LOST IN YONKERS (1993) *** Ultimately pleasant dosage of the heady mix of comedy and pathos that we've come to almost take for granted from a Neil Simon play. Neil understands that you don't write about the relationship between a broken widow and a slightly nutty young lady, you write about the relationship between a mother and a daughter and everything else is peripheral. That would be Irene Worth and Mercedes Ruehl reprising their Broadway rolls admirably, Mercedes brilliantly. She understands that she's not portraying an emotionally underdeveloped individual so much as one who has a lust for life, and to whom happiness comes naturally under all but the most oppressive circumstances and sometimes even then. Great acting by the kids (Brad Stoll and Mike Damus), but their witty understated manner might not shine quite so brightly if not for the contrast with hammy Richard Dreyfuss, always trying to create an Oscar role out of anything and good enough to make anyone buy shares during his best scenes.
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