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Same Time, Next Year

Same Time, Next Year

Comedy · Drama · Romance · 1978

A man and woman meet by chance at a romantic inn over dinner and, although both are happily married to others, they find themselves in the same bed the next morning questioning how this could have happened. They agree to meet on the same weekend each year—in the same hotel room—and the years pass each has some personal crisis that the other helps them through, often without both of them understanding what is going on.

Movie details

Same Time, Next Year

“They couldn't have celebrated happier anniversaries if they were married to each other.”

1978 Comedy · Drama · Romance 1h 59m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

7.2 / 10

6.8K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

40 %

Tomatometer

TMDB

6.5 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

A man and woman meet by chance at a romantic inn over dinner and, although both are happily married to others, they find themselves in the same bed the next morning questioning how this could have happened. They agree to meet on the same weekend each year—in the same hotel room—and the years pass each has some personal crisis that the other helps them through, often without both of them understanding what is going on.

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 Same Time, Next Year?

The 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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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Robert Mulligan

Written by

Bernard Slade

Alan Alda

Alan Alda

George Peters

Ellen Burstyn

Ellen Burstyn

Doris

Ivan Bonar

Ivan Bonar

Chalmers

Bernie Kuby

Bernie Kuby

Waiter

Cosmo Sardo

Cosmo Sardo

Second Waiter

D

David Northcutt

Pilot #1

W

William Cantrell

Pilot #2

Court is in session

Put Same Time, Next Year on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

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.

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.