The defence The Popcorn Loyalist
“It owes the canon nothing.”
The movie pursues immediacy and audience pleasure without begging institutions to certify its worth.
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Held Up
Comedy · 1999
What should have been a romantic getaway turns into one hilarious debacle after another when Michael's woman dumps him in the desert where he gets carjacked by a teenager and he is taken hostage in a stickup at the local Sip and Zip.
Movie details
Held Up
1999 Comedy 1h 29m
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
IMDb
5.2 / 10
4.2K votes
Rotten Tomatoes
17 %
Tomatometer
Metacritic
21 / 100
Metascore
TMDB
5.8 / 10
Community rating
External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.
What should have been a romantic getaway turns into one hilarious debacle after another when Michael's woman dumps him in the desert where he gets carjacked by a teenager and he is taken hostage in a stickup at the local Sip and Zip.
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 Held Up?
For the defence
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Big-Idea Head
“You watch with your brain, not your gut.”
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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Wet Hot American Summer
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Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Steve Rash
Written by
Jeff Eastin · Erik Fleming
Jamie Foxx
Michael
Nia Long
Rae
Barry Corbin
Pembry
John Cullum
Jack
Jake Busey
Beaumont
Roselyn Sánchez
Trina
Eduardo Yáñez
Rodrigo
Court is in session
Put Held Up on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Big-Idea Head
“Easy pleasure, short half-life.”
It moves efficiently through the moment but offers little reason to keep arguing once the credits end.