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Carbon Copy

Carbon Copy

Comedy · Drama · 1981

A middle-aged married wealthy white corporate executive is surprised to discover that he has a working-class black teen-age son who wants to be adopted into the almost-exclusively-white upper-middle-class community of San Marino, California.

Movie details

Carbon Copy

“Any resemblance between father and son is purely hysterical.”

1981 Comedy · Drama 1h 32m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

5.6 / 10

3.4K votes

TMDB

5.9 / 10

Community rating

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

A middle-aged married wealthy white corporate executive is surprised to discover that he has a working-class black teen-age son who wants to be adopted into the almost-exclusively-white upper-middle-class community of San Marino, California.

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 Carbon Copy?

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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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Michael Schultz

Written by

Stanley Shapiro

Denzel Washington

Denzel Washington

Roger Porter

George Segal

George Segal

Walter Whitney

Susan Saint James

Susan Saint James

Vivian Whitney

Jack Warden

Jack Warden

Nelson Longhurst

Paul Winfield

Paul Winfield

Bob Garvey

Macon McCalman

Macon McCalman

Tubby Wederholt

V

Vicky Dawson

Mary Ann

Court is in session

Put Carbon Copy 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.