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Famous New York playwright Jason (Dudley Moore) is getting married to Allison (Janet Eilber). His longtime writing partner left him for L. A. His agent Blanche Dailey (Frances Sternhagen) recruits school teacher Phoebe Craddock (Mary Steenburgen) to be his new writing partner. The first meeting starts off with an embarrassing naked misunderstanding.

This open with a fun sitcom awkward meet-cute premise. It's a good start. I love both Moore and Steenburgen. I am eager to see their chemistry together. Suddenly, the story skips months and goes right to opening night. It skips over the important initial months of the connection. It's missing the set up to their lifelong relationship. It's also indicative of a constant skipping over sections of their relationship. It yadayadas some life transitions. This kind of jumping leaves the relationship a bit disjointed. It needs to flow better. I still like the two of them and this has some good sections. This could have been better.

I saw this the same week that I saw Dudley Moore's other 1983 romantic comedy, "Love Sick". While I have to give the edge to Marshall Brickman's "Love Sick," this is also a sophisticated and easy-going comedy that delivers lots of smiles and a few good chuckles. Dudley Moore was only a leading man for 13 years (1979-1992) and starred in only 13 films. While I didn't care for his boozy millionaire in "Arthur" and "Arthur 2," I think his work in Blake Edwards "10" and "Micky and Maude" was excellent. He plays an average guy with a little bit of charm and intelligence very well. Here, he plays a playwright without a great deal of talent. He has to get by on the talent of his collaborators. Mary Steenburgen is the real standout in the movie. It may be her best performance. She works very well with Moore. Steenburgen is really more of a character actress and that is where she does her best work, see "Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School." She really can't carry a movie as a lead, but here she plays straight man to Moore and the chemistry works. The story is about a man and a woman who should fall in love and get married, but their careers and lives force them out-of-sync, so they become friends instead. The movie isn't a laugh riot and it won't knock your socks off, but it is a sad/sweet two hours of mature and sophisticated banter.

I found this movie light and entertaining. I really don't understand why it was abused by the critics. The perfect Dudley Moore vehicle, consisting of comedy in an all too real and serious romantic life situation. NO... it's not an Oscar winner, but it certainly doesn't deserve the bad rating originally heap on it. If you are looking for a true Romantic Comedy... this is the movie you are looking for. It doesn't require that you think and worry about every twist and turn, but does bring true laughter and entertainment into your home.

Proven playwright, Jason (Dudley Moore), meets his new writing partner, Phoebe (Mary Steenburgen), on the day of his marriage. He is bombastic, she is soft-spoken. He is confident in his abilities, she is anxious to prove herself. It is a work relationship that proves to be a blessing for each of them, over the years, but their personal relationship is never truly defined.

Adapted from a play, "Romantic Comedy" is a rom-com that feels like a Neil Simon story. Plus it takes place in New York City. It also features the music of Marvin Hamlisch, which gives it a familiar feeling.

Don't expect the conventional romantic wrap-up, where everyone's feelings are neatly tucked into a perfect ending. But it still feels Simonesque, which is not a bad thing.

The film consists of more than two hours of a couple of writers, somehow in love with each other but unable or unwilling to marry, fussing, fighting, and shouting. And in the end, even though their sexual escapade proved less than thrilling, they end in a clinch on a couch. Happing ending. The film is not very romantic and certainly isn't funny. The moral dimensions of the script are wholly secular and consistently depressing. Marriage and children are nothing when compared to sexual urges, booze, and fame.

But there are some good lines in places. And the acting is superb. Dudley Moore and Mary Steenburgen are something to behold. The music is above average, and Arthur Hiller displays his usual excellence as a director. But even the stars of the film were unable to put life into a lame script that is at least 30 minutes too long.

Overall rating: 7 out of 10.