The defence The Adrenaline Seeker
“Its refusal to behave is the point.”
The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.
Back to trending 
High Anxiety
Comedy · Mystery · Thriller · 1977
A psychiatrist with intense acrophobia (fear of heights) goes to work for a mental institution run by doctors who appear to be crazier than their patients, and have secrets that they are willing to commit murder to keep.
Movie details
High Anxiety
“Danger, intrigue, romance...and a touch of kinkiness!”
1977 Comedy · Mystery · Thriller 1h 34m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.4 / 10
Community rating
A psychiatrist with intense acrophobia (fear of heights) goes to work for a mental institution run by doctors who appear to be crazier than their patients, and have secrets that they are willing to commit murder to keep.
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 High Anxiety?
For the defence
The Adrenaline Seeker
“If it slows down, you check your phone.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Prestige Tourist
“You like your greatness pre-approved.”
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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Saboteur
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The Late Show
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An over-the-hill gumshoe in Los Angeles seeks to avenge the killing of an old pal, another detective who was involved in a case concerning a murdered broad, stolen stamps, a nickel-plated handgun, a cheating dolly, and a kidnapped pussycat.
The Cheap Detective
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A spoof of the entire 1940s detective genre. San Francisco private detective, Lou Pekinpaugh is accused of murdering his partner at the instigation of his mistress—his partner's wife.
The Thursday Murder Club
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A group of senior sleuths passionate about solving cold cases get plunged into a real-life murder mystery in this comic crime caper.
The Ladykillers
Comedy · 2004
An eccentric, if not charming Southern professor and his crew pose as a band in order to rob a casino, all under the nose of his unsuspecting landlord – a sharp old woman.
Fletch Lives
Comedy · 1989
Fletch is a fish out of water in small-town Louisiana, where he's checking out a tumbledown mansion he's inherited. When a woman he flirts with turns up dead, he becomes a suspect and must find the killer and clear his name.
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Mel Brooks
Written by
Mel Brooks · Ron Clark · Rudy De Luca · Barry Levinson
Mel Brooks
Dr. Richard H. Thorndyke
Madeline Kahn
Victoria Brisbane
Cloris Leachman
Nurse Charlotte Diesel
Harvey Korman
Dr. Charles Montague
Ron Carey
Brophy
Howard Morris
Professor Lilloman
Dick Van Patten
Dr. Philip Wentworth
Court is in session
Put High Anxiety on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Prestige Tourist
“Oddness is not depth.”
A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.