“Lost In Yonkers” seemed to be yet another Neil Simon comedy. I selected this film because Richard Dreyfuss was in it, one of the few films of his I hadn’t seen. This film is adapted from the play “Lost In Yonkers”. Having seen a number of Neil Simon plays on stage I thought we were getting a comedy with this movie but this was more of a dramedy and not quite what I thought it would be.

The highlight of the film was not Dreyfuss as I expected, although for the little time he was in the movie he was very good. The unexpected surprise was Irene Worth as grandmother Kurnitz. Ms. Worth was primarily a stage actress and won three Tonys for her stage work, including this same role on Broadway. Portraying an unflinching and unsympathetic stern grandmother her performance was excellent and made the movie worth watching. Ms. Ruehl also won a Tony for her stage portrayal of the same character and does a good job here. I have to say I feel conflicted about the character of Bella, the screenplay seems lacking to me for development of Ruehl’s character and the Dreyfuss character.

The lead actors perform ably and the young actors do well in their roles. As a movie it was good but not great. The weakest part of the movie to me was the storyline. That being said I enjoyed the film but it wasn’t that great. I do like period pieces and the 40’s period costuming and staging was well done. If you are a fan of Neil Simon plays you might enjoy this movie but be forewarned it does not have the charm of Simon’s previous well-known movie “The Goodbye Girl”.

1993. Directed by Martha Coolidge, screenplay by Neil Simon. Starring Mercedes Ruehl, Richard Dreyfuss, Irene Worth, David Strathairn, Brad Stoll and Mike Damus.

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