The Goodbye Girl

Jeff Daniels ("Dumb and Dumber." 1994) and Patricia Heaton (T.V.'s "Everybody Loves Raymond") team up in this made-for-TV remake of Neil Simon's 1977 original. Elliot Garfield (Daniels) is forced to share an apartment with Paula (Heaton), and her 11ish-year-old daughter, Lucy (Hallie Kate Eisenberg--the "Pepsi girl" of the late '90s). At first there is incredible housemate static, but as time passes feelings for each other begin to surface.

I actually saw the movie premiere in an Ann Arbor, MI historical theater. Daniels himself gave the introduction. Some dialogue seems forced, especially from Eisenberg. And the shared apartment is quite unbelievably luxurious for two, supposedly strapped-for-cash performing artists. Funny scenes and clever dialogue snippets save this romantic comedy, though the original is better.

It is almost impossible to watch this movie, without comparing it to the 1970's movie. Jeff Daniels does a servicable job in this role, but to my eyes he seems miscast. He is just not desperate or manic enough in this part. Patricia Heaton is actually an upgrade over Marcia Mason in the female lead.

This is just an odd film to remake. The original was not exactly out of date. They did not make any big changes in this version, except very minor mentions of more current events. If you are bored, the source material this comes from is still pretty good. However if you really enjoy this movie, take the time to rent the 1977 version. I promise you will appreciate it being better.

I loved the original. This remake was just painful. Try though he might Jeff Daniels could not carry off the roll of Elliot with any degree of charm, humor or frenetic energy that Richard Dreyfuss made work so well in the original. Matthew Perry MIGHT have been a better casting choice for Elliot, but it's hard to follow a classic.

And though Patricia Heaton is much easier on the eye than Marsha Mason ever was, she seemed to be phoning in her part as well. Marsha sold the part of a hopeless romantic who'd been dumped one too many times. Patricia seemed to be acting like it was one of her Albertson's commercials.

I really tried to cheer for this remake, but it just didn't hold a candle to the original.

What got me to watch this movie in the first place was seeing Patricia Heaton in something other than Everybody Loves Raymond and to see Jeff Daniels in something a little more serious than Dumb and Dumber.

I won't give away any of the plot, but I will say that the movie was entertaining. Although the speed at which emotions changed back and forth was a little too quick to be believable. Some people also might be turned off by the overly mature NYC 10 year old daughter who at times seems to be more of a sister then a daughter to Heaton's character.

It was a nice film to end the day with.

This perfectly serviceable remake of the 1977 picture raises the question as do so many remakes, of why this was remade. The scene is changed from the Upper West Side to West Greenwich village, but other than that, it looks like the leads worked on their characterizations by looking at the earlier film -- and the originals do it ever so slightly better.