Philip Roth's novella becomes glossy, smart-ass, "Graduate"-styled coming-of-age comedy-drama about a young man in New York, a librarian just out of the Army and living with his aunt and uncle, who courts a beautiful college girl from the country club set. Director Larry Peerce exaggerates the Jewish characters for a punchline, making the girl an insensitive brat and her frightful family an impolite bunch of boors (their nouveau riche surroundings may be plush, but their manners are low-class). A lightweight, rather obvious, somewhat self-conscious affair, watchable without being a moving experience. Admirers tend to remember select elements from the film--the hand-holding montages and rowboat kisses, the pop soundtrack, Ali MacGraw in the swimming pool--and forget the gross, pushy jokes and 'with-it' modern attributes. ** from ****
Review of Goodbye, Columbus
