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The Wild Life

The Wild Life

Comedy · Drama · 1984

Eighties teen romp involving Bill and his new apartment, Jim and his rebellious antics, Tom and his crazy self, and Anita with her older man David.

Movie details

The Wild Life

“It brings all your fantasies to life.”

1984 Comedy · Drama 1h 36m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.1 / 10

Community rating

Eighties teen romp involving Bill and his new apartment, Jim and his rebellious antics, Tom and his crazy self, and Anita with her older man David.

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 Wild Life?

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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Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Art Linson

Written by

Cameron Crowe

Chris Penn

Chris Penn

Tom Drake

Lea Thompson

Lea Thompson

Anita

Eric Stoltz

Eric Stoltz

Bill Conrad

Jenny Wright

Jenny Wright

Eileen

Ilan Mitchell-Smith

Ilan Mitchell-Smith

Jim Conrad

Rick Moranis

Rick Moranis

Harry

Hart Bochner

Hart Bochner

David Curtiss

Court is in session

Put The Wild Life 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.