Matt Greene Apparently I need a LOT more Neil Simon in my life. His warm, snarky humor is just what I have always loved in the most classic romantic comedies; in fact, if this was shot in black and white, it would sit right along the best of the Hepburn and Grant era 40's screwballs. Yet even if you're just a fan of Chase's Fletch-like stylings, this will scratch that same itch, all while being sweeter.

tavm In continuing to review film performances-in chronological order-of "SNL"ers, I'm once again at 1980 with this, this second teaming of Goldie Hawn with that show's first star, Chevy Chase, after previously starring in Foul Play together. This time they're exes with Ms. Hawn a lawyer who defends the downtrodden and Chase a writer who goes to her after being forced to rob a bank. Charles Grodin is Goldie's current hubby who's running for attorney general. Neil Simon wrote this original screenplay as a tribute to the screwball comedies from the '30s and there's plenty of funny zingers courtesy of those three as well as various supporting turns by the likes of Robert Guillaume and Harold Gould as a judge. Oh, and there's lots of dogs to add to the fun. The director is Jay Sandrich who previously helmed such classic sitcoms like "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "Soap" of which Guillaume and Gould are veterans of. I'll just now say this was another very funny teaming of Ms. Hawn and Chase and so on that note, I highly recommend Seems Like Old Times.

drystyx Honestly, if any person watched this today, and could laugh, he or she would be instantly hired for a "laugh track" audience. It defines "dated".And I hate the word "dated". It's incorrectly used a lot. When a film is set in nineteenth century Tombstone, it is supposed to have characters and events that feel like nineteenth century Tombstone. Remarkably, it is the older Wyatt Earp films that are actually less dated. Not saying they are better, but they are less "dated".Here, we see the mores of 1980, but only as felt by the "outdated" blue bloods like Neil Simon.We see here the proof that Simon has always been overrated. He is a modern day "Homer". Homer's works survive not because he was a literary giant. They survive because he was the champion brown noser. The Iliad and Odyssey are complete brown nosing works of powerful rulers.And that's all Simon is. The seventies gave us the worst ever in movies. But the comedies were usually still good. The mores were changing, and 1980 was the cusp.Here, Simon has a "blueblood" comedy with upper society folks being white, except for an obvious token black couple, and all the underlings being anything but Anglo-Saxon.Now this was not only severe discrimination against the usual minorities for obvious reasons, but just as much against the Anglo Saxons who weren't in the upper class. In fact, that group doesn't exist in Simon's world.In Simon's world, not only are all minorities crooks and con artists, but they are failures if they aren't, except for the obvious token black couple, which is just way too obvious to audiences now.It was obvious to people then, too, but just not the people who could afford tickets to theaters. They were hideously behind the times.In fact, the racism of this piece surpasses any racism we see in works of the situational comedies of the forties, fifties, and sixties. And it is worse because Simon and his groupies really believed they were "modern" thinkers.As for this work, it involves Chevy Chase as a writer who is kidnapped by crooks to rob a bank. Chase is good in good roles, but he can't carry a pitifully written role like this one. His character is boring and not a bit likable. Chevy is likable. And the hope here is that he is likable enough to cover a poor character. Even Cary Grant would have a tough time making us care about this character.The other characters are just as dull. We're given the "likable" bank robbers. Real funny guys with guns. That was the mind set of the seventies, but only to wackos like Neil Simon's crowd. Not to most people, who were way ahead of them.This isn't the worst movie ever made. You can sit through it without squirming, but probably not without groaning, or looking at the clock. It is dull.This does show what the "blue bloods" of that era actually thought was "the future" and what they thought was "progressive", but rest assured, the 90% who you didn't hear from thought it was backwards. And we've seen a progression since then, which does make this a "dated" piece.

jantoniou I wouldn't say Neil Simon's comic wit is at full steam in this light-hearted comedy, but there are certainly a plethora of laughs to go around.Chevy Chase's Nick Gardenia is offishly matter-of-fact funny as only he can be, a writer and journalist (have you noticed Simon's protagonists are nearly always writers?) of ill-repute who somehow once ended up in a Mexican jail for 2 years and is now on the path to recovery when a couple of bank robbers kidnap and use him for a heist. His mug is prominently featured in the robbery photos and then the fun ensues when he goes to his ex-wife's (Hawn's) house to engender her help after being let go by the robbers and being fully on the run from the law.The movie is mostly fast-paced slapstick farce, a host of retreaded clichés (the dogs, for example), and quick jokes. Charles Grodin is actually quite funny and charming as her straight-arrow District Attorney (soon to be Attorney General) husband, Ira. Given "Midnight Run," I think Grodin should be considered a mint for American glib comedy a la Albert Brooks.It's pointless to go much deeper into the story as the plot merely drives slapstick scenes one into the next. The story is essentially the sum of its parts.Goldie Hawn is in full-tilt cutie mode (she really was a doll) but carries the movie very well as a hopeless do-gooder who wants to help everybody, including her ex-husband and every stray dog in 10 surrounding counties. Chevy Chase often gives the impression of making comedy look effortless (think Fletch), but he is REALLY giving into pratfalling a la his SNL days in this one. The supporting cast with Guillaume and others is excellent.This is completely worth a watch if you catch it as in many ways this movie is superior to the Hawn and Chase hit "Foul Play."