64
Metascore
11 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineA rarity for Neil Simon's screen efforts, The Goodbye Girl perfectly blends humor, sentiment, and romance on a level so pleasant it's almost suspicious.
- 100EmpireCaroline WestbrookEmpireCaroline WestbrookWith insightful one-liners by the bucketload and a memorable duo in Dreyfuss and Mason, this serves as a joyful reminder of a genre which has long since past its best.
- 75Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertA funny movie with its heart finally in the right place, but all sorts of unacknowledged complications lurk just beneath its polished surface.
- 75Washington PostGary ArnoldWashington PostGary ArnoldThe Goodbye Girl itself represents a satisfying step back in the right direction for the purposes of light, optimistic film romance. Its appeal isn't exactly novel, but it is ingeniously and refreshingly traditional. [21 Dec 1977, p.D1]
- 70VarietyBrian LowryVarietyBrian LowryThe Neil Simon script evolves a series of increasingly intimate and sensitive character encounters as the adults progress from mutual hostility to an enduring love. Performances by Dreyfuss, Mason and Cummings are all great, and the many supporting bits are filled admirably.
- 70Time OutTime OutOverall Simon's ego-splitting wisecracks make for many good laughs, even though, in contrast to Woody Allen's nervous New York humour, which has the discomforting ring of truth, Simon opts for a playwright's ring of confidence.
- 60The New YorkerPauline KaelThe New YorkerPauline KaelThe forced snappiness of the exchanges suggests two woodpeckers clicking at each other's heads. Irritability provides the rhythm in Neil Simon's universe.
- 60Chicago ReaderDave KehrChicago ReaderDave KehrStandard Neil Simon stuff, full of cute grotesques, snappy one-liners, and cheap plays at pathos.
- 50The New York TimesVincent CanbyThe New York TimesVincent CanbyExhuasting without being much fun.
- 50NewsweekDavid AnsenNewsweekDavid AnsenIt's precisely at the finish line that Simon's calculations misfire and The Goodbye Girl collapses like a house of cards. The movie could have told us something about the wrenching collision of careers and romance, but it plays it safe, and in the end pays for it. [05 Dec 1977, p.109]