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Meatballs

Meatballs

Comedy · 1979

Tripper is the head counselor at a budget summer camp called Camp Northstar. In truth, he's young at heart and only marginally more mature than the campers themselves. Tripper befriends Rudy, a loner camper who has trouble fitting in. As Tripper inspires his young charges to defeat rival Camp Mohawk in the annual Olympiad competition, Rudy plays matchmaker between Tripper and Roxanne, a female counselor at Northstar.

Movie details

Meatballs

“Are you ready for a good time?”

1979 Comedy 1h 32m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

5.8 / 10

Community rating

Tripper is the head counselor at a budget summer camp called Camp Northstar. In truth, he's young at heart and only marginally more mature than the campers themselves. Tripper befriends Rudy, a loner camper who has trouble fitting in. As Tripper inspires his young charges to defeat rival Camp Mohawk in the annual Olympiad competition, Rudy plays matchmaker between Tripper and Roxanne, a female counselor at Northstar.

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 Meatballs?

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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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Ivan Reitman

Written by

Daniel Goldberg · Len Blum · Harold Ramis · Janis Allen

Bill Murray

Bill Murray

Tripper Harrison

Harvey Atkin

Harvey Atkin

Morty

Russ Banham

Russ Banham

Crockett

Kristine DeBell

Kristine DeBell

A.L.

Matt Craven

Matt Craven

Hardware

Kate Lynch

Kate Lynch

Roxanne

Sarah Torgov

Sarah Torgov

Candace

Court is in session

Put Meatballs on trial.

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

The defence The Popcorn Loyalist

“It owes the canon nothing.”

The movie pursues immediacy and audience pleasure without begging institutions to certify its worth.

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.