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Great Expectations

Great Expectations

Comedy · Drama · Romance · 1998

Loosely based on the Charles Dickens' classic novel, "Great Expectations" is a sensual tale of a young man's unforgettable passage into manhood, and the three individuals who will undeniably change his life forever. Through the surprising interactions of these vivid characters, "Great Expectations" takes a unique and contemporary look at life's great coincidences.

Movie details

Great Expectations

“Let desire be your destiny.”

1998 Comedy · Drama · Romance 1h 51m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.6 / 10

Community rating

Loosely based on the Charles Dickens' classic novel, "Great Expectations" is a sensual tale of a young man's unforgettable passage into manhood, and the three individuals who will undeniably change his life forever. Through the surprising interactions of these vivid characters, "Great Expectations" takes a unique and contemporary look at life's great coincidences.

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 Great Expectations?

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

Alfonso Cuarón

Written by

Mitch Glazer

Ethan Hawke

Ethan Hawke

Finnegan Bell

Gwyneth Paltrow

Gwyneth Paltrow

Estella

Hank Azaria

Hank Azaria

Walter Plane

Chris Cooper

Chris Cooper

Joe

Anne Bancroft

Anne Bancroft

Ms. Dinsmoor

Robert De Niro

Robert De Niro

Prisoner / Lustig

Josh Mostel

Josh Mostel

Jerry Ragno

Court is in session

Put Great Expectations 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.