Stephen Farber

“…. Mazursky is a master psychologist, unmatched in his ability to expose the complex emotional subtext of casual, everyday events.

“What I especially admire about the film is its evenhandedness. Most directors are so desperate to make their main characters lovable that they fail to present them in the round. Mazursky works with a remarkable mixture of detachment and compassion. He's willing to portray Erica as wrongheaded or infuriating at moments, and he doesn't score points off other characters by sentimentalizing his heroine…. In a confrontation scene Mazursky respects the point of view of each of the combatants; that's what makes his domestic squabbles dramatic.

“Mazursky is especially fortunate to have Jill Clayburgh in the leading role. Clayburgh is in the classic tradition of American actresses--a smart, sensible, down-to-earth woman who can cut through any kind of pretense or hypocrisy. Clayburgh takes chances; she's not afraid to be hard and abrasive. Yet she exudes a luminous warmth even in her coldest moments of rage, and that's why she never loses her rapport with the audience. In one scene, Erica and her friends lament the disappearance of the great female stars. They shouldn't worry. With Jill Clayburgh finally getting the roles that she deserves, American movies are looking a lot brighter….”

Stephen Farber
New West, March 13, 1978

“… Clayburgh's acting in the movie has an uncannily natural, unrehearsed quality, [but] almost nothing was improvised….”

Farber
"Jill Clayburgh: Breaking the Ties That Bind"
New West, March 13, 1978
[review my edit of above paragraph]