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.
Back to trending 
Desk Set
Comedy · Romance · 1957
A computer expert tries to prove his electronic brain can replace a television network's research staff.
Movie details
Desk Set
“The girls and guys who make the office such a wonderful place to love in!”
1957 Comedy · Romance 1h 43m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
7.0 / 10
Community rating
A computer expert tries to prove his electronic brain can replace a television network's research staff.
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 Desk Set?
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.
Silk Stockings
Comedy · 1957
After three bumbling Soviet agents fail in their mission to retrieve a straying Soviet composer from Paris, the beautiful, ultra-serious Ninotchka is sent to complete their mission and to retrieve them. She starts out condemning the decadent West, but gradually falls under its spell—with the help of an American movie producer. A remake of Ninotchka (1939).
The Wrong Paris
Romance · 2025
Dawn thinks she's joining a dating show in Paris, France, only to land in Paris, Texas. She has an exit plan — until sparks fly with the cowboy bachelor.
Chasing Papi
Comedy · 2003
Playboy Thomas Fuentes has so far been able to skate by in life on good looks and charm alone. But when his duplicitous relationships with three women -- impassioned waitress Cici, meticulous lawyer Lorena and bored socialite Patricia -- spiral out of control, he suffers a mental breakdown. His doctor recommends that he choose just one girlfriend -- but can he choose in time before they discover his deception?
Little Italy
Comedy · 2018
Former childhood pals Leo and Nikki are attracted to each other as adults—but will their feuding parents' rival pizzerias put a chill on their sizzling romance?
The Disorderly Orderly
Comedy · 1964
Poor Jerome Littlefield. He wants to be a doctor – but that's not exactly the perfect career choice when you're hopelessly squeamish. So he settles for the job of orderly at the Whitestone Sanitarium, a career move that's guaranteed to keep the patients – and viewers – in stitches!
Yoh! Bestie
Romance · 2026
Thando is perpetually unlucky in love, but when her bestie returns from his travels with a fiancée in tow, she's forced to face a new emotion — jealousy.
Watching the Detectives
Comedy · 2007
Neil, a self-proclaimed film geek and owner of Gumshoe video, has always been content to live vicariously through his favorite films noir. But when he meets Violet, a real-life femme fatale, his mundane world gets turned upside down and the line between reality and the movies quickly begins to blur.
Wedding Season
Romance · 2022
Pressured by their immigrant parents to find spouses, two Indian-Americans pretend to date in order to survive a summer of weddings – but find themselves falling for each other as they struggle to balance who they are with who their parents want them to be.
Love at the Shore
Romance · 2017
Single mom Jenna Thompson only five weeks to deliver her next teen novel to her publisher. So, this year's annual beach vacation with her kids will be a working vacation. Upon arrival, the family soon meets their new next-door neighbor, confident, devil-may-care surfer Lucas McKinnon.
Love Is in the Air
Romance · 2023
A fiercely independent pilot fighting to keep her family business afloat starts to fall for the man sent by corporate to ground her operation forever.
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Walter Lang
Written by
Phoebe Ephron · Henry Ephron
Spencer Tracy
Richard Sumner
Katharine Hepburn
Bunny Watson
Gig Young
Mike Cutler
Joan Blondell
Peg Costello
Dina Merrill
Sylvia Blair
Sue Randall
Ruthie Saylor
Neva Patterson
Miss Warriner
Court is in session
Put Desk Set 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.