The Goodbye Girl

Debut: 1978
Director: Herbert Ross
Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, Marsha Mason, Quinn Cummings

I don't get into many love stories - mostly because romantic comedies and horrible chick flicks have made love something based on the worst far-fetched plots anyone can pitch. Needless to say, this film was amazing!

The movie is about a woman and her daughter living in an apartment that was leased by her still-married boyfriend. When he dumps her and moves on, he sublets the apartment without letting her know. She then gets this stranger on her doorstep who has already paid for the place. He lets them stay there, and they eventually fall in love.

Telling it to you like that puts it pretty roughly. The story is full of ups and downs, and is way more about their respective lives than about their love, which I found all-the-more respectable.

Lastly, a love story just cannot be without a connection between the two. The interaction between Dreyfuss and Mason makes this movie worth it's time in gold (can you measure time in gold?) The witty banter, the odd situation, and the performance by then-newcomer Cummings is adorable.

The Goodbye Girl is worth watching, and then hunting down to have a copy of your own.