Evengyny Thanks for the memories!

PodBill Just what I expected

Kidskycom It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

tuckfinite While channel surfing I noticed AMC advertising Jaws. I wasn't interested but I had the passing thought "whatever happened to Dreyfuss?". I hadn't heard of him in decades. I went to IMBD and was amazed at what I found. Apparently he's been in half the crappy movies of the last 20 yrs and a few crappy TV offerings as well. I vaguely remember seeing the Krippendorfs advertised on tv because there was someone I liked in it. How is this possible? Dreyfuss has always been a ham. How can he keep getting jobs once the spell was broken? Does he have blackmail material on half of Hollywood? And I thought why has the term ham actor disappeared? True you don't often see Dreyfuss magnitude overacting anymore but still? Then It came to me. It's all part of the same conspiracy. The term ham actor had to be eliminated because of its obvious application to Dreyfuss. It's all part of the same conspiracy to keep Dreyfuss afloat because well maybe he's Putin's spy. Hey I can't be expected to know all the details. Something as strange as this could involve space aliens.

Lee Eisenberg By 1977, Richard Dreyfuss was a well established actor, having appeared in "American Graffiti", "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz" and "Jaws". That year he appeared in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "The Goodbye Girl", winning an Academy Award for Best Actor for the latter.Probably the most notable role that year was John Travolta's turn as a working-class youth who dances to disco music in "Saturday Night Fever", one of the most iconic movies of the decade. By contrast, barely anyone remembers "The Goodbye Girl". On the other hand, Richard Dreyfuss is the better actor (more importantly, he frequently addresses political issues, while John Travolta is now more known for Scientology than for his movie roles). Are Academy Award nominations meant to address roles or individuals? Whatever the case, this movie - the first that Neil Simon wrote directly for the screen - is worth seeing. I actually liked Marsha Mason's role more than Richard Dreyfuss's. I'd call her one of the most underrated actresses. Overall, it's an OK movie, not a masterpiece.

newkidontheblock I hate rom-coms. I really do. I hate their predictability. I hate the two dimensional characters. I hate how dated they usually are (I'm looking at you, "You Got Mail"). I just can't stand them. Every so often, though, a romantic comedy comes along that doesn't keep my eyes rolling for an hour and a half. One where the characters aren't cardboard cutouts of actual human beings. One that's actually able to pull at my heart strings and let out the inner romantic. The Goodbye Girl is one of those movies.The complaint I had with the film was the Lucy McFadden character played by Quinn Cummings. To be fair, I thought she showed a good range of emotions and as the movie progressed I actually started to like her. At the start of the movie, though, she was not a welcomed presence. Her over precociousness made her seem like a Tatum O'Neil wanna be. Lucy McFadden is kind of like taking a dip in a pool really early in the morning. At first, it feels harsh but it warms up to you as you stay a little while longer.The movie does have a lot of the clichés we've come to hate about rom-coms. It has the "strong woman" with the heart of ice. It has the quirky love interest that melts aforenamed heart of ice. It has the wildly unlikely circumstances leading up to the wildly unlikely romance and the big city backdrop, but somehow it just works. I don't know why or how, but it just does. I thought Richard Dreyfuss and Marsha Mason had great performances and I thought Elliot Garfield and Paula McFadden were likable characters. Is it my favorite movie of all time? No. Is it a bit of an Odd Couple rip off? Yes (though I guess that sort of thing works for Neil Simon). Did it give me that warm, fuzzy feeling rom-coms are supposed to give you (but so often fail to do)? Absolutely.

indy-39 I suppose in a way I owe a debt of gratitude to this film-it certainly ranks on my list of "essentials" for cutting my own critical chops. The "essentials" I'm referring to are films I absolutely despised that virtually everyone I knew (and the Oscars) liked. For years the mere mention of "pan-tees-hang-ing-in-the-bathroom" could sent me into a rage. Listen, I like Neil Simon- probably more than I should-but this film is crap. The by-play between the leads that usually makes Simon funny falls flat with these two truly mismatched actors. Dreyfuss overacts shamelessly (it's his m.o. in virtually all his lead roles- like Bette Midler he's really only suitable for supporting roles) and begs the question: If John Simon could call Streisand "ugly" what do you call a guy who looks like a gerbil with whiskers? He's truly grotesque, and not just when he's playing gay Richard III (his best moment) his Oscar for this smacks of self congratulation on the part of Hollywood. Marsha Mason is mediocre also a career best. Fortunately for me, sanity prevailed and Dreyfuss sank to a level more befitting his talents (he blamed coke- I prefer to take the optimistic view that the world just came to its senses).This isn't the worst Neil Simon film- just the most overpraised. I watch what I can bear of it from time to time when I feel like patting myself on the back for trusting my judgement way back when.