Les grincheux 2

Nothing's different in this lovely follow up to the sleeper hit original. Lemmon and Matthau still jab at each other while Sophia Loren practically steals the film with her still astonishing beauty. Things only get better with age.

If you watched Grumpy Old Men and know the ending there, you can't imagine how these two curmudgeonly old geezers could get a feud going again, especially after what Walter Matthau did for Jack Lemmon when Lemmon was really down. And in point of fact the boys seem to lose a step or two from the first film.

Still Grumpier Old Men finds Lemmon and Matthau in their superbly timed best just fighting for sillier reasons. In the first film the rivalry heated up a bit because the two were panting hot and heavy for Ann-Margret and Lemmon got her. Now it's Matthau pursuing and what an object of pursuit he has in Sophia Loren.

In the first film Ossie Davis owned a bait shop where everyone bought bait, but also liked to hang around, just like a barbershop. Davis dies during that film and now we find out that Sophia and her aunt Ann Morgan-Guilbert have taken it over and want to make it an Italian restaurant on the lake. Well when the senior citizens of this small Minnesota town hear about this they're up in arms. Fishing is close to a religion there and Matthau is leading the charge. That interferes more with romance than anything else.

And the Holy Grail of that religion is none other than the largest catfish known to humankind, the legendary Catfish Hunter. Returning as Lemmon's father is Burgess Meredith who has been on the quest for most of his 95 years. When Lemmon's daughter Darryl Hannah finally ties the knot with Matthau's son you won't believe what's going on with our two leads on the wedding day of their kids.

Grumpier Old Men was the farewell performance of Burgess Meredith ending a career that spanned six decades. The man was close to perfection in his performance as the oldest of the old geezers in Grumpier Old Men. This is man who has lived so long he really doesn't feel the need to be subtle and discreet. His courtship of Ann Morgan- Guilbert is a combination of geezer and caveman.

Grumpier Old Men, keeping the Lemmon-Matthau standard of comedy high.

"Grumpier Old Men" is the equally funny sequel to "Grumpy Old Men". Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau return as John and Max, the longtime neighbors who in this movie have reconciled their friendship. Ann-Margret is back as Ariel, John's new wife. So is Burgess Meredith as Lemmon's horny dad, and also returning are Daryl Hannah and Kevin Pollak as Lemmon's daughter and Matthau's son who are now engaged to each other and their fathers help them out to plan their wedding with some bizarre ideas. But the real scene stealer in "Grumpier Old Men" is the wonderful Sophia Loren as the new Italian woman in Wabasha, Minnesota. Loren plans to turn the grumpy old men's beloved bait shop into a 'ristorante' as she puts it. The grumps don't like that one bit and try to drive her out of town, but ends up falling for Matthau. It's great to see Loren get an opportunity to do comedy, and she gets her share of big laughs throughout the film. This film and it's predecessor once again will remind you of what a great team Lemmon and Matthau made.

***1/2 (out of four)

Sequels are rarely half as good as the original film. Matthau and Lennon would prove this at the tale end of their film partnership with THE ODD COUPLE PART II. But it has happened. ANOTHER THIN MAN is as good a film as THE THIN MAN. Vincent Minelli's follow up to FATHER OF THE BRIDE may lack the satire of weddings the original had, but FATHER'S LITTLE DIVIDEND is well made and entertaining in it's own right. And then there is this film. Of the first movie, GRUMPY OLD MEN, I have made a comment elsewhere. GRUMPIER OLD MEN is a neat follow-up, as we find how Max Goldman (Matthau) finds his new mate, Maria Ragetti (Sophia Loren). It also settles the future of Max's son Mayor Jacob Goldman (Kevin Pollak) and John Gustafson's (Lemmon's) daughter Melanie (Darryl Hannah), and gives a bitter-sweet farewell to John's father (Burgess Meredith).

I think the reason the sequel works is that there is a sense of time and continuity here that is not usually found. In GRUMPY OLD MEN, the reactions of Lemmon and Matthau to the death of their close friend Chuck (Ossie Davis), who had only recently been their rival for Ariel (Ann-Margaret) showed them to be human beings - not just two good comic actors trading insults for yucks. Here, it is watching the final scenes of Grandpa Gustafson (ironically Burgess Meredith's final role - and a fittingly good one for that fine actor). In the first film Meredith was always acting like a wild authority figure: over ninety years old, but threatening to tan the hides of the middle aged Matthau and Lennon like they were still kids when he stops them fighting. Here we see him in several guises. He is a loving grandpa - he is seen telling Allie (Katie Sagona) the story of Goldilock and the Three Bears (with his own modern interpolations), and then singing "Dream a Little Dream of Me" to put her to sleep. He is vulgar, but in a loving, sensible way. When Allie swallows a quarter, he suggests that it is normal - all kids swallow or try to swallow coins - and one only should worry if the kid excretes two dimes and nickel. He loves sexual encounters (in the first film he suggests that if Lemmon and Matthau can't get Arial he can!). Here he meets somebody to romance (Anne Gilbert), and they have a nice time together. But it is a brief one. Having reached 95, God finally comes for Grandpa, and his death manages to bring the other characters from cross purpose quarrels to sanity. It also brings the sweet image of Gilbert depositing a rose over the spot that Grandpa's ashes are scattered.

The continuity theme is also in the portion about "Catfish Hunter" the local lake legendary catfish. Grandpa tells John, at one point, that the catfish was old when he was a boy (which begs the question, why did they name the catfish after a major Yankee baseball player of the 1970 teams? - long after Grandpa's youth). The locals all hope to catch the fish and mount it on their walls. We see it at one point jumping late at night, alone, into the air and back into the late in the glorious moonlight - the monarch of the lake. But at the end, when the catfish is caught by Matthau and Lemmon together, Lemmon (probably influenced by Ann-Margaret, who did the same thing in the first film) gets Matthau to agree to return the catfish to the lake, where it can join Grandpa's ashes. So the legend is returned to it's base.

Even in the final moments of the film, with another marriage and a joke reminiscent of the first film's conclusion, suggests continuity. So there is a type of structural vigor in the two films, that strengthens their stories and increases the viewers pleasure watching them. Yes indeed, this is one sequel that works very well.

The best part about "Grumpier Old Men" is Burgess Meredith's character. He's even funnier here than in the original...and I love his version of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears"! As for the rest, it's pretty much what you got in the first film...though with an emphasis on a new character (Sophia Loren) and the upcoming nuptials of two other characters (John's daughter and Max's son).

The story picks up some time after the first film. John is married to Ariel and he and his nemesis, Max, are getting along better. Much of this might be because their kids are getting serious and talking marriage. Plus they have something else to unite them in the story...their hatred of a new lady, Maria (Loren). Why? Well, she bought their old bait shop and is turning it into a restaurant....and the pair do a lot to try to sabotage the place. These scenes are pretty funny. However, later, Max and Maria start dating....and the kids have a breakup. What's next? See the film.

This is a cute and enjoyable film. Nothing life-changing or super original but still fun and occasionally funny. Worth seeing if you liked the first one and better than most sequels.