The Odd Couple II

It is hard to believe it was only eight years ago that this, the last of the Lemmon and Matthau (or Matthau and Lemmon) films was made, and within four years both stars would be gone. One only wishes that their last film together had been more of a success. They had done first rate sequels before with GRUMPIER OLD MEN, but that film had been done within two years of GRUMPY OLD MEN, and a natural momentum carried the stars (and supporting casts) to the finish line. That is not the case with THE ODD COUPLE II. It came out thirty years after the original THE ODD COUPLE, and while they are reunited with the play's creator (Neil Simon) on the screenplay, the momentum - the push - is lacking.

Not that this is a boring film. Far from it. We always wondered how Oscar Madison and Felix Unger would have behaved as elderly men. Of course, Felix looked like he and Gloria were going to settle their differences and return together in the first play/movie. Indeed, in the television series Tony Randall did get back to his wife. But here it is obvious it did not work at all. Both men have remained divorced, and both men remain essential the same: Felix the compulsively organized neatnik and Oscar the incorrigible slob. They also have given each other a wide birth if possible. But they find themselves drawn back into mutual orbit. Oscar's son is getting married - and to Felix's daughter. So the pair are headed for the wedding, and that means jointly showing up.

What happens is a series of joint misadventures on the way to the wedding, especially involving two rather fun young women that they meet (Christine Baranski and Jean Smart) with their jealous boyfriends. This leads to several, increasingly odd, run-ins with the sheriff of a small town they can't seem to successfully leave. Indeed, in one case they get a lift out of town in a beautiful white classic Rolls Royce, which moves more slowly than a pair of people on bicycles.

The situations are all quite amusing. But the unity of the film is not there - it is like a series of skits involving Felix and Oscar, that are vaguely united because the two characters are familiar to us, and they are supposed to get to the wedding. Still the two stars give it their all, and with Baranski, Smart, and the late Bernard Hughes it works well enough as an entertainment. But for me, the wackiness and variety of OUT TO SEA make that film a better final film for the pair.

Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau appear in their final film together here after years of acting together (Matthau died recently). Here, they team up once again as Felix and Oscar. This time, they are on a road trip to their son and daughter's wedding (it's Felix's daughter and Oscar's son) and during the trip their are plenty of funny scenes and one-liners, but it just doesn't hit as well as the original. Good effort anyway. Written again by Neil Simon.

Despite poor reviews from critics, this follow-up to the "Odd Couple" delivers quite a few big laughs. Both stars are in top form, although it looks as if old age is begining to damper (just slightly) ol' Walter Matthau's style. I enjoyed many of the sight gags, especially one with Bernard Hughes as a man planning to live to "120" as he drives them cross-country. Howard Duetch, who also directed the hilarious "Grumpier Old Men", does a fine job switching between the dramatic and comedic moments. Not a great film, but an entertaining one with quite a few guffaws. It's biggest downfall: It reminded me more of the "Grumpy Old Men" films than the original "Odd Couple".

When Paramount decided to recreate two of the most beloved characters on stage and on the big and small screens fortunately Neil Simon was hired to age Felix Unger and Oscar Madison. And since this is done in real years, Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau who played them on screen back in the Sixties aged right along side the characters they played. No one else could have done proper justice to Felix and Oscar and fortunately they were both alive to get the job done.

A lot has happened in the intervening years. Simon for some reason made Matthau far more ethnically Jewish in this version which finds Oscar living in a senior citizens center writing for a local paper covering minor league baseball and indulging in his weekly pastime of penny ante poker with some contemporaries. He's still the same grouchy lovable slob he always was. I do love that bombs away scene with the garbage bags from his apartment, I can't say more.

And then he learns that his son is marrying his old roommate Felix's daughter and both are invited to the wedding out in Southern California. Enter Jack Lemmon who after making himself a royal pest to the crew on the New York flight to California meets up with Matthau where they rent a car and journey to the small southern California town all of which begin with either San or Los in their names. Don't believe me, look at a map of California and see what I'm talking about. That is after leaving Felix's plastic bag wrapped suitcase on the curb.

After that for a good half the picture Lemmon and Matthau are alone on the screen and that's what the movie-going public paid to see in 1998 in their last joint project. Two of the greatest comic actors and I say that and not comedians doing their best with some of the most impeccable timing and diction and in Matthau's case one of the most expressive faces in film history. Getting involved with a pair of rednecks and their slutty wives and getting into a car with an aged Barnard Hughes who just stops living and getting stuck with a truck of illegal immigrants are the three situations that put them in the jurisdiction of Sheriff Richard Riehl who gets tired of hosting these two in his jail.

Comes the wedding and the aftermath and all I can say there is Oscar as a sportswriter who covered the Yankees would be familiar with what Yogi Berra said about 'De Ja Vu all over again'.

Oscar and Felix they're back, they're better than ever and with both Lemmon and Matthau now gone, we're sadder for the fact they'll never return.

This sequel to "The Odd Couple" is odd. First of all, I don't think one really needed to happen and second of all if one was meant to be made it should have been made a little earlier. The 90's did sort of overuse the dynamic duo known as Lemmon and Matthau. Even in the 80's they paired up. But with films like "Grumpy Old Men", "Grumpier Old Men", "Out to Sea" and of course "The Odd Couple II", you have to ask yourself whether or not this great comedic pair really needed to return as Felix and Oscar. Still they both have the great chemistry on screen together. Always had, but this sequel felt oddly strained to me since most of it I've seen already in "Grumpy Old Men".

The script by the great Neil Simon was very hit and miss with the jokes and the whole premise of both of them going to their children's wedding was forced. The direction and editing was pretty sloppy and there was a moment when they were walking in the desert when I almost had a brief flash back of when I saw the movie "Ishtar". The only thing worth seeing and is why I watched it is for Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. Despite this odd sequel having a crapola premise, you still gotta love these guys. I'd say watch it for them, but also check out the first movie.