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 
Summer Villa
Romance · Comedy · TV Movie · 2016
Although a successful romance novelist, Terry Russell hasn't had luck in her own love life. After a disastrous first date with cocky, hot-shot New York chef Matthew Everston, she retreats to her friend's French villa for the summer to finish her latest novel, with her reluctant teenage daughter in tow.
Movie details
Summer Villa
“There is a "je ne sais quoi" in the air”
2016 Romance · Comedy · TV Movie 1h 24m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.4 / 10
Community rating
Although a successful romance novelist, Terry Russell hasn't had luck in her own love life. After a disastrous first date with cocky, hot-shot New York chef Matthew Everston, she retreats to her friend's French villa for the summer to finish her latest novel, with her reluctant teenage daughter in tow.
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 Summer Villa?
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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Your Place or Mine
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When best friends and total opposites Debbie and Peter swap homes for a week, they get a peek into each other's lives that could open the door to love.
As Luck Would Have It
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Boot Camp
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Unathletic Whitney Carmichael signs up for an intense summer boot camp to reinvent herself and falls for her personal trainer. She then finds the strength to embrace her true self and ignore the others' expectations.
Love on Harbor Island
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This Little Love of Mine
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Laura Price is a successful San Francisco lawyer on the cusp of promotion – a far cry from her childhood growing up on a tropical island with best friends Chip and Gem. When the firm’s biggest client – Chip’s grandfather – asks Laura to travel to the island and deliver a contract to make Chip his heir, she leaves behind her practice and fiancé Owen to convince her childhood friend to sign a contract that will make him a billionaire.
Love, Weddings & Other Disasters
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A fussy celebrity caterer, a blind woman, a tour-bus guide and an inexperienced wedding planner search for love.
Speechless
Romance · 1994
In the midst of election season in New Mexico, political speechwriters Julia Mann and Kevin Vallick begin a romance, unaware they are working for candidates on opposite sides.
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Pat Kiely
Written by
Carrie L. Evans · Emi Mochizuki
Hilarie Burton Morgan
Terry Russell
Emorphia Margaritis
Abby Russell
Victor Webster
Matthew Everston
Cristina Rosato
Leslie Everston
Brittany Drisdelle
Dianne
Joseph Bellerose
René-Claude
Jocelin Haas
Jean Luc
Court is in session
Put Summer Villa 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.