2004-07-10

The Recommendz Recommendation Explanation

A couple of months ago, I reviewed the extremely experimental Recommendz recommendation system. If you remember, my main complaint involved that fact that rating movies requires a considerable investment of time because the user must also rate "features" associated with the movie besides rating the movie itself.

Now, at the top of my recommendation list is the trivial teen comedy What a Girl Wants. So, if I want to know how this particularly inane film turned out to have a predicted 9.19 score (out of 10) for me, I can find out what features led the system to that conclusion.

In the case of the Colin Firth/Amanda Bynes family film, previous viewers report that it is "bizarre", "stupid", and "stylish." Now oddly enough, these are cinematic traits that I have expressed appreciation for in movies like Eraserhead, Cabin Boy, and The Fifth Element. And this is the apparent result.

I think we need to fine-tune the meaning of "stupid."