Alicia I love this movie so much

Supelice Dreadfully Boring

Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Freaktana A Major Disappointment

moonspinner55 Recently dumped by his girlfriend, struggling novelist and greeting card writer Steve Martin becomes one of New York City's Lonely Guys: unattached fellows who dine alone, sleep alone, take care of their ferns and occasionally jump off the Manhattan Bridge. Neil Simon's adaptation of Bruce Jay Friedman's book "The Lonely Guy's Book of Life", scripted by Stan Daniels and Ed. Weinberger, isn't full of great jokes, but does have enough of them to sustain enjoyment for about an hour. Once Martin becomes a success--writing a handbook for the Lonely Guys of the world--the picture has no place left to go and dies. Director Arthur Hiller probably didn't understand episodic comedy--his linking device between skits, conversations between Martin and lonesome cohort Charles Grodin, is occasionally more amusing and potentially more interesting than the main narrative--but Steve Martin is working at the peak of his charms and some of the gags have a low-key spark of genius. ** from ****

morrison-dylan-fan With a poll coming up on IMDbs Classic Film board for the best titles of 1984 I started to search around in my DVD folders,and I spotted a Steve Martin film which appeared to be really over looked,which led to me getting ready to find out how lonely things could be.The plot:Getting thrown out by his girlfriend Danielle, Larry Hubbard finds himself joining a growing part of society called "The lonely guy" which is men/women who don't have any friend/family/partner and spend all their time completely on their own.Meeting fellow lonely guy Warren Evans,Hubbard starts getting into the lonely guy lifestyle,from buying a plant who he can talk to,to getting cardboard cut-outs of celebrities who he can "invite" round for parties.Whilst Evans accepts his place in society,Hubbard decides that he must try to be the lonely guy who loses his loneliness.View on the film:In the first half of their adaptation of Bruce Jay Friedman's novel The Lonely Guy's Book of Life,writers Neil Simon/Stan Daniels & Ed. Weinberger give the screenplay a witty,fast-pace sketch Comedy outline,with Hubbard learning the lonely guy lifestyle step by step,from pretending to be a food critic in order to eat on his own,to buying "lonely sweat" in the hope of catching the eyes of a lonely girl.Whilst the second half's focus on Hubbard's attempts to get out of the lifestyle does lead to the film slowing down,the writers make sure to keep the laughs rolling with a jet-black Comedy edge,which goes from lonely guys all using the same suicide bridge,to a lonely howl on the rooftops.Given a misty Fantasy backdrop by director Arthur Hiller,Steve Martin gives an excellent performance as Larry Hubbard,with Martin making sure that no matter how left-field Hubbard's antics are,that Hubbard is always grounded with a desire to get rid of his loneliness.Joining Martin, Charles Grodin gives a hilarious performance as Warren Evans,who Grodin shows to be extremely uncomfortable in his own skin,whilst the pretty Judith Ivey gives some sassy charm as Iris,as Hubbard discovers how lonely things can get.

SnoopyStyle This is dedicated to lonely guys everywhere. Larry Hubbard (Steve Martin) is an aspiring writer working at a greetings card company. He finds his girlfriend Danielle in bed with another man and she kicks him out. He befriends lonely guy Warren Evans (Charles Grodin) from the park bench. He meets Iris (Judith Ivey) at a diner but he smudges her number. He meets her again and loses her number again. She breaks up with him and he writes a book about his experience. He becomes a best seller.It has a quirky original sense of spoof humor. This Arthur Hiller film reminds me of Mel Brooks. It's wacky light fun for a little while but it gets a bit repetitive. Martin and the sad Grodin have some nice comic chemistry. Judith Ivey is not funny enough. She needs to be as wacky as he is. She needs to be a great comedian. She's too limited. The perfect way for her character to go is for her to be a lonely gal. Even the sad Grodin feels repetitive with their pontifications.

d_m_s Steve Martin finds himself transported into the world of the Lonely Guy when he finds his wife in bed with another man and she kicks poor old Martin out.Martin makes a new best friend in Charles Grodin, another lonely guy. Grodin teaches Martin about the world New York's lonely guy's and together they each try to find a new love.It's well played by both Martin & Grodin, there are some good gags and very amusing moments in the fist hour of the film. For the last 20 minutes or so it becomes a bit less fun and feels a little bit like it's dragging.I was hoping to see a great comedy performance from Grodin, who I recently discovered via his excellent performance in Taking Care of Business (he was the only good thing about that film) but here his character was very subdued and didn't really have any funny lines. Not his fault, obviously, but feels like a bit of a waste of talent.Decent film over all, which I will enjoy re-watching at some point in the future.