superficial

As usual, Neil Simon gives a superficial treatment of serious human pain. He likes to set up a situation where there is conflict between characters, and then make it appear that it can be fairly quickly and easily resolved. All it takes is a couple of hostile confrontations and the deepest wounds can be scabbed over successfully, with the help of a bunch of clever-one-liner band-aids. Compare his treatment of his families conflicts in "Brighton Beach Memoirs" with Woody Allen's "Radio Days," set in the same time and place, approximately. Woody Allen shows the rough edges that are abrading everyone, and the affectionate ties, and leaves it at that. It is much more affecting and true.
It wouldn't be so bad if he didn't insist on comparing himself favorably with the master writer Anton Chekhov. (That's why he crowned himself with the nickname "Doc Simon" because Chekhov, his stated hero, was a doctor.)
Despite all that, I usually watch his movies once, just because the dialog IS so entertaining. I am not usually tempted to see them a second time, having heard the jokes once is enough.
But especially in something like this movie, where Herb is dealing with his daughter's accumulated pain of 16 years of abandonment, it is ridiculous to think that a 19 year daughter and a guy like Herb are going to work things out so successfully just by a couple of conversations.
And has any 19 year old woman in American history had a conversation with her father about Sex that comes anywhere close to the one in this film? What a fantasy trip, by a middle aged male author.
The Neil S. films I like are the ones where there is no pretense of depth, like "the Last of the Red Hot Lovers" and "Murder by Death." I find them really satisfying and hilarious.
I've read that the Alan Alda character in "Crimes and Misdemeanors" was modeled after him, with Woody Allen expressing his basic contempt of N.S. (Unlike Neil's brother Danny, whom WA admired.)