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Words on Bathroom Walls

Words on Bathroom Walls

Drama · Romance · 2020

Diagnosed with a mental illness halfway through his senior year of high school, a witty, introspective teen struggles to keep it a secret while falling in love with a brilliant classmate who inspires him to open his heart and not be defined by his condition.

Movie details

Words on Bathroom Walls

“If you can't trust your mind, trust your heart.”

2020 Drama · Romance 1h 51m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

7.7 / 10

Community rating

Diagnosed with a mental illness halfway through his senior year of high school, a witty, introspective teen struggles to keep it a secret while falling in love with a brilliant classmate who inspires him to open his heart and not be defined by his condition.

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 Words on Bathroom Walls?

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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It's a new school year for the Truham-Higgs gang. As Nick and Charlie's relationship deepens, their thoughts turn to life after the last bell rings.

The Virgin Suicides

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Girl, Interrupted

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Set in the changing world of the late 1960s, Susanna Kaysen's prescribed "short rest" from a psychiatrist she had met only once becomes a strange, unknown journey into Alice's Wonderland, where she struggles with the thin line between normal and crazy. Susanna soon realizes how hard it is to get out once she has been committed, and she ultimately has to choose between the world of people who belong inside or the difficult world of reality outside.

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As a shocking truth about a couple's families emerges, the two lovers discover they are not so different from each other. Tessa is no longer the sweet, simple, good girl she was when she met Hardin — any more than he is the cruel, moody boy she fell so hard for.

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One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Thor Freudenthal

Written by

Nick Naveda

Charlie Plummer

Charlie Plummer

Adam

Molly Parker

Molly Parker

Beth

Walton Goggins

Walton Goggins

Paul

Andy Garcia

Andy Garcia

Father Patrick

Taylor Russell

Taylor Russell

Maya

AnnaSophia Robb

AnnaSophia Robb

Rebecca

Beth Grant

Beth Grant

Sister Catherine

Court is in session

Put Words on Bathroom Walls on trial.

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

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.