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 
Beaches
Comedy · Drama · Music · 1988
A privileged rich debutante and a cynical struggling entertainer share a turbulent, but strong childhood friendship over the years.
Movie details
Beaches
“Some Friendships Last Forever”
1988 Comedy · Drama · Music 2h 3m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.7 / 10
Community rating
A privileged rich debutante and a cynical struggling entertainer share a turbulent, but strong childhood friendship over the years.
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 Beaches?
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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Moxie
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Thunder Road
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Sophie Birenbaum is ready for the spotlight as the lead in her high school musical—until she's suddenly facing more drama at home than on the stage.
I Like Movies
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Socially inept 17-year-old cinephile Lawrence Kweller gets a job at a video store, where he forms a complicated friendship with his older female manager.
Another Year
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During a year, a very content couple approaching retirement are visited by friends and family less happy with their lives.
Simon Birch
Comedy · 1998
Simon Birch and Joe Wenteworth are boys who have a reputation for being oddballs. Joe never knew his father, and his mother, Rebecca, is keeping her lips sealed no matter how much he protests. Simon, meanwhile, is an 11-year-old dwarf whose outsize personality belies his small stature. Indeed, he often assails the local reverend with thorny theological questions and joins Joe on his quest to find his biological father.
Ghost World
Comedy · 2001
Two quirky, cynical, teenaged girls try to figure out what to do with their lives following high school graduation. After they play a prank on an eccentric, middle-aged record collector, one of them befriends him, which causes a rift in the girls’ friendship.
Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Garry Marshall
Written by
Mary Agnes Donoghue
Bette Midler
CC Bloom
Barbara Hershey
Hillary Whitney Essex
John Heard
John Pierce
Spalding Gray
Dr. Richard Milstein
Lainie Kazan
Leona Bloom
James Read
Michael Essex
Grace Johnston
Victoria Essex
Court is in session
Put Beaches 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.