MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant

Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Izzy Adkins The movie is surprisingly subdued in its pacing, its characterizations, and its go-for-broke sensibilities.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

AlphaRabbit Probably one of the best Neil Simon has done. The story is based on a widowed schoolteacher raising her teenage son on her paltry salary and trying to raise him to be a good person but her long lost terminally ill father reenters her life seeking to spend his last six months with her and his grandson. Complicating matters is he is also bringing along a satchel with 647 thousand dollars he skimmed off a casino while working as a blackjack dealer. Although the money was originally his when he owned the land the casino he stole from "legally separated" him from it, his daughter is still worried about the influence of such dealings on her son. There is also a special appearance by the late Charlie Lau, former batting coach for the Chicago White Sox. Great for the whole family.

Intermopper 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!

younme Max Dugan returns was a funny and interesting story written by Neil Simon. I read another play by Neil Simon,"The Good Doctor" I saw Neil Simon story in Collins Hill High School. In our class we read "The Good Doctor" and watched "Max Dugan Returns." "Max Dugan Returns" came out in 1983. It's really an old movie, but it was funny and fantastic. A lot of people in our class like this movie because this was first time we watched a movie in this class. Neil Simon is a good writer,but some of his story is not so funny. Also some of his writing is boring too. Max Dugan was played by Jason Robards. His performance in this movie was great and he make the story more funny. Marsha Mason was the mother in this film. I think Her acting part was the hardest in this story because she has to act as a mother, teacher, and a daughter. I think her performance was the best out of everybody. Donald Sutherland was the policeman. He tried his best in his part. But he didn't make the "Max Dugan Return." story funny. Matthew Broderick was the teenager,also Max Dugan's grand son and Nora Mcphee's son. In this story he really likes to play baseball and he was 15 years old. He makes this story funny and interesting too.If I give this film a score. I'll give a score ten out of ten because it's an old movie still it was funny and fantastic. I really liked this movie and if there was another movie by Neil Simon, I'll watch his film. "Max Dugan Returns" is great movie!

paulaviljoen The "best"movie of the century, it was good and funny. Grandfather (Max Dugan) played by Jason Robards; mother (Nora McPhee) played by Marsha Mason; the teenager (Michael McPhee) played by Matthew Broderick; and the policeman (Brian Costello) played by Donald Sutherland, starring in the movie, "Max Dugan Returns." There are always a few positives and negatives in each movie, and in this one the few positives are: Max Dugan brings Nora and Michael a lot of money, buys them very expensive gifts to lets them think... Just because he came out of jail, doesn't mean he's an evil guy. He wants to make them happy. Although the policeman wants to be a friend, is he only doing his job too. The few negatives is that there's a lot of dishonesty going around. Nora's cars get stolen in one week, and she doesn't accept the gifts that were given to her by her father. I think the theme is about "honesty and dishonesty." There's not a lot of honesty in this movie. Nora and Max tell lies about him, because she doesn't want to lose her father again. They are tryig to hide his real image. "don't lie, 'cause the truth has to come out some time." Nora McPhee, was a wonderful mother and Gr.10 teacher. Before her father came back into her life, she was a single mother, because her husband had died of cancer. Then she accepts her father to come and live with them, just for a few weeks. Before that, she had a really old car, that was about to fall into pieces. Then the policeman, Brian, gave her a motorcycle to get around with, but shortly after that the bike got stolen too. Her father then suprized her with a new car. She didn't want to accept any of the gifts, because she said, she doesn't wants gifts than was bought with stolen money. The policeman, Brian Costello started to like Nora McPhee. He bought her a bike as soon as he found out that her car was stolen. Then they went out for dinner, when she dropped her handbag, he knew something was wrong. Then he saw an old man in her house, when he wanted to put the flowers he gave her in the house, because she left them in his car. Matthew Broderick was the teenager, Michael McPhee. He always had a problem with baseball. The next morning when he woke up, he saw an old man in the kitchen. He then asked his mother who the old man was and she said Mr. Parker his grandfather. Now Michael is confused over who the old man living with them really was. He accepted all the gifts that "the man" gave them, but he has to convince his mother to accept them too. Bacause he had a problem with baseball "Mr. Parker" got someone to help him.If I were a film judge, I would grade this film an eight. It's a funny movie with a theme to it. I enjoyed this movie and I also encourage everyone to watch it.