Change Your Image
thefutters
Reviews
The Goodbye Girl (2004)
fabulous remake!
This movie was brilliantly done. I confess that I've never seen the 1977 original, and it is no insult to the actors in that one to say that Jeff, Patricia, and Hallie are a fabulous trio in this film. Take this version as a standalone and you will be impressed! The comic timing is excellent; the emotion is vividly real in almost every scene; the chemistry is actually better early on, when it is more below the surface, than later in the film; and the casting could not have been more perfect.
Jeff Daniels is particularly excellent as Elliot Garfield, with his artful blend of dry humor and simple passion. An actor playing an actor on screen is rarely demonstrated so well, but his charm keeps this character utterly believable. I was not a big fan of Patricia Heaton until she took this role, but I discovered a depth in her acting that was not as evident to me from her television work. It helps that she is obviously an intelligent woman, and she brings an endearing mix of tentative hope and cynicism to this character, just as she should. Hallie Kate Eisenberg, in her second role as an intelligent, rather mature child, is the perfect complement to Patricia's Paula McFadden. Hallie plays Paula's daughter in this film, more innocent and hopeful than her mother, but not a stranger to the world and its emotional threats. All three characters are very human, very real; and the intelligent, witty dialogue is so plausible that you almost feel you are being told this story by the characters themselves who are your personal friends.
Overall, brilliantly made, perfectly cast, and a real delight! Fans of comedy, romance, and even biting wit, will all be charmed and impressed.