THE ODD COUPLE 2
A review by Robert Strong
Starring: Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Christine Baranksi, Barnard Hughes, Jonathan Silverman, Jean Smart, Lisa Waltz, Mary Beth Piel, Jay O. Sanders, and Richard Riehle.
Directed by Howard Deutch
Written by Neil Simon
Rated PG-13
***1/2 out of *****
Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau are at it again. Their grumpy old men shtick, which was at its best in the film GRUMPY OLD MEN, gets another go round, this time with writer Neil Simon in THE ODD COUPLE 2. It's the sequel to THE ODD COUPLE, which started the whole grumpy old men thing.
Seventeen years after Oscar Madison (Matthau) has moved to Sarasota, Florida, nothing has changed. He's still a unreformable slob of a sports writer who plays poker for stakes of 30 cents with a group of old women. At one of these games, he gets a phone call from his son, Brucey. (Jonathan Silverman) Brucey has great news: he's getting married. Then he tells his dad to whom: Hannah Ungar, daughter of Oscar's old roommate, ultra neat freak Felix Ungar. (Lemmon) Time hasn't changed Felix either. He's still, in Oscar's words, "a human vacuum cleaner." The two reunite at the airport out in California to go their childrens' wedding which is in "San something"--they can't remember the last part. From there, the rest of the film is basically a road buddy movie, that depicts the various misadventures the pair gets themselves into.
A great plot? No. Are there plot holes? Yes. Do some jokes fall flat? Yes. But is it funny the great majority of the time? Undoubtedly. Neil Simon shows he still has the touch, not as powerful as it once was, perhaps, but it's still there. Lemmon and Matthau display their always great chemistry as the churn out Simon's frequently funny one-liners at one another. The situations themselves are amusing. The dance with two biker chicks and the next morning they get taken hostage by the womens' angry boyfriends. They get dusted by pesticides, arrested for hauling illegal immigrants, their car rolls down a hill and explodes, and the list goes on.
The movie's funniest moment comes when they hitch a ride with an old geezer in his antique car. They drive very slowly. So slowly, in fact, that they are soon being passed by everything imaginable. It's hilarious to watch as the car gets passed by things whose speeds get progressively slower. Then the old man dies, leading to yet another great scene where his toupee blows off and Oscar has to retrieve it.
Many people have raised the cry of "enough is enough" with regards to Lemmon and Matthau. I say, if it's done well, bring it on! And this film is done well.
THE ODD COUPLE 2 is a light, funny, inoffensive comedy with great stars and a great writer. It certainly won't win any awards or go down in history as one of the great comedies of all time, but it is still a good, fun way to spend an afternoon or evening.
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