The Odd Couple II

This movie was ten times better then I expected. I just pick up this movie because I saw a preview for it and thought it might be worth a laugh. And I laughed all the way through. These two guys are great. It's a mindless comedy that kind of reminded me of trains, planes and automobiles. score: 9/10

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.

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.

It is sad to think that we will not have any more gems from either of these two screen legends. Lemmon was a great actor, as can be seen in any one of his many films (particularly, "Days of Wine and Roses," "Glen Garry Glen Ross"). He had a broad range, and could play comedy with the best of them ("Mr. Roberts," "How to Murder Your Wife," etc.) Matthau was a breed apart, having done many dramatic roles in is early career ("The Kentuckian," "Fail Safe"), but it was light comedy where he truly shined. He was one of those true "naturals." So, after the "Grumpy Old Men" successes, they are paired for "The Odd Couple II." From the broad range of commentary here, there are those who celebrate this film, and those who think it is lame. I feel it has good performances in a so-so plot, but it think it was a bad choice. They were both great in the first "Odd Couple," but who can deny that they abdicated the roles of Oscar and Felix to two consummate professionals, Jack Klugman and Tony Randall on TV? They polished those roles to perfection, and they had done all that could be done with them. It was pointless for Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau to go there again.

For me, "Grumpy Old Men" is how I would like to remember them. That film had a good story, and was supported by a great team of veterans, Burgess Meredith in particular. In that film, even the out-takes are great.

"The Odd Couple II" reminds me in many ways of "Tough Guys." Both films had legends, both as teams and as individual actors, so when Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster appear together for the last time, you want for them to have something really special. That is what we wanted for Jack Lemmon and Walther Matthau. These films are okay, but only because the actors are in them. They are not good enough movies to honor their memories.

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.