The Buddy System

This is almost a remake of THE GOODBYE GIRL (1977), except that this time Dreyfuss plays an aspiring writer instead of an aspiring and actor and the single mother in his life has a precocious son instead of a precocious daughter. Joe (Dreyfuss) is a struggling author who lives in a ramshackle house by a canal in Venice, California. Since he can't make a living with his typewriter, he has a day job as a security guard at a public school. Emily (Susan Sarandon) is the single mother of Tim (Wil Wheaton), a bright 11-year-old. She lives with her domineering mother (Jean Stapleton). Tim and Joe hit it off, and the boy wants his mother to meet his friend. Of course, they...