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
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.3 / 10
Community rating
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.
Kate & Leopold
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Love Potion No. 9
Comedy · 1992
Unlucky in love, chemist Paul Matthews visits gypsy Madame Rosa for help. Quickly realizing he is a hopeless nerd, she gifts him with Love Potion No. 8, which makes anyone who wears it irresistible to the opposite sex for four hours. Paul and animal psychologist coworker Diane Farrow decide to test it on themselves. The awkward pair suddenly find themselves alluring to anyone they approach, but soon realize they are most attracted to each other.
Just My Luck
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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.
Irish Wish
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Maddie's dream guy is days away from marrying her best friend when a wish for true love made on an ancient stone in Ireland magically alters her fate.
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.
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.
Relationship Goals
Romance · 2026
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.
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.
The Tender Trap
Music · 1955
A young actress flirts demurely with a swinging Manhattan bachelor who thinks he has it made.
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Ron Howard
Written by
Bruce Jay Friedman · Lowell Ganz · Babaloo Mandel
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.