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 
The Family Fang
Comedy · Drama · Mystery · 2016
A brother and sister return to their family home in search of their world famous parents who have disappeared.
Movie details
The Family Fang
2016 Comedy · Drama · Mystery 1h 46m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
5.8 / 10
Community rating
A brother and sister return to their family home in search of their world famous parents who have disappeared.
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 Family Fang?
For the defence
The Sentimental Softie
“You came to feel something, and you will.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Adrenaline Seeker
“If it slows down, you check your phone.”
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.
Nothing in Common
Drama · 1986
A successful advertising executive finds his freewheeling life crashing to a halt when his parents end their longtime marriage.
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
Comedy · 2002
In a sleepy Louisiana parish, a group of lifelong friends stage a rather unorthodox intervention to help a young playwright unravel the truth about her complicated mother and let go of her painful past.
Before and After
Crime · 1996
Two parents deal with the effects when their son is accused of murdering his girlfriend.
Scooby-Doo! and KISS: Rock and Roll Mystery
Family · 2015
Get ready to Rock! Scooby-Doo and the Mystery Inc. Gang team up with the one and only KISS in this all-new, out-of-this-world adventure! We join the Gang at KISS World – the all-things-KISS theme park, as they investigate a series of strange hauntings. With help from KISS, they discover that the Crimson Witch has returned to summon The Destroyer from the alternate dimension of Kissteria! The evil duos ghastly plan, to destroy the earth! Can the Gang's cunning and KISS's power of rock save the day?!
Where'd You Go, Bernadette
Comedy · 2019
When architect-turned-recluse Bernadette Fox goes missing prior to a family trip to Antarctica, her 15-year-old daughter, Bee, goes on a quest with Bernadette's husband to find her.
The Thursday Murder Club
Comedy · 2025
A group of senior sleuths passionate about solving cold cases get plunged into a real-life murder mystery in this comic crime caper.
Benny & Joon
Comedy · 1993
A mentally ill young woman finds love with an eccentric man who models himself after Buster Keaton.
A Simple Twist of Fate
Family · 1994
When Michael McCann is thrown over by the woman he loves, he becomes something of a misanthrope and a miser, spending all of his spare money on collectible gold coins. Living in the same town is an affluent family with two sons: John and Tanny. Tanny's a wild boy, whom John cannot control, and one night he breaks into McCann's house, and steals the gold and disappears, which nearly confirms McCann's distrust of mankind. But then, a mysterious young woman dies in the snow outside McCann's house, and her small daughter makes her way to McCann's house and into McCann's life and heart.
Who's Harry Crumb?
Comedy · 1989
Harry Crumb is a bumbling and inept private investigator who is hired to solve the kidnapping of a young heiress which he's not expected to solve because his employer is the mastermind behind the kidnapping.
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins
Comedy · 2008
When a celebrated TV show host returns to his hometown in the South, his family is there to remind him that going home is no vacation!
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Jason Bateman
Written by
David Lindsay-Abaire
Jason Bateman
Baxter Fang
Nicole Kidman
Annie Fang
Christopher Walken
Caleb Fang
Maryann Plunkett
Camille Fang
Marin Ireland
Suzanne Crosby
Kathryn Hahn
Young Camille
Jason Butler Harner
Young Caleb
Court is in session
Put The Family Fang on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Adrenaline Seeker
“The strings are showing.”
Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.