“Sincerity is not manipulation.”
The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

Modern Romance
Comedy · Drama · Romance · 1981
A film editor breaks up with his girlfriend, unsure if he is in love.
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.”
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
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.
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 Sentimental Softie
“You came to feel something, and you will.”
Read their caseThe Cool Ironist
“Feeling things is a little embarrassing.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
Watch in your region.
Cinema release signals and current streaming, rental, and purchase options for your region.
Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Albert Brooks
Written by
Albert Brooks · Monica Johnson
Put Modern Romance on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
“The strings are showing.”
Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.






