Bye Bye Love is a 1995 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Sam Weisman, with a script by Gary David Goldberg and Brad Hall. The film centers around three friends and recently-divorced fathers in Los Angeles—Dave Goldman (Matthew Modine), Vic D'Amico (Randy Quaid), and Donny Carson (Paul Reiser)—while they navigate their changed lives and their relationships with their children, ex-wives, and girfriends.
Also in the cast are Janeane Garofalo, Rob Reiner, Amy Brenneman, Ross Malinger, Dana Wheeler Nicholson, Mae Whitman, Lindsay Crouse, Amber Benson, Jayne Brook, and Eliza Dushku.
This film features examples of:
- Awful Wedded Life: Townsend quips that the only ones more miserable than divorced Americans are married Scandinavians.
- Bookends: The movie starts with the main trio of guys at a wedding reception and the "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue ends with them about to leave a different wedding reception.
- The Bro Code: Susan points out that Donny was well-aware of Dave cheating on her but said nothing, due to prioritizing loyalty to a male friend over a female friend. Donny is admittedly ashamed of this.
- Broken Tears: Vic's daughter when he has to drop her off at his former in-laws' house. She immediately starts crying once it's clear he's not staying.
- Confirmation Bias: In-universe. Donny reports that another couple the group knows are getting divorced after 11 years. Due to his own problems and experiences, Vic immediately assumes it was for trivial reasons and a slap in the face to the hard-working husband. He backtracks when Donny says said husband got caught sleeping with a secretary.
- Disappeared Dad: None of the main trio are this, as they try to fit in as much time as possible with their kids, but Dave reveals to Donny near the end of the movie that his own father was this. His folks split up, and Dave wouldn't see his father for months on end. The first visit involved Dave not even recognizing the old man and being given a tennis racket (despite never once playing tennis).
- Disneyland Dad: The featured dads are Type I. They love their kids dearly but only get every other weekend with them (or in some cases, two consecutive weekends), so they compensate by taking their younger kids to big attractions in town (anywhere with rides, a baseball game, etc.) to make the limited time more memorable. A montage shows them getting progressively winded trying to pack in a day full of fun but nonetheless soldiering on.
- Does This Make Me Look Fat?: A scene that made it into the trailer had this exchange:Claire: We had to take back the graduation dress.
Emma: It made me look fat.
Paul: You couldn't look fat if you wanted to!
Emma: Why would I want to look fat?
Paul: You wouldn't! You couldn't! - Everyone Has Standards: Townsend sometimes doesn't fully appreciate what divorce does to an adult, but he is outraged when a caller tells a story of her ex promising to take their son to a hockey game on the kid's birthday, never showing up, and never explaining why.Towsend: That son of a bitch!
- Freudian Excuse: Dave admits to Donny that he barely ever saw his father after his folks split up, to the point of not even recognizing him during the first visit. The fear of similarly alienating and screwing up his own kids drives a lot of his actions.
- Happiness in Minimum Wage: Walter Sims is a senior citizen who works at the local McDonald's. He actually enjoys it and wants to pick up more shifts since it gets him out of his otherwise empty house.
- Heroes Love Dogs: Vic had a dog when he was married and still dotes on him. He even gets into it with Grace over who found the dog and cares for him the most.
- Innocently Insensitive: Dr. David Townsend hosts a radio show and sometimes downplays how hard divorce can be for some parents. He's not meaning to be callous; he had four divorces of his own and is simply speaking from his own experiences. He's quite willing to hash it out with Vic in more detail when confronted in the studio (after being attacked, no less).
- Intergenerational Friendship: Walter Sims ends up bonding with one of his younger co-workers, who takes a real shine to the old man.
- Man Hug: After Dave admits his own fears of ending up like his Disappeared Dad, Donny gives him a hug.
- Papa Wolf: Grace's new boyfriend, Gerald, gave Jed "nothing more than a tap" in response to perceived rudeness. Vic tells Grace in all seriousness that should that ever happen again, he will kill the man without a second thought.
- Parents as People: A movie full of divorced parents having all sorts of lingering issues with each other and the emotional stress to go along with it, all while trying to keep their kids happy and move forward in life.
- Product Placement: There's some heavy McDonald's product placement, with a branch being prominently featured.
- Rage Breaking Point: Vic reaches his by confronting Dr. David Townsend on-air and ranting about how divorce is complicated and stressful than his radio show makes it out to be. His rant ends up getting him his own radio show.
- Titled After the Song: The film is titled after the song of the same name by The Everly Brothers. A cover of the song by The Proclaimers is heard in the film.
- Truce Zone: The exes are all shown exchange their kids at the neutral territory of the local McDonald's. Dr. David Townsend points out that it is custom for a lot of divorced parents to have agreed upon truce zones.
- Trying Not to Cry: Vic when leaving his now crying daughter at the former in-laws' house.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: Citing such items as Vic getting his own radio show and entering a relationship with Lucille, Donny and Susan starting a family, and Townsend getting married for the fifth time.
