Directed by Herbert Ross
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Fox Movie Channel)
Terrific, underrated film based on a Neil Simon play. Walter Matthau gives an understated performance as a curmudgeony writer in Hollywood who literally wakes up one afternoon to find his teenage daughter, who he hasn't seen since she was a young child, in his living room. Dinah Manoff is the Brooklynite who hitches cross country to supposedly start a career in pictures, but really just wants to get to know her father. Ann-Margret is perfect as Matthau's girlfriend, saying just the right things at just the right time, with a bit of a dry wit. Father and daughter slowly, cautiously get to know each other, their relationship filled with false starts and pent up emotions, but in the end I think it is Matthau who learns the most. My favorite scene: the phone conversation between Matthau and his ex-wife, just watch the expression on his face. I'm not sure Matthau ever had a better performance in the later stages of his career.
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