GRUMPY OLD MEN
A film review by Scott Renshaw
Copyright 1994 Scott Renshaw
Starring: Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Ann-Margret, Kevin Pollak, Daryl Hannah, Ossie Davis, Burgess Meredith. Screenplay: Mark Steven Johnson. Director: Donald Petrie.
In a sense, there's really not all that much to say about a movie like GRUMPY OLD MEN. It's the kind of movie one generally describes with somewhat faint-praise adjectives like "cute," or "fun," or "entertaining." GRUMPY OLD MEN is all of these things, to a point. There are a couple of belly laughs, but there's not much genuine spark. For all its manufactured whimsy, GRUMPY OLD MEN is basically a sit-com, a moderately diverting 105-minute episode of "The Golden Boys."
The GRUMPY OLD MEN of the title are John Gustafson (Jack Lemmon) and Max Goldman (Walter Matthau), 50-year acquaintances and next-door neighbors in Wabasha, MN who carry on a long-standing feud. John throws fish into Max's back seat; Max changes John's television channels with his remote control. However, their bickering takes a turn for the even worse when Ariel Truax (Ann-Margret) moves in across the street. The beautiful and spirited Airel attracts the attention of both men, but neither is brave enough to make the first move. So when Ariel makes the first move--for both of them--old animosities are stirred to the boiling point.
GRUMPY OLD MEN opens with a great deal of promise. For one thing, it's simply a pleasure to see Lemmon and Matthau together again. They have little trouble creating the impression that their characters have known each other for years, slipping easily into the good-natured antagonism that fueled THE ODD COUPLE, THE FRONT PAGE and BUDDY BUDDY. Matthau is particularly fun to watch, an ear-flapped hunting cap comically framing his basset hound face. The trouble is that they're not given all that much to do besides call each other "moron" and "putz." There are a few nice bits of physical humor, notable Lemmon spraying Matthau with a garden hose and Matthau taking an ax to a foot of ice in a futile attempt to retrieve his prized ice-fishing pole. But for the most part GRUMPY OLD MEN just strolls along, apparently convinced that we're so comfortable with the actors that we'll find anything they do amusing.
The other characterizations in GRUMPY OLD MEN are wildly uneven. On the plus side is Ann-Margret, who is positively luminous. She's perfect for the role of Ariel, radiating a joie de vivre which would clearly be appealing to the two icy septugenarians. There is a marvelous warmth to her scenes with Lemmon and Matthau, and I was sorry that her part wasn't even larger. Ossie Davis, as a bait shop owner who has put up with the bickering of John and Max for decades, is also good. On the down side is Burgess Meredith as Lemmon's father, playing a male version of Estelle Getty's Sophia from "The Golden Girls." He appears briefly for the express purpose of being cantankerous and sexually suggestive, once again proving that it's supposed to be funny that older people think about sex, too. One of the script's bigger disappointments is a tacked-on relationship between Kevin Pollak and Daryl Hannah, playing Max's son and Lemmon's daughter respectively. Their characters don't serve much purpose, and while both actors are very appealing, I couldn't figure out what the point was. The time spent on their flirtations would have been time better spent making John and Max fuller characters.
GRUMPY OLD MEN does nothing to offend overtly. The photography of the snow-covered Minnesota town is bright and atmospheric, particularly the ice-fishing village; Alan Silvestri adds a cheerful if somewhat pedestrian score. There are enough chuckles in the film to make it a decent matinee diversion, but overall GRUMPY OLD MEN relies far too much on the history between Lemmon and Matthau, and far too little on anything particularly clever in Mark Steven Johnson's script.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 grumpy old men: 5.
-- Scott Renshaw Stanford University Office of the General Counsel
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