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Murphy's Romance

Murphy's Romance

Comedy · Drama · Romance · 1985

Emma, a divorced single mother seeking to start her life over, moves to a small town in Arizona. She befriends Murphy, the older local pharmacist, but things turn complicated when her ex-husband shows up.

Movie details

Murphy's Romance

“Just when you think you've found the right guy, someone even worse comes along.”

1985 Comedy · Drama · Romance 1h 47m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

7.0 / 10

7.3K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

72 %

Tomatometer

TMDB

6.2 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

Emma, a divorced single mother seeking to start her life over, moves to a small town in Arizona. She befriends Murphy, the older local pharmacist, but things turn complicated when her ex-husband shows up.

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 Murphy's Romance?

The 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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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Martin Ritt

Written by

Irving Ravetch · Harriet Frank Jr.

Sally Field

Sally Field

Emma Moriarty

James Garner

James Garner

Murphy Jones

Brian Kerwin

Brian Kerwin

Bobby Jack Moriarty

Corey Haim

Corey Haim

Jake Moriarty

Dennis Burkley

Dennis Burkley

Freeman Coverly

Georgann Johnson

Georgann Johnson

Margaret

Dortha Duckworth

Dortha Duckworth

Bessie

Court is in session

Put Murphy's Romance on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

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.

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.