Grumpy Old Men

Grumpy Old Men (1993)

The set-up is so funny, and it's so great to see Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau at it again, you have to laugh even though the jokes are often more silly than funny. It's a feel-good drama despite all the hysterics. Maybe the best moments are Burgess Meredith as Lemmon's father, delivering crude old man lines with enough raw disregard for everything to sink a ship. "Did you mounter her?" he asks his elderly son.

Obviously a hit enough to lead to "Grumpier Old Men" two years later, also funny but less fresh. And check out the Meredith outtakes on YouTube--just type his name and look for the "Grumpier Old Men" clip.

This is a good movie because it is a feel good movie. We see the characters and we don't feel that bad about ourselves. Another Lemmon and Matthau film, where this time they are two old guys in Minnesota. Content, until a woman (Ann-Margaret) is the apple of they're eyes. Great fun, especially from Burgess Meredith, who is hilarious as Lemmon's dirty talking father who is even funnier in the out-takes. A

After a hiatus of over a decade Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau came gloriously back in parts to suit their senior citizen status in Grumpy Old Men. They may move a little slower, but their comic timing hasn't slowed up one bit.

The setting is a small town in Minnesota where these two old neighbors and widowers have this rivalry going back for years. Next to the ice fishing which they and apparently everyone else enjoys during the winter, their favorite pastime is cracking wise and playing jokes to one up the other. One thing that has slowed up is their libidos.

But that's about to change when Ann-Margret moves across the street. The sight of a pretty woman right on the block is all these two old geezers need to get into action.

As for Ann-Margret she's a free spirit of sorts who's flattered with the attention. Matthau has another friend in high places, his son Kevin Pollak is elected mayor of their town. Lemmon has a daughter played by Darryl Hannah and a grandson and she's married to Christopher McDonald, but they're estranged. The kids like each other and both of their fathers.

Lemmon also has tax problems, he owes some big bucks to the IRS and the villain in Grumpy Old Men is tax man, a most officious Buck Henry. The IRS is an agency everyone hates because it's the only place where you really are guilty until proved innocent in the USA. What happens to Lemmon is all too true. I myself could tell you stories of the IRS problems I've had through no fault of my own. I never owed as much as Lemmon did however and all due to an accounting error while Lemmon was filing jointly with his wife when she was still alive over a decade earlier. Some eager beaver auditor at IRS caught it and the interest and penalties compounded have him ready to lose his house.

I also have to note the presence of another pair of old geezers in the cast, Ossie Davis and Burgess Meredith. Davis owns a convenience store and in the opinion of Lemmon charges outrageously for bait during the ice fishing season. And Meredith is Lemmon's nonagenarian father who is past the age of caring what anyone thinks of him or his opinions.

Grumpy Old Men is a wonderful film for the elderly. Now that I'm at the age of Lemmon's and Matthau's character, I can enjoy this now more than ever. For Geezers of all ages.

"Grumpy Old Men" is a 1993 Donald Petrie film about two feuding old men (Lemmon, Matthau) who step up their game to woo their new neighbor (Ann-Margret). Let me start off by saying that I love both Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon and I have heard of how the two of them are often paired together on film. This is the first film I've seen with the both of them in it and I can tell why they were paired together here. The chemistry between Matthau and Lemmon is really noticeable throughout this film - they really love working with each other. Everyone else's performances were also very well done. The movie was also pretty funny overall, but what surprised me the most was that this film featured some very touching and heartwarming scenes within it. Honestly, I can say that this movie surprised me all together. I thought I was only going to get a 90 minute film of two old men swearing at each other. What I got was that, but with very great acting, subplot development, tonal diversity, and more. "Grumpy Old Men" is a film that I watched with a genuine smile on my face.

I write this in 2001. Sadly, at this time, all three of the "Grumpy Old Men" (Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, and Burgess Meredith) have now passed on. But this film will show that some of your best work can come in your golden years.

I first saw "Grumpy Old Men" against protest. Though I'd heard of its legacy at being "SO funny!"-- I rebelled against the idea of seeing two foul old guys yelling at each other. One night, my parents rented it-- and I happened to be staying at their house that night-- so I popped it in the VCR and watched it.

I went to bed in pain that night because my abdomen was sore from laughing so hard. It took over 3 hours for me to watch the whole movie because I kept rewinding and watching the funniest parts over and over again.

Though the movie stars all VERY-seasoned and excellent actors & actresses-- one tends to forget that... and only sees "John and Max" going at it again. It's a fifty-year fight between these two mischievous old bags of hot-air. The movie becomes more exciting as it progresses-- because you get to wonder who's going to strike next and humiliate the other... Gustafson or Goldman?

Aside from a wonderful story line and script, there are some very memorable one-liners and quotes from both this and "Grumpier Old Men" (the sequel). The soundtrack is sprinkled with wonderful old songs, along with festive polka songs to set the atmosphere for the town of Wabasha, Minnesota-- a small Swedish-settlement in the North.

If you've not seen this movie, and you have a great sense of humor-- do yourself the favor of renting "Grumpy Old Men". It's a heart-warming, happy film that leaves you feeling good after seeing it. God rest all the souls of the stars of this film that are now no longer with us-- but enjoy one of their last gifts to us before they left.