The defence The Prestige Tourist
“Sincerity is not manipulation.”
The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.
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The Apartment
Comedy · Drama · Romance · 1960
Bud Baxter is a minor clerk in a huge New York insurance company, until he discovers a quick way to climb the corporate ladder. He lends out his apartment to the executives as a place to take their mistresses. Although he often has to deal with the aftermath of their visits, one night he's left with a major problem to solve.
Movie details
The Apartment
“Movie-wise, there has never been anything like it - laugh-wise, love-wise, or otherwise-wise!”
1960 Comedy · Drama · Romance 2h 6m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
8.2 / 10
Community rating
Bud Baxter is a minor clerk in a huge New York insurance company, until he discovers a quick way to climb the corporate ladder. He lends out his apartment to the executives as a place to take their mistresses. Although he often has to deal with the aftermath of their visits, one night he's left with a major problem to solve.
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 The Apartment?
For the defence
The Prestige Tourist
“You like your greatness pre-approved.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
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.
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When Harry Met Sally...
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Is This Thing On?
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As their marriage quietly unravels, Alex faces middle age and an impending divorce, seeking new purpose in the New York comedy scene while Tess confronts the sacrifices she made for their family—forcing them to navigate co-parenting, identity, and whether love can take a new form.
Which Brings Me to You
Romance · 2023
Two romantic burnouts, Jane and Will, are immediately drawn to each other at a mutual friend’s wedding. After a disastrous hookup in the coatroom, the two spend the next 24 hours together, trading candid confessions of messy histories and heartbreak, on the off chance that this fling might be the real thing.
Café Society
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The story of a young man who arrives in Hollywood during the 1930s hoping to work in the film industry, falls in love, and finds himself swept up in the vibrant café society that defined the spirit of the age.
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Billy Wilder
Written by
Billy Wilder · I. A. L. Diamond
Jack Lemmon
C.C. Baxter
Shirley MacLaine
Fran Kubelik
Fred MacMurray
Jeff D. Sheldrake
Ray Walston
Joe Dobisch
Jack Kruschen
Dr. Dreyfuss
David Lewis
Al Kirkeby
H
Hope Holiday
Margie MacDougall
Court is in session
Put The Apartment on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist
“The strings are showing.”
Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.