for a movie version of a smash-hit play come to an abrupt halt after a pivotal member of the crew is murdered. When world-weary Inspector Stoppard and eager rookie Constable Stalker take on the case, the two find themselves thrown into a puzzling whodunit within the glamorously sordid theater underground, investigating the mysterious homicide at their own peril.

Fletch Lives

Fletch Lives

Comedy · 1989

Fletch is a fish out of water in small-town Louisiana, where he's checking out a tumbledown mansion he's inherited. When a woman he flirts with turns up dead, he becomes a suspect and must find the killer and clear his name.

The Cheap Detective

The Cheap Detective

Comedy · 1978

A spoof of the entire 1940s detective genre. San Francisco private detective, Lou Pekinpaugh is accused of murdering his partner at the instigation of his mistress—his partner's wife.

Who's Harry Crumb?

Who's Harry Crumb?

Comedy · 1989

Harry Crumb is a bumbling and inept private investigator who is hired to solve the kidnapping of a young heiress which he's not expected to solve because his employer is the mastermind behind the kidnapping.

The Thursday Murder Club

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Comedy · 2025

A group of senior sleuths passionate about solving cold cases get plunged into a real-life murder mystery in this comic crime caper.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Colin Higgins

Written by

Colin Higgins

Goldie Hawn

Goldie Hawn

Gloria Mundy

Chevy Chase

Chevy Chase

Tony Carlson

Burgess Meredith

Burgess Meredith

Mr. Hennessey

Eugene Roche

Eugene Roche

Archbishop Thorncrest / Archbishop's brother

Dudley Moore

Dudley Moore

Stanley Tibbets

Marilyn Sokol

Marilyn Sokol

Stella

Brian Dennehy

Brian Dennehy

Fergie

Court is in session

Put Foul Play on trial.

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

The defence The Adrenaline Seeker

“Its refusal to behave is the point.”

The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.

The prosecution The Prestige Tourist

“Oddness is not depth.”

A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.