IMDb RATING
5.8/10
3.5K
YOUR RATING
A precocious little girl sues her selfish, career-driven parents for emancipation, surprising them both.A precocious little girl sues her selfish, career-driven parents for emancipation, surprising them both.A precocious little girl sues her selfish, career-driven parents for emancipation, surprising them both.
- Awards
- 3 nominations
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaLoosely based on the marriage and divorce of director Peter Bogdanovich and producer Polly Platt.
- GoofsCasey argues with Lucy that she is 9 years old, when Lucy says that she is 8. Although the movie is trying to show how the parents neglect to remember her birthday, given that her date of birth is December 11, 1975, the Casey character would still be 8 at the time the movie was released.
- Quotes
Casey Brodsky: Mother, you and Dad for a long time did not recognize my rights as a human being. You both treated me like chattel. You cannot do with me as you please anymore. We have irreconcilable differences.
- Alternate versionsNBC edited 5 minutes from this film for its 1987 network television premiere.
- SoundtracksYou and Me (We Wanted It All)
Written by Carole Bayer Sager, Peter Allen
Performed by Frank Sinatra
Unichappell Music, Inc., Begonia Melodies, Inc., Irving Music, Inc., Woodnough Music, Inc.
Courtesy of Reprise Records
By arrangement with Warner Special Products
Published by Warner Bros. Records, Inc.
[Played over the closing credits]
Featured review
Drew pretty much steals the show as the deadpan "reasoner"
character: a child coping in the midst of two selfish,
immature adults. I'd compare her to Tatum O'Neal in Paper
Moon or Mary Badham in To Kill a Mockingbird for the way
she anchors the audience's perspective as the madness (competently related here by Ryan and Shelley) spins around her.
The real comedy lies in the "screwball" plot twist to which the film's title refers (we learn, early in the plot, that it is little Drew's character, not the parents, who is suing for divorce), and especially the story's underlying satire of the entertainment industry. Highlights include how Albert/Ryan's plummeting career as a director parodies those of Cimino (dust, smoke and flies a la Heaven's Gate) and Bogdanovich (starring untalented girlfriend in multi-million-dollar flops). An Andy Warhol style painting of Shelly Long as Marilyn in the background of one scene is just too funny, an example of how understated the true humor can be in this otherwise broadly-played farce.
Some points are disturbing, though: it's made a joke that Ryan is having an anxiety attack instead of a heart attack (try having one), or that his visitation rights are threatened if he doesn't make child support payments (an interesting social comment). Considering the real-life ups and downs of Ryan O'Neal's and Shelly Long's careers, however, I'd say the film's a roaring success.
character: a child coping in the midst of two selfish,
immature adults. I'd compare her to Tatum O'Neal in Paper
Moon or Mary Badham in To Kill a Mockingbird for the way
she anchors the audience's perspective as the madness (competently related here by Ryan and Shelley) spins around her.
The real comedy lies in the "screwball" plot twist to which the film's title refers (we learn, early in the plot, that it is little Drew's character, not the parents, who is suing for divorce), and especially the story's underlying satire of the entertainment industry. Highlights include how Albert/Ryan's plummeting career as a director parodies those of Cimino (dust, smoke and flies a la Heaven's Gate) and Bogdanovich (starring untalented girlfriend in multi-million-dollar flops). An Andy Warhol style painting of Shelly Long as Marilyn in the background of one scene is just too funny, an example of how understated the true humor can be in this otherwise broadly-played farce.
Some points are disturbing, though: it's made a joke that Ryan is having an anxiety attack instead of a heart attack (try having one), or that his visitation rights are threatened if he doesn't make child support payments (an interesting social comment). Considering the real-life ups and downs of Ryan O'Neal's and Shelly Long's careers, however, I'd say the film's a roaring success.
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Details
Box office
- Budget
- $6,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $12,414,210
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $3,076,894
- Sep 30, 1984
- Gross worldwide
- $12,414,210
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Top Gap
By what name was Irreconcilable Differences (1984) officially released in India in English?
Answer