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 
Fame
Drama · Music · 1980
A chronicle of the lives of several teenagers who attend a New York high school for students gifted in the performing arts.
Movie details
Fame
“If they've really got what it takes, it's going to take everything they've got.”
1980 Drama · Music 2h 14m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.4 / 10
Community rating
A chronicle of the lives of several teenagers who attend a New York high school for students gifted in the performing arts.
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 Fame?
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.
You Got Served
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At Mr. Rad's Warehouse, the best hip-hop crews in Los Angeles compete for money and respect. But when a suburban crew crashes the party, stealing their dancers — and their moves — two warring friends have to pull together to represent the street.
Times Square
Drama · 1980
When a 13-year-old girl befriends a defiant antisocial child of the streets, the mismatched runaways set off to the Big Apple to find their own adventure.
Hounddog
Drama · 2008
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
Mo' Better Blues
Drama · 1990
Talented but self-centered trumpeter Bleek Gilliam is obsessed with his music and indecisiveness about his girlfriends Indigo and Clarke. But when he is forced to come to the aid of his manager and childhood friend, Bleek finds his world more fragile than he ever imagined.
Born to Be Blue
Drama · 2015
Jazz legend Chet Baker finds love and redemption when he stars in a movie about his own troubled life to mount a comeback.
Patti Cake$
Music · 2017
Straight out of Jersey comes Patricia Dombrowski, a.k.a. Killa P, a.k.a. Patti Cake$, an aspiring rapper fighting through a world of strip malls and strip clubs on an unlikely quest for glory.
Beats
Drama · 2019
An agoraphobic hip-hop prodigy and a disgraced former music manager cross paths in Chicago’s South Side and help each other face demons of their pasts.
A Late Quartet
Music · 2012
When the beloved cellist of a world-renowned string quartet is diagnosed with a life threatening illness, the group's future suddenly hangs in the balance as suppressed emotions, competing egos and uncontrollable passions threaten to derail years of friendship and collaboration. As they are about to play their 25th anniversary concert — quite possibly their last — only their intimate bond and the power of music can preserve their legacy.
Battle of the Year
Music · 2013
A down-on-his-luck coach is hired to prepare a team of the best American dancers for an international tournament that attracts all the best crews from around the world, but the Americans haven't won in fifteen years.
Honey: Rise Up and Dance
Music · 2018
Street dancer Skyler comes out of the shadow of her trained dancer sister, Tosha, & joins a dance competition with the Honey dance studio; the prize is a college scholarship.
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Alan Parker
Written by
Christopher Gore
Irene Cara
Coco Hernandez
Barry Miller
Ralph Garci/Raul Garcia
Maureen Teefy
Doris Finsecker
Paul McCrane
Montgomery MacNeil
Lee Curreri
Bruno Martelli
Gene Anthony Ray
Leroy Johnson
Antonia Franceschi
Hilary Van Doren
Court is in session
Put Fame 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.