Such a frustrating disappointment

Just perfect...

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

I first saw this as a kid, in the early 80s, so it brings back fond memories to see it again. Clever dialog written by Neil Simon -- it has his signature all over it! A few surprising appearances as well, including Kiefer Sutherland as a baseball player (and he's not even credited on IMDb for this film), Shelley Morrison, who played Rosario the maid on Will & Grace, and David Morse as a cop. Robards plays Max Dugan, a ne'er-do-well absentee father who returns to the scene with a suitcase full of dubiously obtained money. His dying wish is to get to know his teenage grandson and to reacquaint himself with his daughter after 28 years. It's entertaining, well written, well acted. What's not to like?

This movie is very much like Neil Simon's earlier comedy, Seems Like Old Times. There, Chevy Chase plays Goldie Hawn's ex-husband who is mistakenly accused of a crime. Avoiding cops and just about everyone else, she tries to hide him in her house. But it's difficult keeping his presence a secret when pops up everytime she turns around, a cause of many comedic mishaps. Max Dugan is a similar story, but the comedy is much less a slapstick routine, and more triggered by the characters. It is a delightful comedy, and one of many of Jason Robards and Marsha Mason's great performances. It is also Matthew Broderick and Keifer Sutherland's film debuts (although you hardly get to see Sutherland). Marsha Mason is the smart, witty Nora McPhee, a single mother and English teacher, who can't seem to keep up with the amount of things that go wrong in her day. In that style of 'Prisoners of Second Avenue,' McPhee's problems are all based on Murphy's Law. If can go wrong, you better believe it will. But, in 'Prisoners of Second Avenue,' it was used to illustrate the problems of city life. Here, it is the setting for something else.Jason Robards is the elusive Max Dugan, Nora's father who she hadn't seen since he walked on his family as a child. Imagine her reaction when he shows up on her doorstep one evening. She is none too thrilled. But Max is desperate for a place to lay low. Carrying a suitcase full of stolen cash (which he considers mere compensation for money stolen from him), he needs to hide from the police. So, he poses as a man renting one of the rooms. Except, it becomes quite difficult for Nora to hide her father from her new boyfriend, a curious detective played by Donald Sutherland. Especially, when Dugan keeps using his money to buy her and her son extremely lavish gifts and home repairs, something she could never afford in a lifetime of working as a public school teacher. But, Max only wants the best for his daughter. However, Nora wants to drive home the point that it is genuine affection she is after from her father, not money. The whole situation presents a number of hilarious sequences, especially when Nora has to do some quick explaining as to where her new car, diamond earrings, or a wad full of fifties in her purse, are mysteriously coming from. It is one of Neil Simon's best movies, and one with great chemistry between Mason and Robards, who are essentially the entire movie.

The "best"movie of the century, it was good and funny. Grandfather (Max Dugan) played by Jason Robards; mother (Nora McPhee) played by Marsha Mason; the teenager (Michael McPhee) played by Matthew Broderick; and the policeman (Brian Costello) played by Donald Sutherland, starring in the movie, "Max Dugan Returns." There are always a few positives and negatives in each movie, and in this one the few positives are: Max Dugan brings Nora and Michael a lot of money, buys them very expensive gifts to lets them think... Just because he came out of jail, doesn't mean he's an evil guy. He wants to make them happy. Although the policeman wants to be a friend, is he only doing his job too. The few negatives is that there's a lot of dishonesty going around. Nora's cars get stolen in one week, and she doesn't accept the gifts that were given to her by her father. I think the theme is about "honesty and dishonesty." There's not a lot of honesty in this movie. Nora and Max tell lies about him, because she doesn't want to lose her father again. They are tryig to hide his real image. "don't lie, 'cause the truth has to come out some time." Nora McPhee, was a wonderful mother and Gr.10 teacher. Before her father came back into her life, she was a single mother, because her husband had died of cancer. Then she accepts her father to come and live with them, just for a few weeks. Before that, she had a really old car, that was about to fall into pieces. Then the policeman, Brian, gave her a motorcycle to get around with, but shortly after that the bike got stolen too. Her father then suprized her with a new car. She didn't want to accept any of the gifts, because she said, she doesn't wants gifts than was bought with stolen money. The policeman, Brian Costello started to like Nora McPhee. He bought her a bike as soon as he found out that her car was stolen. Then they went out for dinner, when she dropped her handbag, he knew something was wrong. Then he saw an old man in her house, when he wanted to put the flowers he gave her in the house, because she left them in his car. Matthew Broderick was the teenager, Michael McPhee. He always had a problem with baseball. The next morning when he woke up, he saw an old man in the kitchen. He then asked his mother who the old man was and she said Mr. Parker his grandfather. Now Michael is confused over who the old man living with them really was. He accepted all the gifts that "the man" gave them, but he has to convince his mother to accept them too. Bacause he had a problem with baseball "Mr. Parker" got someone to help him.If I were a film judge, I would grade this film an eight. It's a funny movie with a theme to it. I enjoyed this movie and I also encourage everyone to watch it.

If you watched this movie, then you are going to say, "That is really funny!" When I watched Neil Simon's "Max Dugan Returns," it looked like an old movie. People's hair styles, fashion and cars are all old. My teacher said this movie was made in 1983. This movie is old, but it was really interesting! I read another Neil Simon story "The Good Doctor" before watching this movie. I think Neil Simon's story has many characters. It should separate positives and negatives. I think the positives are love of family. The parent and child, love each other and they take care of other. I think the negatives are luxuries Nora's father has a lot of money. He uses that money for his daughter and grandson, but actually that was luxury. When I watched this movie, I could know about love of family. Max Dugan loves his daughter and his grandson, so he wnats to do anything for them. Nora McPhee loves her father and her son. She worried about her father and she takes cares of her son. Michael McPhee loves his grandfather and his mom He tried to understand what happened to his grandfather and his mom. I think they love each other and take care. Max Dugan is Nora's father and Michael's grandfather. I think he is a good father and grandfather. He used his money for them and he did do anything for his family. It could be positives. But he was in jail for six years and he got that money from a casino. He is good parent and grandparent, but he is a criminal anyways. It could be negatives. Nora McPhee is Michael's mom and Max's daughter. She is a daughter of father and mom of a son, but she is a teacher also. I think she is a good actress because she did do good. She did do good in her role of daughter, mom, and teacher. Brian Costello is a policeman. He loves Nora McPhee. He's supposed to arrest Max Dugan because Brian is a policeman, but loves Nora so he couldn't arrest Max. He is a policeman, but I think he didn't do in his role.Michael McPhee is the son of Nora and grandson of Max. He is a teenager and he goes to high school. I think he is good, but I saw him smoking a cigarette which is a negative habit. I am not an actress, but when he was acting, I think that his acting didn't have emotions. If I give the film a rating, I just want to give 10 points because this was funny and interesting. When I watched the last part, I was sad just a little bit and sometimes I saw bad things. For example, Nora is an English teacher, but sometimes she used bad language like cussing. But when I see the whole story, it is intersting so I could laugh. I like Neil Simon's story. When I read the other Neil Simon story, that was interesting for me.