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 
Stealing Home
Drama · Romance · 1988
Billy Wyatt, a former high school and minor-league baseball player, receives a telephone call from his mother revealing that his former child-sitter, and later in his teens, his first love, Katie Chandler, has died. Wyatt returns home to deal with this tragedy, reminiscing over his childhood growing up with his father, Katie, and best friend Alan Appleby.
Movie details
Stealing Home
“Stealing hearts, stealing laughs, stealing memories”
1988 Drama · Romance 1h 38m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.3 / 10
Community rating
Billy Wyatt, a former high school and minor-league baseball player, receives a telephone call from his mother revealing that his former child-sitter, and later in his teens, his first love, Katie Chandler, has died. Wyatt returns home to deal with this tragedy, reminiscing over his childhood growing up with his father, Katie, and best friend Alan Appleby.
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 Stealing Home?
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.
The Last Tycoon
Drama · 1976
Monroe Stahr, a successful movie producer, pursues a beautiful and elusive young woman — all the while working himself to death.
Not Easily Broken
Drama · 2009
A car accident and shifting affections test the bond between a married couple.
When Nietzsche Wept
Drama · 2007
Viennese doctor Josef Bruer meets with philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche to help him deal with his despair.
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her
Drama · 2014
Told from the woman's perspective, the story of a couple trying to reclaim the life and love they once knew and pick up the pieces of a past that may be too far gone.
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him
Drama · 2014
Told from the man's perspective, the story of a couple trying to reclaim the life and love they once knew and pick up the pieces of a past that may be too far gone.
Charlie St. Cloud
Drama · 2010
Accomplished sailor Charlie St. Cloud has the adoration of his mother Claire and his little brother Sam, as well as a college scholarship that will lead him far from his sleepy Pacific Northwest hometown. But his bright future is cut short when tragedy strikes and takes his dreams with it. After high school classmate Tess returns home unexpectedly, Charlie grows torn between honoring a promise he made four years earlier and moving forward with newfound love. As he finds the courage to let go of the past for good, Charlie discovers the soul most worth saving is his own.
Remember Me
Drama · 2010
Still reeling from a heartbreaking family event and his parents' subsequent divorce, Tyler Hawkins discovers a fresh lease on life when he meets Ally Craig, a gregarious beauty who witnessed her mother's death. But as the couple draws closer, the fallout from their separate tragedies jeopardizes their love.
The Ultimate Life
Drama · 2013
Despite his best intentions, billionaire Jason Stevens can’t find enough time to keep his beloved Alexia a priority. But when he discovers his late grandfather’s journal, he is transported back to Red Stevens’ incredible world. With everything he loves hanging in the balance, Jason Stevens hopes the past will prepare him well for the future.
Collateral Beauty
Drama · 2016
Retreating from life after a tragedy, a man questions the universe by writing to Love, Time and Death. Receiving unexpected answers, he begins to see how these things interlock and how even loss can reveal moments of meaning and beauty.
Departure
Drama · 2016
An English mother and her teenage son spend a week preparing the sale of their remote holiday house in the South of France. Fifteen-year-old Elliot struggles with his dawning sexuality and an increasing alienation from his mother, Beatrice. She in turn is confronted by the realisation that her marriage to his father, Philip, has grown loveless and the life she knows is coming to an end. When an enigmatic local teenager, Clément, quietly enters their lives, both mother and son are compelled to confront their desires and, finally, each other.
Where it lives
Watch in your region.
Cinema release signals and current streaming, rental, and purchase options for your region.
Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.
Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Steven Kampmann · William Porter
Written by
Steven Kampmann · William Porter
Mark Harmon
Billy Wyatt
William McNamara
Teenage Billy Wyatt
Jodie Foster
Katie Chandler
Helen Hunt
Hope Wyatt
Jonathan Silverman
Teenage Alan Appleby
Harold Ramis
Alan Appleby
John Shea
Sam Wyatt
Court is in session
Put Stealing Home 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.