Adam Peters (55%) For a comedy about abject loneliness, lost love, combined with a strong element of suicide, this is quite a bold interesting move, and largely it works. Martin is great, James Grodin provides a good share of the better laughs in fine support, the pacing is decent, and even if it's uneven from the very beginning it still worked out miles better than it could have given the quite dark premise as it never really allows itself to get too bleak or down hearted. The romantic main plot is as loopy as everything else in this almost cartoonish New York city setting, but a good heart keeps everything running and largely together.

tieman64 Directed by a workmanlike Arthur Hiller, "The Lonely Guy" stars Steve Martin as a lonely greeting-card writer who struggles to meet women. His partner in arms is Warren (memorably played by Charles Grodin), another lonely heart. The duo spend the film lost in depression, morbidly discussing their futures, love lives and suicidal funks. The film's blend of slapstick, anarchy and dour humour recalls early Woody Allen."Look at that guy, he's got a girl. He wasn't born with his arm around her - he must have met her somewhere!" Warren moans. Luckily their perpetual bachelorhood ends with the introduction of several female characters, none of whom are particularly well written but all of whom who point the film toward a generic happy ending. The film works best when its aiming for morose comedy. As a romance it falls flat.7.5/10 – Fairly original plot undermined by formulaic romantic subplots. Worth one viewing.

Aaron1375 This movie started out with a bang when I first saw it as a child. I was really disappointed when I could not watch it in its entirety. So when I had a chance to rent it, I jumped at the chance and I am rather sad I did. The first half was still funny, but all the stuff I missed was sadly worth missing. Not that it was all bad mind you, there was a chuckle or two in this part of the movie, but nothing compared to the laughs found in the first half of the film from when Steve finds out his girlfriend has been cheating on him, to the restaurant, to the strange jogging using fake sweat. Then a bit before he writes his book on how to be a lonely guy the movie really slows down its pace and it becomes a bit to sentimental at times, while still showing a bit of the zaniness that made the first half of the film really good. The story is about a lonely guy who starts off with a girlfriend, but ends up alone in rather funny fashion. He makes friends with another lonely guy played very well by Charles Grodin and they proceed to try and help each other out. Like I said you get some great scenes during this time and Steve meets up with a girl he for some reason cannot hook up with due to one problem after another. So in the end an okay movie, that just needed some of that energy from the first half of the film to carry over to the second.

Boba_Fett1138 The movie doesn't really have the usual typical sort of comedy you would expect from an '80's Steve Martin movie. It's humor is often more in its little things, or one word that is spoken in its dialog. The movie doesn't build up to its jokes like a normal comedy would do but often things just come out of nowhere. It doesn't make this movie as humor filled as you would perhaps expect but it does make the movie somewhat original and somehow also real pleasant.Too bad that the story is such a weak one. The story doesn't seem to have one clear focus and subplots are not handled well enough. This has as a result that some moments and even characters just don't work out properly for the movie. It makes the movie also really a weak one to watch at times. The love-story just was too weak and not well developed enough. Judith Ivey is also supposed to be in her mid-20's in this movie but instead looks closer to 40, while Steve Martin also works around a bit too much without his shirt on. It are mainly small things such as these that also makes the movie irritating at parts as well as weak, simply since it doesn't work out all as well as obviously intended.This movie could had been a great homage to the lonely guy but instead its story is all over the place, jumping from the one thing to another. It doesn't really give a good or fair portrayal of the average lonely guy, who normally is shy and just not the way Steve Martin portrays it in this movie. Charles Grodin is perhaps way better but he's just only playing second violin in this movie.Still a pleasant enough little movie to watch but just no genre classic, since it has way too many weaknesses, mainly concerning its story.6/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/