The defence The Popcorn Loyalist
“Sincerity is not manipulation.”
The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.
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Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Family · Comedy · 2014
Alexander's day begins with gum stuck in his hair, followed by more calamities. Though he finds little sympathy from his family and begins to wonder if bad things only happen to him, his mom, dad, brother, and sister all find themselves living through their own terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
Movie details
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
“One day can change everything.”
2014 Family · Comedy 1h 21m
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
IMDb
6.2 / 10
48.7K votes
Rotten Tomatoes
62 %
Tomatometer
Metacritic
54 / 100
Metascore
TMDB
6.2 / 10
Community rating
External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.
Alexander's day begins with gum stuck in his hair, followed by more calamities. Though he finds little sympathy from his family and begins to wonder if bad things only happen to him, his mom, dad, brother, and sister all find themselves living through their own terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
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 Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day?
For the defence
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Big-Idea Head
“You watch with your brain, not your gut.”
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.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
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Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Road Trip
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Eleven-year-old Alexander and his family embark on a dream Spring Break vacation to Mexico City only to have all their plans go terribly wrong when they discover a cursed idol.
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Dennis the Menace
Family · 1993
Mr. Wilson's ever-present annoyance comes in the form of one mischievous kid named Dennis. But he'll need Dennis's tricks to uncover a collection of gold coins that go missing when a shady drifter named Switchblade Sam comes to town.
Pups Alone
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After receiving an exciting new job opportunity at a cutting edge Pet Invention company, Robert, his teenage daughter Jenna and their trusty and special border collie Charlie make the move to the new neighborhood, right before Christmas. Upon arriving, Robert meets his gorgeous next door neighbor Holly, and her sassy and spunky border collie Gidget. Before the sparks can fly, they are set upon my Robert’s conniving and obnoxious next door neighbor and project manager Victor, his neighborhood bully bulldog “Vinnie P” and the sycophantic sidekick Chihuahua “Jose”.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
Family · 2011
Wimpy Greg Heffley, now in seventh grade, thinks he has it all together. He has mastered middle school and gotten rid of the Cheese Touch. However, Greg's older brother, Rodrick, is itching to cut him down to size. He gets the perfect opportunity when their mother tries to force the boys to bond. Rodrick may be Greg's chief tormentor, but he feels his constant pranks are just what his little brother needs to prepare him for life's hard knocks.
Life with Father
Comedy · 1947
A straitlaced turn-of-the-century father presides over a family of boys and the mother who really rules the roost.
Dora and the Search for Sol Dorado
Family · 2025
Dora, Diego, and their new friends trek through the perilous dangers of the Amazonian jungle in search of the ancient and powerful treasure of Sol Dorado to keep it out of enemy hands.
Where it lives
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Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.
Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Miguel Arteta
Written by
Rob Lieber
Ed Oxenbould
Alexander Cooper
Steve Carell
Ben Cooper
Jennifer Garner
Kelly Cooper
Dylan Minnette
Anthony Cooper
Kerris Dorsey
Emily Cooper
E
Elise Vargas
Baby Trevor
Z
Zoey Vargas
Baby Trevor
Court is in session
Put Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Big-Idea Head
“The strings are showing.”
Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.