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My First Mister

My First Mister

Comedy · Drama · Romance · 2001

Leelee Sobieski is brash, abrasive and vulnerable as a teenage child of divorce who hides her pain behind a mask of hard-edged gothic rebellion. Albert Brooks plays a man who is her total opposite, a precise and well-ordered menswear store owner of forty-nine who manages limited expectations and protects lonely secrets with pleasant ritual and quiet, ironic reserve. These two total opposites collide in conflict then come together in a surprising alliance, changing each other's lives forever.

Movie details

My First Mister

“Mismatched. Misguided. Unmistakably friends.”

2001 Comedy · Drama · Romance 1h 49m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

7.1 / 10

6K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

53 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

48 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

6.5 / 10

Community rating

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

Leelee Sobieski is brash, abrasive and vulnerable as a teenage child of divorce who hides her pain behind a mask of hard-edged gothic rebellion. Albert Brooks plays a man who is her total opposite, a precise and well-ordered menswear store owner of forty-nine who manages limited expectations and protects lonely secrets with pleasant ritual and quiet, ironic reserve. These two total opposites collide in conflict then come together in a surprising alliance, changing each other's lives forever.

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 My First Mister?

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.

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Christine Lahti

Written by

Jill Franklyn

Albert Brooks

Albert Brooks

Randall ("R")

Leelee Sobieski

Leelee Sobieski

Jennifer ("J")

Desmond Harrington

Desmond Harrington

Randy

Carol Kane

Carol Kane

Mrs. Benson

Mary Kay Place

Mary Kay Place

Patty (Nurse)

Michael McKean

Michael McKean

Bob

Rutanya Alda

Rutanya Alda

Woman at Apartment

Court is in session

Put My First Mister on trial.

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

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.

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.