Back to trending
Playing by Heart

Playing by Heart

Comedy · Drama · Romance · 1998

In a vibrant tapestry of love and longing, nine interconnected souls navigate romance and heartbreak in L.A., where passions collide and truths unfold, revealing that the heart's desires often lead us where we least expect.

Movie details

Playing by Heart

“If romance is a mystery, there's only one way to figure it out.”

1998 Comedy · Drama · Romance 2h 1m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.6 / 10

Community rating

In a vibrant tapestry of love and longing, nine interconnected souls navigate romance and heartbreak in L.A., where passions collide and truths unfold, revealing that the heart's desires often lead us where we least expect.

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 Playing by Heart?

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.

The Roses

The Roses

Comedy · 2025

Life seems easy for picture-perfect couple Ivy and Theo: successful careers, a loving marriage, great kids. But beneath the façade of their supposed ideal life, a storm is brewing – as Theo's career nosedives while Ivy's own ambitions take off, a tinderbox of fierce competition and hidden resentment ignites.

Carnal Knowledge

Carnal Knowledge

Drama · 1971

Two lifelong friends navigate complex sexual encounters and emotional entanglements, wrestling with societal norms and personal desires.

The Drama

The Drama

Romance · 2026

A happily engaged couple is put to the test when an unexpected turn sends their wedding week off the rails.

The Best You Can

The Best You Can

Comedy · 2025

Cynthia Rand is a buttoned-up New Yorker married to a brilliant professor 25 years her senior. She begins feeling the effects of her husband’s advancing age on their relationship, just as her world is turned upside down by the arrival of sharp but chronically underachieving security guard Stan Olszewski in this smart rom-com that reunites Bacon and Sedgwick on screen for the first time in 20 years.

Enemies, a Love Story

Enemies, a Love Story

Comedy · 1989

A ghostwriter finds himself romantically involved with his current wife, a married woman and his long-vanished wife.

The Good Girl

The Good Girl

Drama · 2002

A discount store clerk strikes up an affair with a stock boy who considers himself the incarnation of Holden Caulfield.

The Good House

The Good House

Romance · 2021

When wry New England realtor Hildy Good rekindles a romance with her old high-school flame, Frank Getchell, it ignites long-buried emotions and family secrets that propel Hildy toward a reckoning with the one person she's been avoiding for decades: herself. Based on the best-selling novel by Ann Leary.

St. Elmo's Fire

St. Elmo's Fire

Drama · 1985

Reluctant to let go of college life, a close-knit team of seven friends--irresponsible saxophone player Billy, young Republican Alec, his girlfriend Leslie, struggling journalist Kevin, drama queen Jules, lovesick waiter Kirby, and Wendy, a social worker with a heart of gold--realise the party is over. And as the burdens of maturity close in on the young dreamers, the complexities of adulthood and the daily struggle of growing up put their sacred friendship to the test. But everyone knows life is not a bed of roses. It won't be easy, but when all is said and done, what will it take for St. Elmo's clique to find its place in the real world?

Chéri

Chéri

Drama · 2009

The son of a courtesan retreats into a fantasy world after being forced to end his relationship with the older woman who educated him in the ways of love.

Solitary Man

Solitary Man

Comedy · 2009

A car magnate watches his personal and professional life hit the skids because of his business and romantic indiscretions.

Where it lives

Watch in your region.

Cinema release signals and current streaming, rental, and purchase options for your region.

Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Willard Carroll

Written by

Willard Carroll

Gillian Anderson

Gillian Anderson

Meredith

Ellen Burstyn

Ellen Burstyn

Mildred

Sean Connery

Sean Connery

Paul

Anthony Edwards

Anthony Edwards

Roger

Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie

Joan

Jay Mohr

Jay Mohr

Mark

Ryan Phillippe

Ryan Phillippe

Keenan

Court is in session

Put Playing by Heart 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.