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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Splash
Comedy · Romance · Fantasy · 1984
A successful businessman falls in love with the girl of his dreams. There's one big complication though; he's fallen hook, line and sinker for a mermaid.
Movie details
Splash
“She was the woman of Allen's dreams. She had large dark eyes, a beautiful smile and a great pair of fins.”
1984 Comedy · Romance · Fantasy 1h 50m
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
IMDb
6.3 / 10
86.8K votes
Metacritic
71 / 100
Metascore
TMDB
6.3 / 10
Community rating
External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.
A successful businessman falls in love with the girl of his dreams. There's one big complication though; he's fallen hook, line and sinker for a mermaid.
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 Splash?
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.
Just My Luck
Comedy · 2006
Manhattanite Ashley is known to many as the luckiest woman around. After a chance encounter with a down-and-out young man, however, she realizes that she's swapped her fortune for his.
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Fantasy · 1999
The lovely Hermia is to wed Demetrius, but she truly cares for Lysander. Hermia's friend, Helena, is in love with Demetrius, while other romantic entanglements abound in the woods, with married fairy rulers Titania and Oberon toying with various lovers and each other.
Aquamarine
Fantasy · 2006
Two teenage girls discover that mermaids really do exist after a violent storm washes one ashore. The mermaid, a sassy creature named Aquamarine, is determined to prove to her father that real love exists, and enlists the girls' help in winning the heart of a handsome lifeguard.
Relationship Goals
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When TV producer Leah Caldwell aims to become the first woman running New York's top morning show, her ex competes for the same role. Leah stays focused on her career, until chemistry with her ex challenges her priorities.
The Prince & Me 4: The Elephant Adventure
Comedy · 2010
One year after their royal wedding, King Edvard and Queen Paige of Denmark receive an invitation to attend the wedding of Princess Myra of Sangyoon. Upon their arrival, Paige finds Myra is unhappy with her arranged marriage to the brooding and sinister Kah and is secretly in love with a young elephant handler named Alu.
Date with Love
Comedy · 2016
When a boy’s video to a female star goes viral, it scores him a date with his celebrity crush to the prom. Complications arise when the famous starlet falls for the boy’s small-town teacher.
What's Love Got to Do with It?
Romance · 2023
Two childhood friends now in their thirties must decide whether to follow their heads or their hearts once the man decides to follow his parents' advice and enter into an arranged marriage in Pakistan.
Love, Weddings & Other Disasters
Romance · 2020
A fussy celebrity caterer, a blind woman, a tour-bus guide and an inexperienced wedding planner search for love.
The Woman in Red
Comedy · 1984
When a happily married family man, who would never consider an affair, meets a beautiful woman in red, he is totally infatuated and desperate to make her acquaintance. However, as he tries out various schemes to sneak out to meet her, he realizes that adultery is not quite as easy as it looks.
Crossing Delancey
Comedy · 1988
Thirty-something Isabelle spends her time going from her tiny, solitary West Side apartment to that of her grandmother on the Lower East Side. While her grandmother plots to find her a romantic match, Isabelle is courted by a married, worldly author, Anton, yet can't seem to shake the down-to-earth appeal of Sam, a pickle vendor.
Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Ron Howard
Written by
Lowell Ganz · Babaloo Mandel · Bruce Jay Friedman
Tom Hanks
Allen Bauer
Daryl Hannah
Madison
Eugene Levy
Walter Kornbluth
John Candy
Freddie Bauer
Dody Goodman
Mrs. Stimler
Shecky Greene
Mr. Buyrite
Richard B. Shull
Dr. Ross
Court is in session
Put Splash 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.