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.
Back to trending 
Calendar Girls
Drama · Comedy · 2003
Members of a Yorkshire branch of the Women's Institute cause controversy when they pose nude for a charity calendar.
Movie details
Calendar Girls
“Some ladies will do anything for a good cause.”
2003 Drama · Comedy 1h 48m
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
IMDb
6.9 / 10
28.4K votes
Rotten Tomatoes
73 %
Tomatometer
Metacritic
60 / 100
Metascore
TMDB
6.5 / 10
Community rating
External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.
Members of a Yorkshire branch of the Women's Institute cause controversy when they pose nude for a charity calendar.
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 Calendar Girls?
For the defence
The Sentimental Softie
“You came to feel something, and you will.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The 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.
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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Blinded by the Light
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My Own Love Song
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A wheelchair-bound singer and her best friend embark on a roadtrip to Memphis.
Benny & Joon
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A mentally ill young woman finds love with an eccentric man who models himself after Buster Keaton.
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.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Nigel Cole
Written by
Tim Firth · Juliette Towhidi
Helen Mirren
Chris Harper
Julie Walters
Annie Clarke
John Alderton
John Clarke
Linda Bassett
Cora
Annette Crosbie
Jessie
Philip Glenister
Lawrence Sertain
Ciarán Hinds
Rod Harper
Court is in session
Put Calendar Girls on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
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.