I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

After being dumped by her live-in boyfriend, an unemployed dancer (Marsha Mason) and her 10-year-old daughter are reluctantly forced to live with a struggling off-Broadway actor (Richard Dreyfuss).This is Richard Dreyfuss at perhaps his most offbeat. Sure, Marsha Mason plays the lead and the film is called "the goodbye girl", but I think the movie passes or fails with Dreyfuss. For me, it passes, as he is strangely interesting and fun to watch.The film as a whole is not that amazing. It seems to have secured a few Oscar nominations but few wins. Today (2016), it is not one that most people have heard of. Heck, even Mason is not a household name. Worth a look, but not essential.

It is starting to feel like another planet when you think about the time that has passed since Neil Simon was cranking out comedies like this one in the 1970's. What makes it feel longer is - Marsha Mason is 70 years old this year 2012 Richard Dreyfuss is 65 years old this year.Their daughter who was a newcomer in this movie is 40 years old this year.Dreyfuss won an Oscar for this one and deservedly so. His character is extremely energetic and in a time before it is fashionable has to play a gay King Richard.As for Mason, she is delicious and bitchy all in moments.Neil Simon is 85 this year and his last writing credit was in 2007. In the 1970's Simon was doing scripts like this, The Odd Couple and The Sun Shine Boys.While the Goodbye Girl is not quite as well done as the others, this is still a pretty solid script for it's era. What seems strange is that this one just was shown on The Essentials on TCM. I am not used to having a movie that came out when I grew up being honored in that Saturday night slot. Still, it deserved the recognition.We need films like this one to remind us people and movies are not perfect.

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.

The Goodbye Girl is a well-paced and bright romantic comedy from the 1970's which also reflects the lifestyle and social currents of that decade, sandwiched between 60's idealism and 80's materialism. This might sound glib but for me, it fits neatly in that period when young people were coping with disappointments and heartache as they tried to build lives for themselves. The script and the acting are funny, sad and entertaining throughout.The repartee between Marsha Mason and Richard Dreyfuss sparkles as the two people who are forced to accept each other as roommates, only because of economic necessity. One is a granola-eating guy from Chicago who meditates and exercises as he tries to make it in the New York theatre scene. The young woman is a single mother who has been abandoned by her common-law husband and tries to return to dancing. The music of Bread evokes the soft rock of the decade. We see Marsha Mason working as a sales girl for a Japanese car company in an era before Japanese cars were commonplace. Before gay rights became part of the social agenda, Richard Dreyfuss takes on the role of Richard II in a way that a 1970's audience felt was more like their home decorator or hairdresser. It all seems a bit dated and predictable; however, with the acting of Mason and Dreyfus and the brilliant script from Neil Simon, it still entertains and resonates with audiences.