The defence The Popcorn Loyalist
“It owes the canon nothing.”
The movie pursues immediacy and audience pleasure without begging institutions to certify its worth.
Back to trending 
Tommy Boy
Comedy · 1995
To save the family business, two ne’er-do-well traveling salesmen hit the road with disastrously funny consequences.
Movie details
Tommy Boy
“If at first you don't succeed, lower your standards.”
1995 Comedy 1h 38m
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
IMDb
7.1 / 10
104.3K votes
Rotten Tomatoes
40 %
Tomatometer
Metacritic
46 / 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.
To save the family business, two ne’er-do-well traveling salesmen hit the road with disastrously funny consequences.
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 Tommy Boy?
For the defence
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
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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Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Peter Segal
Written by
Bonnie Turner · Terry Turner
Chris Farley
Thomas 'Tommy' Callahan III
David Spade
Richard Hayden
Brian Dennehy
Thomas 'Big Tom' Callahan
Julie Warner
Michelle Brock
Bo Derek
Beverly Barish, aka Beverly Burns
Rob Lowe
Paul Burns
Dan Aykroyd
Ray Zalinsky
Court is in session
Put Tommy Boy on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Cool Ironist
“Easy pleasure, short half-life.”
It moves efficiently through the moment but offers little reason to keep arguing once the credits end.