The Buddy System

This was a cute little love story starring Richard Dreyfuss before he became pompous, Susan Sarandon before she became sexy, and Wil Wheaton before he became utterly insufferable. The love is more a familial kind of thing; Dreyfuss and Sarandon never really generate much romantic "heat," but the family connection that Joe develops with Emily and Tim is really nice. Jean Stapleton comes off (appropriately) as really chilly in this, a good performance that reminds one what a terrific performance Edith Bunker always was. For once, Nancy Allen doesn't stink up the joint like she usually does, because her shallow airheaded character seems fairly close to her real personality. This is one of those forgotten movies that turn up occasionally on Saturday afternoon TV, but it's a nice 2 hour diversion.

Nice forum for a young Richard Dryfuss and Susan Sarandon. The story line is a little sappy and way too predictable.

All the characters are stereotypical of the times (early 80's). Maybe seeing the movie in 1984 I would have felt differently about the story line. However, in 2001 it seems trite and fixed.

Nicely done warm fuzzy movie. We have single moms with nice kid, Odd guy with warm heart and sexual icon running around, a dominant mother and several

animals and ducks making us smile. This movie should not be analyzed only

appreciated. It's like chicken soup and a warm blanket on a cold day, always appreciated.

I think the world needs these non-threatening, nonintellectual, fantasies to

remind of the magic of movies. Richard Dreyfuss has done a few of these and this ranks high in my favorite Susan Sarandon movies.

This is almost the exact same movie. Just like the "Goodbye Girl". All you do is make Dreyfuss character an inventor and turn the little girl into a little boy and voila, "The Buddy System"! I am sure that Richard Dreyfuss was desperate to have another hit, so he picked something that was close to his last one. Too bad it wasn't as good.

If you can't get out and there is nothing to do, it is a nice enough movie to watch. If you can see the "Goodbye Girl" though, WATCH IT!!

One doesn't so much watch "The Buddy System" as struggle through it. Unwed mother Susan Sarandon is studying to be a court stenographer but can't pass the final exam. Meanwhile, grade school son Wil Wheaton--who tells his classmates that his father is rich and powerful and that's why he never shows up for the school plays--makes friends with Richard Dreyfuss as the school's security guard, who doesn't turn the kid in after he discovers the boy's mother has gone to great lengths to place him there despite living outside the school's jurisdiction. Screenwriter Mary Agnes Donoghue doesn't even try to disguise her desire to ape Neil Simon's wisecracking romcoms--and certainly casting Dreyfuss in his role was a coup, refreshing one's fondness for "The Goodbye Girl"--but between Donoghue's crassness and director Glenn Jordan's lethargic pacing, the movie is a chore at 110mns. There are two gay slurs within the first few scenes, which tips the audience off that everyone on-screen is strictly heterosexual (and if this isn't enough, both Dreyfuss and Sarandon are seeing other people, with Dreyfuss' girlfriend Nancy Allen playing her first scene in a black bra and panties). For her part, Sarandon works hard at being an adorably lenient mom, and she gets a good, testy rhythm going with wheedling mother Jean Stapleton. Dreyfuss, going for restraint, is more nasal than usual, and it doesn't help that his character (who's also a part-time inventor and part-time writer!) is a sap. The filmmakers seem to think he's a catch, though...and why not? In the end, he talks mom into buying her kid a dog. *1/2 from ****