Barbara Rhoades, Marsha Mason, Michael Shawn

The Goodbye Girl is a bittersweet comedy about relationships and taking chances. Though it deals with the human condition, what most quickly comes to mind are those wickedly comedic scenes feat...( read more  read more... )uring Richard Dreyfuss in an Oscar-winning role. He plays a struggling actor with a sharp tongue who has sublet an apartment from single mom Marcia Mason, a divorcée with horrific taste in men, who are always running out on her. She is left high and dry once more, stuck sharing her apartment with Dreyfuss when he hasn't the heart to enforce his lease and toss out mother and daughter.

Neil Simon's play shines under the direction of Herbert Ross as these two mismatched people find their contempt changing into mutual admiration. Quinn Cummings is more interesting than most precocious child stars; she seems brighter and her manner is prickly instead of cloying. Watch this film just for the scene in which Dreyfuss plays Richard III in an off-off-Broadway play. He lisps, he limps, he screams. It is the worst theater you will ever see--and thoroughly hilarious. --Rochelle O'Gorman

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86% liked it

1,612 ratings

PG, 110 min.

Directed by: Herbert Ross

Release Date: November 30, 1977

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DVD Release Date: January 18, 2000

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Flixster Reviews (396)


  • June 25, 2008
    Winning love story, written by Neil Simon, has great chemistry between its leads. Scenes where Dreyfuss is a flamboyant Richard III are side-splitting.
  • August 25, 2007
    I quite enjoyed this film. Elliot (Richard Dreyfuss) and Paula (Marsha Mason) are forced to share a New York apartment. They grow from hating to appreciating each other.

    Dreyfuss won an Academy award for his part, but Quinn Cummings as Paula's daughter does wonderfully in her ...( read more)role. The gay Richard III is a lark too.
  • March 29, 2007
    Neil Simon scripted rom com that has the kind of affectionate wit Woody Allen used to be so good at. Dreyfuss has never been more likeable, and Richard III in drag is hilarious!
  • May 30, 2008
    This is a total chick flick... but guys can definitely appreciate Richard Dreyfus's smoothness and wit in this classic love/hate/adore romantic comedy.
  • February 26, 2008
    Cute little love story back when Dreyfuss was passionate about acting.Good date movie.
  • September 11, 2009
    Say hello to Neil Simon's finest love story The Goodbye Girl. I liked how two mismatched roommates live together as they take their chance in a new relationship, and it's all romantic, dramatic, and comedic into one. When Paula McFadden's actor boyfriend split today for a ...( read more)movie role, struggling actor Elliot Garfield moves into their Manhattan apartment as its new tenant's name. As Elliot doesn't have the heart to enforce his lease he plays Richard III on an off-off-Broadway play. Directed by Herbert Ross and starring the very excellent performances of the Oscar-winning Richard Dreyfuss, Marsha Mason, and introducing Quinn Cummings as the adorable Lucy.
  • August 15, 2009
    Marsha makes this movie and Dreyfuss ruins it.
  • April 17, 2009
    Delicious, absolutely delicious.

    It's a great performance of young Dreyfuss, and the character of the little girl it's fantastic, and ever since tried to imitate, but never achieved.
  • March 24, 2009
    yandan yandan izleyip anca bitirdik. ben sevmedim çok konusuyorlar.
  • March 13, 2009
    I was worried I'd spoiled myself by seeing the TV remake of this first, but the original is just as near-perfect. The script is of course the same, but this version has better acting. Though the 2004 one was also very good.

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  • Which 2 actors starred in Neil Simon's "The Goodbye Girl"?  Answer »
  • In what movie was this line in? "and I don't like the panties drying on the rod"  Answer »
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