Simply one of the great movie comedies of all time. ‘Twas funny back then and still is thanks to an Academy-Award-winning Best Actor performance by Richard Dreyfuss at, arguably, the peak of his fame. He plays Elliot Garfield, an up and coming stage actor, who sublets a New York apartment on his way to playing an off-off-Broadway Richard III as an overdone ‘queen’ who wanted to be king. Those latter scenes directed by an eccentric, droll Paul Benedict (of Sesame Street numbers man fame) are well-worth the price of admission alone.
Playing opposite the down-to-earth, passionate Elliot is a more earnest, vulnerable Paula played realistically by Marsha Mason, actress-wife of Neil Simon–he who wrote the entertaining, successful script.
An unexpected delight who should have won for Best Supporting Actress is Quinn Cummings as a believable, savvy 7-8 year-old who is more wary and skeptical than her own mother who’s been burned by two men before Elliott shows up to share their apartment.
The New York sets add a nice believability to the locale and atmosphere of the time and place of these working class people trying to survive and stay afloat, physically and emotionally.
The battle of the sexes scenes are realistic and the root of Paula’s problems and distrust are honestly explored. Elliott is the quirky character at the center of this all, ultimately winning the hearts of both mother and daughter.
Dreyfuss is at his manic best and very funny as a New Age man who is a far better actor than his botched Richard III indicates. Elliot is also a good guy and a better person than any assertive edges of his personality might first indicate. And he becomes a truly pathetic, sympathetic person in his crestfallen stage in the climactic middle, rounding out his character.
Although Dreyfuss is, overwhelmingly, the star in this one, Mason and Cummings more than hold their own in this one and make The Goodbye Girl a truly successful comedy-drama in its depiction of both sexes. This movie is highly recommended for long-time Dreyfuss fans and women viewers who have been disappointed in their choices of unromantic, thoughtless, insensitive male companions in real-life.