Cultural markets are full of uncertainty, prompting consumers to rely on various social information to make informed decisions. Personal recommendations, particularly from close networks, stand out as an important social component. However, at social gatherings, consumers may encounter recommendations from advisors outside their close network. Focusing on the movie market, this study investigates how different characteristics of such movie advisors influence the value placed on their recommendations. A factorial survey among students is employed to investigate the role of gender, migration background, social position and patterns of movie watching in drawing the behavioral intentions to watch movies in three genres – action, comedy and drama. The results show that recommendations from women, individuals with migration backgrounds, lower SEPs and those with extensive involvement in the movie market hold greater value across all genres. There is a lack of evidence supporting gender-essential beliefs about advisors, as little differences across genres are identified. To some extent, in-group favoritism is observed among women and omnivores in the movie market. This study underlines the importance of advisors’ characteristics in predicting the weight of recommendations.