The defence The Popcorn Loyalist
“Sincerity is not manipulation.”
The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.
Back to trending 
Bird on a Wire
Comedy · Romance · Adventure · 1990
An FBI informant has kept his new identity secret for 15 years. Now an old flame has recognised him, and the bad guys are back for revenge.
Movie details
Bird on a Wire
“He’s every woman’s dream and one woman’s nightmare.”
1990 Comedy · Romance · Adventure 1h 50m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.2 / 10
Community rating
An FBI informant has kept his new identity secret for 15 years. Now an old flame has recognised him, and the bad guys are back for revenge.
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 Bird on a Wire?
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.
Major Payne
Adventure · 1995
Major Benson Winifred Payne is being discharged from the Marines. Payne is a killin' machine, but the wars of the world are no longer fought on the battlefield. A career Marine, he has no idea what to do as a civilian, so his commander finds him a job - commanding officer of a local school's JROTC program, a bunch of ragtag losers with no hope.
This Means War
Action · 2012
Two top CIA operatives wage an epic battle against one another after they discover they are dating the same woman.
Romancing the Stone
Romance · 1984
Though she can spin wild tales of passionate romance, novelist Joan Wilder has no life of her own. Then one day adventure comes her way in the form of a mysterious package. It turns out that the parcel is the ransom she'll need to free her abducted sister, so Joan flies to South America to hand it over. But she gets on the wrong bus and winds up hopelessly stranded in the jungle.
Love, Weddings & Other Disasters
Romance · 2020
A fussy celebrity caterer, a blind woman, a tour-bus guide and an inexperienced wedding planner search for love.
Yoh! Bestie
Romance · 2026
Thando is perpetually unlucky in love, but when her bestie returns from his travels with a fiancée in tow, she's forced to face a new emotion — jealousy.
Killers
Action · 2010
When an elite assassin marries a beautiful computer whiz after a whirlwind romance, he gives up the gun and settles down with his new bride. That is, until he learns that someone from his past has put a contract out on his life.
Memoirs of an Invisible Man
Sci-fi · 1992
After a freak accident, an invisible yuppie runs for his life from a treacherous CIA official while trying to cope with his new life.
Scaramouche
Adventure · 1952
In 18th-century France, a young man masquerades as an actor to avenge his friend's murder.
Heartbreakers
Comedy · 2001
Max and Page are a brilliant mother/daughter con team who have their grift down to a fine science. Max targets wealthy, willing men and marries them. Page then seduces them, and Max catches her husband in the act. Then it's off to palimony city and the next easy mark.
Two of a Kind
Fantasy · 1983
God has had enough of the bad behavior and attitude of humankind, and has decided to start it all over. It is up to a struggling inventor and a bank teller, both with very amateur criminal minds, to save the world by falling in love.
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
John Badham
Written by
David Seltzer · Eric Lerner · Louis Venosta
Mel Gibson
Richard 'Rick' Jarmin
Goldie Hawn
Marianne Graves
David Carradine
Eugene Sorensen
Bill Duke
Albert Diggs
Stephen Tobolowsky
Joe Weyburn
Joan Severance
Rachel Varney
Harry Caesar
Marvin Larson
Court is in session
Put Bird on a Wire 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.