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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Love Don't Co$t a Thing
Comedy · Drama · Family · 2003
A high school outcast pays a cheerleader to pose as his girlfriend so he can be considered cool.
Movie details
Love Don't Co$t a Thing
“Love Don't Co$t A Thing but it pays to be yourself.”
2003 Comedy · Drama · Family 1h 40m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
7.7 / 10
Community rating
A high school outcast pays a cheerleader to pose as his girlfriend so he can be considered cool.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Love Don't Co$t a Thing?
For the defence
The Sentimental Softie
“You came to feel something, and you will.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Cool Ironist
“Feeling things is a little embarrassing.”
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.
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Somewhere in Queens
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Leo and Angela Russo live a simple life in Queens, surrounded by their overbearing Italian-American family. When their son finds success on his high school basketball team, Leo tears the family apart trying to make it happen.
The Giant Mechanical Man
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An offbeat romantic comedy about a silver-painted street performer and the soft spoken zoo worker who falls for him.
Tortilla Soup
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A Mexican-American master chef and father to three daughters has lost his taste for food but not for life.
Delirious
Comedy · 2007
Les, a small-time celebrity photographer desperate to make it big, befriends Toby, a homeless young man with no direction except a vague desire to become an actor. When by chance, Toby becomes romantically involved with K'Harma Leeds, the hottest pop star of the moment, Les grows jealous and plots revenge.
Just Before I Go
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Ted Morgan has been treading water for most of his life. After his wife leaves him, Ted realizes he has nothing left to live for. Summoning the courage for one last act, Ted decides to go home and face the people he feels are responsible for creating the shell of a person he has become. But life is tricky. The more determined Ted is to confront his demons, to get closure, and to withdraw from his family, the more Ted is yanked into the chaos of their lives. So, when Ted Morgan decides to kill himself, he finds a reason to live.
Nothing Like the Holidays
Comedy · 2008
It’s Christmastime and the far-flung members of the Rodriguez family are converging at their parents’ home in Chicago to celebrate the season and rejoice in their youngest brother’s safe return from combat overseas.
The Middle Man
Comedy · 2021
Frank Farrelli takes on the job as a middle man in the God-forsaken town of Karmack, USA, a community in a depression so deep that they need a middle man to professionally communicate more of the bad news.
Love & Sex
Comedy · 2000
When her rather explicit copy is rejected, magazine journalist Kate is asked by her editor to come up with an article on loving relationships instead, and to do so by the end of the day. This gets Kate thinking back over her own various experiences, and to wondering if she is in much of a position to write on the subject.
Walking and Talking
Comedy · 1996
Just as Amelia thinks she's over her anxiety and insecurity, her best friend announces her engagement, bringing her anxiety and insecurity right back.
Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Troy Byer
Written by
Troy Byer · Michael Swerdlick
Nick Cannon
Alvin Johnson
Christina Milian
Paris Morgan
Kenan Thompson
Walter Colley
Kal Penn
Kenneth Warman
Steve Harvey
Clarence Johnson
Vanessa Bell Calloway
Vivian Johnson
Reagan Gomez-Preston
Olivia
Court is in session
Put Love Don't Co$t a Thing on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Cool Ironist
“The strings are showing.”
Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.