Back to trending
Houseboat

Houseboat

Comedy · Romance · 1958

An Italian socialite on the run signs on as housekeeper for a widower with three children.

Movie details

Houseboat

“It All Happens Happily on a Heaven of a Houseboat!”

1958 Comedy · Romance 1h 50m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.4 / 10

Community rating

An Italian socialite on the run signs on as housekeeper for a widower with three children.

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 Houseboat?

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.

Starting Over

Starting Over

Comedy · 1979

After divorcing his ambitious singer wife, a middle-aged man begins a new relationship with a teacher.

Splitsville

Splitsville

Comedy · 2025

After Ashley asks for a divorce, good-natured Carey runs to his friends, Julie and Paul, for support. He’s shocked to discover that the secret to their happiness is an open marriage, that is until Carey crosses the line and throws all of their relationships into chaos.

French Girl

French Girl

Romance · 2024

Sweet Gordon, an affable English teacher in Brooklyn, has beaten the odds; a French Girl has fallen in love with him and he’s fallen even harder back. But their future is thrown into limbo when she interviews for an executive chef position in her hometown of Quebec City. To Gordon’s dismay her future boss also happens to be her former lover, a celebrity Chef with oceanic eyes and a hit TV show. Good luck Gordon.

Splendor

Splendor

Comedy · 1999

Veronica is a white-bread beauty searching for a good man in Los Angeles. While slam dancing at a Halloween rave, she meets Abel, a sensitive poet. Then she meets Zed, a supersexy tattooed drummer with incredible biceps. Who will she choose? Does she go for true love or cheap sex? She can't decide so she chooses both. But after managing to nurture a picture-perfect threesome, along comes Ernest, a rich movie director with deep baby blues that sweep Veronica off her feet. What's a girl to do now?

Sex Appeal

Sex Appeal

Comedy · 2022

Avery, a teenager with a tendency towards perfectionism, enlists her friend Larson to help her prepare for her first time with her long-distance boyfriend.

Romance & Cigarettes

Romance & Cigarettes

Comedy · 2005

Ironworker Nick lives with his wife, Kitty, and three daughters. When he meets a significantly younger woman, Tula, he starts an affair with her, much to the chagrin of his wife, and his life is thrown into upheaval. Kitty kicks Nick out of the house, and he is forced to make some difficult decisions.

No Hard Feelings

No Hard Feelings

Comedy · 2023

On the brink of losing her childhood home, Maddie discovers an intriguing job listing: wealthy helicopter parents looking for someone to “date” their introverted 19-year-old son, Percy, before he leaves for college. To her surprise, Maddie soon discovers the awkward Percy is no sure thing.

Loverboy

Loverboy

Comedy · 1989

Randy Bodek works as a pizza delivery boy at Señor Pizza to make a few extra bucks. Some customers are special, though: When the order is for a pizza with extra anchovies, it means the female customers are looking for some loving. But, as Randy soon learns, life as a professional gigolo can get pretty complicated.

Players

Players

Romance · 2024

New York sportswriter Mack has spent years devising successful hook-up "plays" with her friends, but when she unexpectedly falls for one of her targets, she must learn what it takes to go from simply scoring to playing for keeps.

How to Be Single

How to Be Single

Comedy · 2016

New York City is full of lonely hearts seeking the right match, and what Alice, Robin, Lucy, Meg, Tom and David all have in common is the need to learn how to be single in a world filled with ever-evolving definitions of love.

Where it lives

Watch in your region.

Cinema release signals and current streaming, rental, and purchase options for your region.

Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Melville Shavelson

Written by

Betsy Drake · Melville Shavelson · Jack Rose

Cary Grant

Cary Grant

Tom Winters

Sophia Loren

Sophia Loren

Cinzia Zaccardi

Martha Hyer

Martha Hyer

Carolyn Gibson

Harry Guardino

Harry Guardino

Angelo Donatello

Eduardo Ciannelli

Eduardo Ciannelli

Arturo Zaccardi

Murray Hamilton

Murray Hamilton

Capt. Alan Wilson

Mimi Gibson

Mimi Gibson

Elizabeth Winters

Court is in session

Put Houseboat 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.