The Buddy System (1984)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Glenn Jordan's thinly scripted, predictable romance-comedy bears many similarities to the more recent, and much more enjoyable, "Sleepless in Seattle".Tim is a young boy whose father "took a powder" before he was born, leaving his then teenage mother to raise him alone. Now around ten years old, Tim has taken a liking to the security officer at his school, and begins to try and bring he and his mother together. Needless to say, inevitability quickly takes hold.This movie is definitely only for the hopeless romantics, with a one way plot that only entertains on the surface. Wil Wheaton's precocious Tim is annoying, with Richard Dreyfuss and Susan Sarandon providing the only salvation with their reasonably interesting characters and good performances.Glenn Jordan manages some worthwhile comedy but little else, in a film which fails to leave its audience with the 'good' feeling it attempts to.Friday, April 1, 1994 - T.V.

Susan Sarandon, Richard Dreyfus.This is a mess of a rom/com. The adolescent boy of a single mom makes friends with an adult male school security guard by virtue of being caught attending school in the wrong school district. Upon the discovery, the child offers his mother as a bribe to the officer to prevent the guard reporting the transgression.The premise is creative, to say the least, and the performances by Sarandon and Dreyfus are heartwarming and real. I liked this, but as usual, I'm in the minority. This film is vastly underrated, by virtue of the quality of performance and presentation involved. The dialog between those two is natural and believable.All in all, though it's dated, it's a quirky, cute, heartwarming rom/com. And, while it's not the stuff of Friday/Saturday night viewing, it IS worth making time for.It rates a 7.2/10 from...the Fiend :.

Nice forum for a young Richard Dryfuss and Susan Sarandon. The story line is a little sappy and way too predictable.All the characters are stereotypical of the times (early 80's). Maybe seeing the movie in 1984 I would have felt differently about the story line. However, in 2001 it seems trite and fixed.

If you have nothing to do and need some diversion from cable, this beats contemplating your navel. This is workmanlike film made at the factory. The product is good enough for comercial work. Nothing fancy, nothing inspired. But a pleasant flick for a rainy day.