This movie started out with a bang when I first saw it as a child. I was really disappointed when I could not watch it in its entirety. So when I had a chance to rent it, I jumped at the chance and I am rather sad I did. The first half was still funny, but all the stuff I missed was sadly worth missing. Not that it was all bad mind you, there was a chuckle or two in this part of the movie, but nothing compared to the laughs found in the first half of the film from when Steve finds out his girlfriend has been cheating on him, to the restaurant, to the strange jogging using fake sweat. Then a bit before he writes his book on how to be a lonely guy the movie really slows down its pace and it becomes a bit to sentimental at times, while still showing a bit of the zaniness that made the first half of the film really good. The story is about a lonely guy who starts off with a girlfriend, but ends up alone in rather funny fashion. He makes friends with another lonely guy played very well by Charles Grodin and they proceed to try and help each other out. Like I said you get some great scenes during this time and Steve meets up with a girl he for some reason cannot hook up with due to one problem after another. So in the end an okay movie, that just needed some of that energy from the first half of the film to carry over to the second.

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 ****

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.