MAX DUGAN RETURNS is a lightweight comedy from Neil Simon about a widowed schoolteacher (Marsha Mason) with a young son (Matthew Broderick, in his film debut), struggling to make ends meet, who one night is reunited with her estranged father (Jason Robards), who shows up on her doorstep wanting to make up for lost time with $687,000.00 in tow. Mason is reluctant to get involved with Dad because the money is not really his but when she learns that he is dying, she softens and decides to grant his dying wish...to spend some of his final time on earth with his grandson. Throw into the mix a police detective (Donald Sutherland) who, upon finding out who Max is, is definitely torn between getting his man and or getting the girl. This comedy charms from start to finish with a lot of classic Neil Simon one-liners and Robards turns in one of his most charming performances as Max Dugan. Yes, there are plot points that are left dangling and you just have to accept that, but if you can, MAX DUGAN RETURNS is a delightful and diverting comedy that will grown on you with multiple viewings.

The Neil Simon era in film didn't last long (circa 1977-1983) but some of us are old enough to remember when all they had to say in the trailers was "In Neil Simon's XYZ" to lure moviegoers. Many of the pictures were sub-par, but Max Dugan was a good swan song, in part due to Marsha Mason (if there were an Oscar for Best Couple, she and Dreyfuss should have received it for Goodbye Girl) but also simply because it's a neat little movie that's never received its due. Matthew Broderick's first movie. Donald Sutherland got a new haircut. Jason Robards may have been cast as an afterthought to lend cachet, but who else could play the ironic, world-weary, Kierkegaard-and-Wittgenstein-reading jailbird title character? I only have one acquired gripe: that so much of the dialogue is so "sharp" and "witty" that it feels contrived (not that they aren't memorable). This is one of the rare instances when a screenplay may be almost "polished" out of existence. That said, if you don't have a warm spot, you can forget it. This isn't a cinematic masterpiece (and I say that as a Polanski-and-Coppola type); but the story is neat and the performances are genuine, and in a decade when films set in L.A. focused primarily on glitz and bling-bling (which Max Dugan indirectly parodies), it's still refreshing to be made to feel at home among the sunlit bungalows of the city's low-key/low-rent, lower middle class suburbs.

This movie is very much like Neil Simon's earlier comedy, Seems Like Old Times. There, Chevy Chase plays Goldie Hawn's ex-husband who is mistakenly accused of a crime. Avoiding cops and just about everyone else, she tries to hide him in her house. But it's difficult keeping his presence a secret when pops up everytime she turns around, a cause of many comedic mishaps. Max Dugan is a similar story, but the comedy is much less a slapstick routine, and more triggered by the characters. It is a delightful comedy, and one of many of Jason Robards and Marsha Mason's great performances. It is also Matthew Broderick and Keifer Sutherland's film debuts (although you hardly get to see Sutherland). Marsha Mason is the smart, witty Nora McPhee, a single mother and English teacher, who can't seem to keep up with the amount of things that go wrong in her day. In that style of 'Prisoners of Second Avenue,' McPhee's problems are all based on Murphy's Law. If can go wrong, you better believe it will. But, in 'Prisoners of Second Avenue,' it was used to illustrate the problems of city life. Here, it is the setting for something else.Jason Robards is the elusive Max Dugan, Nora's father who she hadn't seen since he walked on his family as a child. Imagine her reaction when he shows up on her doorstep one evening. She is none too thrilled. But Max is desperate for a place to lay low. Carrying a suitcase full of stolen cash (which he considers mere compensation for money stolen from him), he needs to hide from the police. So, he poses as a man renting one of the rooms. Except, it becomes quite difficult for Nora to hide her father from her new boyfriend, a curious detective played by Donald Sutherland. Especially, when Dugan keeps using his money to buy her and her son extremely lavish gifts and home repairs, something she could never afford in a lifetime of working as a public school teacher. But, Max only wants the best for his daughter. However, Nora wants to drive home the point that it is genuine affection she is after from her father, not money. The whole situation presents a number of hilarious sequences, especially when Nora has to do some quick explaining as to where her new car, diamond earrings, or a wad full of fifties in her purse, are mysteriously coming from. It is one of Neil Simon's best movies, and one with great chemistry between Mason and Robards, who are essentially the entire movie.

If you watch "Max Dugan Returns," you can learn somethings. I will talk about this story which was written by Neil Simon. There were some positive and negative things. Some actors were good, but some actors were not. Neil Simon's story has a good theme. He teaches good things by comedy. But some movie is not good, because it doesn't make comedy, and he used bad words too many times. I think this story's theme is honesty. If you are honest, you can prove everything. Don't lie that can make you a bad person. So this movie teaches about honesty. Max Dugan was played by Jason Robards. He was a very good actor for he acted so real. I can feel Max Dugan's feeling by his acting. But he used too many bad words. He must fix his language. Nora McPhee was played by Marsha Mason. She was a good actress, but she was not as good as Jason Robards. When I see her, I can say she is acting. I can't feel it very well. If Mason works on her acting, she can be a good actress. I can't understand the policeman's feeling. He changes his feeling too many times. He's act to be irresolute. He needs to change it. Donald Sutherland's acting was not good. It was bad because he doesn't act like a policeman. Matthew Broderick was not bad, but he was not good, either. I can tell he is a teenager, but he doesn't have any feeling in his acting. He looks like he doesn't care about acting. This film's grade is 4. Because the actors were not perfect. It was not a good comedy. They used bad words. and students smoked on T.V. Teenagers can learn about that. So if this film changes these problems. This film can be perfect. There were good parts. but the acting was not good. Too many bad things concerned me in "Max Dugan Returns."