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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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.
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The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her
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The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him
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Untamed Heart
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Charlie St. Cloud
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The Fugitive Kind
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Val Xavier, a drifter of obscure origins, arrives at a small town and gets a job in a store run by Lady Torrence. Her husband, Jabe M. Torrance, is dying of cancer. Val is pursued by Carol Cutere, the enigmatic local tramp-of-good-family.
The Ultimate Life
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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.
Where it lives
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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.