Diane Keaton 2005 profile in the "San Francisco Chronicle" described her as "easy to find. Look for the only woman in sight dressed in a turtleneck on a 90-degree afternoon in Pasadena.") Her photo by Douglas Kirkland appeared on the cover of the September 26, 1977, issue of "Time" magazine, with the story dubbing her "the funniest woman now working in films." Later that year, she departed from her usual lighthearted comic roles when she won the highly coveted lead role in the drama "Looking for Mr. Goodbar", based on the novel by Judith Rossner. In the film, she played a Catholic
Mr. Wrong unfunny" from the point when after Martha dumps Whitman after seeing his true persona and he then begins stalking her and literally destroys her personal and professional life while continuing to fool everyone around her with his good-guy charade. Rita Kempley, writing for "The Washington Post", assessed the film a "sour, listless debunking of romantic comedies, ... [with] fewer laughs than "Looking for Mr. Goodbar"" and laments that "Ellen DeGeneres, a comedian and sitcom star in her film debut, [who] is ostensibly the protagonist here" does not control the action, but her character "merely reacts to [Whitman's] twists and turn-ons".