The Goodbye Girl

Paula McFadden, a dancer who has stopped performing, shares a Manhattan apartment with her ten-year-old daughter, Lucy. When the man they live with leaves for Europe without warning, Paula learns he has sublet the place to Elliot Garfield, an actor preparing a small off-Broadway Shakespeare production. Neither of them wants the arrangement, but Paula and Lucy have nowhere else to go, so the three reluctantly share the apartment. What begins as mutual irritation gradually gives way to something warmer, even as both Paula and Elliot struggle with their stalled careers and with the awkwardness of the situation.

Herbert Ross directed the film, the sixth of the thirteen features he made, arriving between The Seven-Per-Cent Solution and California Suite. Neil Simon wrote the screenplay, and Ray Stark produced it for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Rastar Productions. Richard Dreyfuss plays Elliot, Marsha Mason plays Paula, and Quinn Cummings plays Lucy, with Paul Benedict, Barbara Rhoades and Theresa Merritt among the credited cast of fifty.

Released in late 1977, the film runs 111 minutes and took about 102 million dollars worldwide, a strong return that reflects its broad popularity with audiences. On IMDb it holds a rating of 7.4 from roughly 18,000 votes, and on TMDB it sits at 7 from around 189 votes, showing consistently favorable responses from viewers across both platforms.