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.
Back to trending 
Slums of Beverly Hills
Comedy · Drama · 1998
In 1976, a teenage girl struggles to cope while living with her neurotic lower-middle-class family of nomads on the outskirts of Beverly Hills.
Movie details
Slums of Beverly Hills
“Growing up is hard to do.”
1998 Comedy · Drama 1h 31m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.3 / 10
Community rating
In 1976, a teenage girl struggles to cope while living with her neurotic lower-middle-class family of nomads on the outskirts of Beverly Hills.
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 Slums of Beverly Hills?
For the defence
The Sentimental Softie
“You came to feel something, and you will.”
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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Patch Adams
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My Girl
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Little Miss Sunshine
Comedy · 2006
A family loaded with quirky, colorful characters piles into an old van and road trips to California for little Olive to compete in a beauty pageant.
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins
Comedy · 2008
When a celebrated TV show host returns to his hometown in the South, his family is there to remind him that going home is no vacation!
Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Tamara Jenkins
Written by
Tamara Jenkins
Natasha Lyonne
Vivian Abromowitz
Alan Arkin
Murray Samuel Abromowitz
Marisa Tomei
Rita Abromowitz
Eli Marienthal
Rickey Abromowitz
David Krumholtz
Ben Abromowitz
Kevin Corrigan
Eliot Arenson
Jessica Walter
Doris
Court is in session
Put Slums of Beverly Hills on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
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.