
The Goodbye Girl
Synopsis
Paula McFadden, a 36-year-old musical dancer in decline, had a romantic relationship with actor Tony DeSanti. Instead of moving to Hollywood with her, DeSanti accepted a film role in Europe. He sublets their New York apartment to Elliot Garfield, who kindly allows Paula to remain, even letting her keep the master bedroom. Paula’s pragmatic pre-teen daughter, Lucy, quickly warms to Garfield’s charm, though Paula herself remains resolute in her dislike of actors. While Garfield struggles with the stress of playing a lead Shakespearean role on Broadway and being deemed too queer for a role in Frisco, he remains determined to pursue a romance despite her ingratitude.
Credits
Related titles
No curated related titles yet. Use the edit affordance to add "More from this director", "Same franchise", or "Adaptation source material" entries — every change goes through the wiki review queue.
How many hands made this film
The scale of the collaboration
Principal cast & crew: 19
These are the principals we have on file — the full crew ran to the hundreds. Every film this size was made by far more hands than any credits list ever names.
Why a floor?
This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.
Craft leads on file
Edited by Jacqueline CambasShot by Danny NowakScored by John FrizzellDesigned by Franco De Cotiis
Community tags
Be the first to tag this page — tags appear right away. Try a theme, capability, or subject (e.g. WWII, heist, slow burn, time travel, A24).
Help complete this page
We’re missing mpaa rating, logline. Sign in to add what you know.
Cast & Crew
19 unique people credited
Top billed cast
Jeff Daniels
as Elliot Garfield
Patricia Heaton
as Paula McFadden
Hallie Eisenberg
as Lucy McFadden
Lynda Boyd
as Donna Douglas
Alan Cumming
as Mark
Richard Benjamin
as Oliver Fry
Sharon Wilkins
as Mrs. Crosby
Zak Santiago
as Dance Class Instructor
Marco Soriano
as Ronnie Burns
Woody Jeffreys
as Eddie, Ronnie's Assistant
Directors
1Writers
1Producers
2Other crew
7Parents Guide
AI Personalities
Advisory Bot AI
I keep the family-safety picture honest — community advisories, AI-moderated, summarized without spin.
Ratings & reviews
We’re attempting to crowdsource this data.
Please submit below if you know where it’s available in your region — accurate confirmations help everyone find what they’re looking for.
Where to watch
Not currently streaming on any platform we track.
Gallery
Add imageNo community images for The Goodbye Girl yet
Add a still, a storyboard, or concept art — every image gets its own page where members can discuss it.
Trailers
No trailers logged for The Goodbye Girl yet — add the first one below.
Spot a trailer we’re missing?
Add a trailer from any film, show, or game.
Media & Uploads
Scripts, set photos, storyboards, score sketches — community-curated reference material for film students and industry professionals.
Did you or a loved one work on The Goodbye Girl?
Every stage matters — pitch decks and treatments from development, location scouts and table-reads from pre-production, set photos and crew anecdotes from production, edit-bay notes from post, and press kits, festival memories, or marketing ephemera from distribution. Any moment that didn't make the press tour, any document or photograph that's been sitting in a box — please share it so it's not lost to time.
We particularly welcome contributions from writers, producers, cast, crew, festival programmers, distributors, marketing teams, their families, and anyone who was there at any stage.
Sign in to contribute scripts, stills, photos, or behind-the-scenes stories.
Be the first to share something on The Goodbye Girl.
Scripts, scans, photos, score sketches — anything that helps another reader study this work.
Memorable quotes
Browse all →No quotes logged for The Goodbye Girl yet — add the first memorable line below.
Got a quote we’re missing?
Submit a line from any film, show, or game.
The conversation
Loading the conversation…
Comments (0)
on The Goodbye GirlNo comments yet. Be the first to share what you think.
Edit history
Loading edit history…
