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.
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Max Dugan Returns
Comedy · Drama · Family · 1983
An English teacher and struggling single mother has her life disrupted when the father who abandoned her as a child comes back into her life.
Movie details
Max Dugan Returns
“Prices are double. Your love life's in trouble. The car won't start. Your boss has no heart. The door squeaks. The roof leaks. Your stereo just went mono. All you need is a little Max Dugan.”
1983 Comedy · Drama · Family 1h 38m
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
IMDb
6.7 / 10
4.2K votes
Rotten Tomatoes
64 %
Tomatometer
TMDB
6.6 / 10
Community rating
External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.
An English teacher and struggling single mother has her life disrupted when the father who abandoned her as a child comes back into her life.
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 Max Dugan Returns?
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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Where it lives
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Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.
Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Herbert Ross
Written by
Neil Simon
Marsha Mason
Nora McPhae
Jason Robards
Max Dugan
Donald Sutherland
Brian Costello
Matthew Broderick
Michael McPhae
Dody Goodman
Mrs. Litke
Sal Viscuso
Coach Roy
Panchito Gómez
Luis
Court is in session
Put Max Dugan Returns 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.