“It owes the canon nothing.”
The movie pursues immediacy and audience pleasure without begging institutions to certify its worth.

Man of the Year
Comedy · Romance · Thriller · 2006
The irreverent host of a political satire talk show decides to run for president and expose corruption in Washington. His stunt goes further than he expects when he actually wins the election, but a software engineer suspects that a computer glitch is responsible for his surprising victory.
Man of the Year
“Elections are made to be broken.”
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
5.9 / 10
Community rating
The irreverent host of a political satire talk show decides to run for president and expose corruption in Washington. His stunt goes further than he expects when he actually wins the election, but a software engineer suspects that a computer glitch is responsible for his surprising victory.
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 Man of the Year?
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
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
Barry Levinson
Written by
Barry Levinson
Put Man of the Year on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
“Easy pleasure, short half-life.”
It moves efficiently through the moment but offers little reason to keep arguing once the credits end.






