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

Local Hero
Comedy · Drama · 1983
An American oil company sends a man to Scotland to buy up an entire village where they want to build a refinery. But things don't go as expected.
Local Hero
“THE STORY OF AN ORDINARY MAN IN AN EXTRAORDINARY PLACE.”
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
IMDb
7.3 / 10
29K votes
Rotten Tomatoes
100 %
Tomatometer
Metacritic
83 / 100
Metascore
TMDB
6.8 / 10
Community rating
External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.
An American oil company sends a man to Scotland to buy up an entire village where they want to build a refinery. But things don't go as expected.
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 Local Hero?
The Prestige Tourist
“You like your greatness pre-approved.”
Read their caseThe Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
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
Bill Forsyth
Written by
Bill Forsyth
Put Local Hero 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.






