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Modern Romance

Modern Romance

Comedy · Drama · Romance · 1981

A film editor breaks up with his girlfriend, unsure if he is in love.

Movie details

Modern Romance

“Robert was madly in love with Mary. Mary was madly in love with him. Under the circumstances they did the only thing they could do... they broke up.”

1981 Comedy · Drama · Romance 1h 33m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

7.0 / 10

5.1K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

83 %

Tomatometer

TMDB

6.8 / 10

Community rating

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

A film editor breaks up with his girlfriend, unsure if he is in love.

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 Modern 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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Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Albert Brooks

Written by

Albert Brooks · Monica Johnson

Albert Brooks

Albert Brooks

Robert Cole

Kathryn Harrold

Kathryn Harrold

Mary Harvard

Bruno Kirby

Bruno Kirby

Jay

James L. Brooks

James L. Brooks

David

Bob Einstein

Bob Einstein

Sporting Goods Salesman

Jane Hallaren

Jane Hallaren

Ellen

Albert Henderson

Albert Henderson

Head Mixer

Court is in session

Put Modern 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.