Romantic Movies

[indygirl]

kafka said:

More modern, and one of my favorite romcoms, is The Goodbye Girl with Marsha Mason and Richard Dreyfuss.

I absolutely love this movie. Love it! Love it! Love it!

[kafka]

indygirl said:

kafka said:

More modern, and one of my favorite romcoms, is The Goodbye Girl with Marsha Mason and Richard Dreyfuss.

I absolutely love this movie. Love it! Love it! Love it!

Wow, I'm so surprised! I thought no-one would have any idea what I was talking about, let alone actually LOVE it! Indygirl, this is not the first time that I've thought we are scarily alike. ;D

I think my favorite part(s) of The Goodbye Girl is in the beginning, when they absolutely hate each other and she walks in on him naked; then when he rubs the little girl's tummy to help her sleep; and their dinner; and, and, and, and......

ARGH. It's just too good to limit to one or two scenes. It's a wonderfully funny, witty, ironic, tender, sweet movie, all around. And I could watch it again and again.

[Deleted]

I used to really hate Richard Deryfuss and my mom basically forced me to watch The Goodbye Girl. I was NOT in the mood to watch a romcom with him (ewwwww!) but oh man, he really won me over. Not really a huge fan or anything, but his gay Richard III is one of my favorite movie moments... ever! The thing is, I never warmed to the Marsha Mason character (she was NOTHING without her cute daughter, imo) but I adored Dreyfuss, so ultimately it didn't work as a great romance for me. Maybe I should see it again (it has been a while). I might be more sympathetic to her character.

[kafka]

thursdaynext said:

I used to really hate Richard Deryfuss and my mom basically forced me to watch The Goodbye Girl. I was NOT in the mood to watch a romcom with him (ewwwww!) but oh man, he really won me over. Not really a huge fan or anything, but his gay Richard III is one of my favorite movie moments... ever! The thing is, I never warmed to the Marsha Mason character (she was NOTHING without her cute daughter, imo) but I adored Dreyfuss, so ultimately it didn't work as a great romance for me. Maybe I should see it again (it has been a while). I might be more sympathetic to her character.

Heh. I can relate to a lot of this. Richard Dreyfuss is the most unlikely leading man/romantic hero ever! And it's not just because of how we imagine him now, but even because of how he was back then. Nonetheless, he really pulled it off in this film. In fact, his physical unattractiveness just made the story sweeter, imo.

You're right, Gay Richard III has to be one of the funniest movie scenes around. It's also one of those scenes where the viewer physically and literally WINCES while watching it, because it's just so godawful and painful.

I agree that the cute daughter made huge parts of the film but I don't fully agree about Marsha Mason. Her character was intended to be extremely uptight, hard to relate to, difficult, thorny, paranoidly defensive and self-protective. Marsha Mason carried that off superbly without making you completely loathe her. (If you've ever watched Grey's Anatomy, you know how hard it is to manage such a feat without the audience actively clamoring for you to die.) Watching MM's character, you might wince or think she's obnoxious at the beginning, but you always understand how much of it is driven by fear, loneliness, loss and insecurity.

I loved the film as a child but I have to say, I've loved it even more as an adult. I can really sympathise with her fear of getting involved and hurt again after having been in a bad relationship; I can relate to her worries about growing older and no longer having all the endless freedoms/options of youth; and it's damn easy to understand to her horror at having someone like Richard Dreyfuss' character as a roommate!

IMO, the appeal of the movie is that it mingles various elements from the Odd Couple, Cinderella (in reverse), Beauty & the Beast, the theme of the underdog triumphing, and much more. IMO, it fully deserved the Oscar (Oscars, plural?) that it received.

I really hope you will get a chance to see it again now that you're an adult. If you do, let me know what you think.

[thesurlymermaid]

I must make mention of An Affair to Remember. Cary Grant was pretty darn swoonworthy in that movie and the scene where he realizes she is the one who bought the painting? Gah!

I'm surprised (but pleased) to see mention made of that scene Kissing in the Rain from Alfonso Cuaron's Great Expectations. I thought the movie was sort of boring but I loved the cinematography and art direction. Everything was in greens...it's so lush and beautiful. As green in my favorite color, I really responded to it. Anyway, I hunted down the score to the film just to get the music that was playing during that scene...fantastic.