Max Dugan Returns (1983)

Load of rubbish!!

As Good As It Gets

Absolutely brilliant

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

I remember as a kid being intrigued by the ad for this movie, with its cartoon image and its stick-in-the-head tagline ("Prices are double. Your love life's in trouble. The car won't start. Your boss has no heart. The door squeaks. The roof leaks. Your stereo just went mono. All you need is a little Max Dugan.") But the movie disappeared quickly, and it seemed to have vanished completely, since I never remember it coming on television. I was surprised that it received a DVD release, since there was nothing to indicate it had built a cult. Anyway, I decided to finally watch it.Although it's branded as a comedy, it really isn't. Yes, there is the occasional one-liner, but mostly it's a light-hearted drama. And a charming one at that. Neil Simon wrote some very likable characters, even down to the ones who show up quickly and disappear never to be seen again in the movie. The cast could not be better. Broderick in his debut performance tones it down compared to how annoying he became when he was older. Sutherland is believable as a cop who has feelings for the woman in his life yet still feels he has his duty as a cop. Robards and Mason, who have most of the focus, are also good.The movie isn't without problems - there are a few spots where the characters seem unusually dim-witted - but overall it's a sweet movie that will make you feel good at the end. Give it a try.

Neil Simon, did ya read Les Miserables recently? To say that this movie is loosely based on a modernized version of that book would be accurate; the script would be totally different if Victor Hugo never existed. Let's run down the list of parallels. Robards is Jean-Valjean: he served time in prison and now dedicates his life to the happiness of a young child, Matt(Cossette). Like Valjean, he has three aliases and --SPOILER-- disappears at the end. Although in Les Miserables, Hugo meant his disappearance to symbolize death. Robards' life in this movie revolves around being pursued and followed by a detective(Javert in Les Miserables). Javert's life-long ambition was to wrest Valjean, just as Sutherland becomes obsessed with this concept as it applies to Robards. Simon's theme is that family ought to be highly valued--one of the multiple themes contained in Hugo's novel. Swirl corny 80's elements--the baseball games--into to the rancid bowl, and a movie compiled of Hugo's ideas forms.This "comedy" has some other horrific extras that force the characters to act like slow-witted Kawala bears. When Robards goes out in public, he wears a dark jacket, a black hat, and sunglasses...because that doesn't look suspicious at all. Were you trying to look like a criminal, Roby?If you're into typical family-oriented 80's slosh(and many people evidently are) then I recommend this film with one reservation. Sutherland and Robards, the two best actors in this treasure, only have one scene together because that makes sense!

I think that the movie "Max Dugan Returns" is a great movie. "Max Dugan Returns" is a film to watch with your whole family. Its funny, it has a story about when they were young. I thought that "Max Dugan Returns" was fun to watch in class. I think that every character was interesting, plus they had different things to talk about.Neil Simons story "Max Dugan Returns" has positive and negative opinions to talk about, but most of mine are positive. Neil Simons did a really good job of making and writing the movie. The part that I thought was negative was when Jason Robards as "Max Dugan" had to lie to his grandson. Max Dugan lied this grandson Matthew Broderick "Michal McPhee" several times and did not tell him who he really was. I liked the way Max Dugan treated his family, he was nice to Michael. Max Dugan the got them everything. He got her a car, he got Michael a new stereo system. Neil Simon put alot of good and fun parts this movie.This movie "Max Dugan Returns" shows a family problem. Max Dugan abandoned Nora Mcphee when she was a little girl and she thought that he had died a long time ago. Max Dugan came back to Nora Mcphee and he wanted to apologise for his mistake, and so he got her all of those good things like a car. Nora Mcphee didn't want the money that Max Dugan was giving her, because she thought it was stolen. The thing is that he came back for her and his grandson. Max Dugan thought that giving her money will make her take his apology, but she didn't care about the money. I think that it was a good idea for him to go and look everyone too. family is always important.Max Dugan has positive and negative things to talk about. Max Dugan made a bad decision gambling and steeling money. I think that was a very bad thing to do. Jason Robards has mostly all positive performances because he was a really good actor. Max Dugan came back to his family. He was so funny and I liked the way he was, he was just too funny and he did very good positive stuff towards his family. One more negative. He lied to his grandson about who he was but at the end it turned out to be ok. Jason Robards is a very good actor and he was #1 in this movie.Marsha Mason, was a very good actress in this movie. She shows something very special. Nora showed that she still care about her father. She was very funny, I liked the way way she acted when she lost her motorcycle and when stole her car. I liked the way she talk to the policeman "Brain Costello". She really liked him and he liked her.She acted really good when she didn't want the policeman to go into her house so she wouldn't see Max Dugan.Donald Sutherland "Brian Castello" the policeman, acted really good in this movie. I liked it when he gave Nora a motorcycle and she lost it. Then Max Dugan got her a new car. Next Brian got a face like"what the heck" where is the bike. He did a really good role in the movie. In the beginning of the movie I thought that he was going to be mean and bad but he turned out to be a really good guy. He acted really good in this movie.Matthew Broderick was the teenager "Michael Mcphee".OK now he was the funniest one out in all the actors. He did the movie "Godzilla" an alot more movies and I love all of his movies. I was really glad to see this movie and have him in it. He is so funny. He did a really good job doing this movie. I loved the way he acted when he got his new system and when he saw the motorcycle gone and then a new car. He was the best. Matthew Broderick did a very good job doing and being in this movie.I would give this movie "Max Dugan" a "10" because it is one of my favorite movies ever. it showed alot of things that mean alot to me, like Family. This is a very good movie.The movie "Max Dugan"was a very good movie it had very good actors and they all did a very good job. Neil Simon did a very good job on writing this movie and I just want to thank him for writing this movie. Its the best movie ever.

Have you seen "Max Dugan Returns"? I did and I liked it. Even though it is an old movie to me it seems pretty funny. I love funny movies. So I think that if you should see it because I'm sure that you'll like it. I mean, who would not like to see a movie written by Neil Simon?The movie was interesting most of the time. It was hilarious how Nora McPhee got her cars stolen. Every time that Marsha Mason, who played Nora McPhee, opens her mouth you could say that there is something funny coming. But like all the movies there were some good and bad things. One of them was that I didn't like the way Donald Sutherland, the policeman, was so demanding and always putting so much pressure on Nora McPhee.There was an honesty problem in the movie. Since Max Dugan, who was played by Jason Robards, came back to his daughter's house he said that he was her father's friend, which it is not true. Another thing is that he said that he was going to stop giving them stuff but he didn't stop and kept buying presents for them.Jason Robards, a 1999 Kennedy Center Honoree, played Max Dugan in this movie. He did a good job. He performed like if he was doing all that in real life. It was a good performance. He knew how to work the cigar in his mouth. There is nothing I have to complain about except the fact that he did some illegal things to make her daughter and his grandson happy.Marsha Mason was great. Marsha as Nora ws very funny and the fact that she had bad luck during throughout the movie it makes her to be a better character. She acts like a good, caring and loving mother. Always working hard to survive.Donald Sutherland came into Nora's life to change everything that could happen in her future. He changes her life in good and bad things. More bad things than good ones. The only good one was that he gave her his love, his very sincere love.In a score of 1- 10 I give this movie an 8 because it made me laugh and I really would like to see it again. It was pretty good to be an old movie. I usually don't like old movies.If you haven't seen it I hope that you'll rent it. That's about it, "Max Dugan Returns".