The Goodbye Girl
Director: Herbert Ross
Year Released: 1977
Rating: 2.0
Neil Simon didn't like to look past one of the basic ideas for developing conflict in a story: place two people in the same room that don't see eye-to-eye; have them converse. No, this isn't The Odd Couple, although the story of actor-playing-actor Richard Dreyfuss forced to live in the same apartment as Marsha Mason is a little too cutey-patootie for its own good; the jokes sag because the two performers are trying to outperform each other - Dreyfuss hangs out windows, yells, bounces around, Mason cries and whines and complains to her all-knowing, all-seeing daughter. The dramatic ups and downs are plentiful - they pop up in rapid-fire succession - and become equally as tiring.
