Review: 'The Odd Couple II' a rancid rehash

April 21, 1998
Web posted at: 2:47 p.m. EDT (1847 GMT)

From Reviewer Paul Tatara

(CNN) -- "The Odd Couple II," just like the play and movie that inspired it, is written by a guy named Neil Simon, but this Simon (unlike his predecessor) isn't going to have much of a career ahead of him if he keeps writing simple-minded, asinine, pandering -- OK, I'll go ahead and say it -- crap. And that applies to the good parts. This is one big fat dog of a movie, a tiresome near-nod to the original that contains exactly zero laughs, although if you consider a long evening of cringing to be worth your hard-earned money you're in for a treat.

Someone obviously isn't trying here, and I'd appreciate it if you'd hold my hat while I cast my vote for Simon. It goes without saying that the man has earned his standing as one of the foremost comedy writers of the past 40 or so years, but "The Odd Couple II" is to "The Odd Couple" as "Star Spangled Girl" is to "Brighton Beach Memoirs," which is to say that "The Odd Couple II" stinks. I know I'm not supposed to say that because of the Pulitzer Prize and everything, but nobody saying anything is exactly why movies like this end up getting made. Surely somebody involved in this project was capable of recognizing that a more appropriate title would have been "Grumpy Old Planes, Trains, and Automobiles." Come to think of it, that's probably how it got financed.

You know the boys. Matthau is Oscar, the sportswriter/grouch/slob who, in the 30 years since the original film, has moved to Sarasota, Florida, to while away his remaining time on Earth covering minor league baseball games and playing cards with the old coots at the retirement condo. Oscar is in pretty good, if highly unamusing, spirits as the movie begins, but that all changes when he gets a momentous phone call from his son (played very quickly by Jonathan Silverman). Sonny is getting married, and, in a twist of fate that nonchalantly ignores the population of planet Earth, the bride-to-be is the daughter of ... Felix Unger!

Oh boy. I'm holding my sides already. You just know that Oscar and Felix meeting in California as they prepare for their children's wedding is going to be a scream, but wait! No it isn't. Felix is still doing the same asthmatic/neatness shtick from the first movie, and that's expected, but you might also expect ... I don't know ... maybe ... something else. I mean, something funny.

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No such luck. I don't know what the hell Simon was thinking, but he obviously decided that two juicy comic actors playing off of each other and saying amusing things while caught up in character-generated amusing situations would be a little too old hat. Instead, why not load the curmudgeons into a rent-a-car and have them get lost as they drive the five hours to the wedding. That way they can lay dead-fish one-liners on each other ad nauseam without having to worry about a story, and there can be all kinds of "inventive" physical humor.

Like, for instance, the car rolling over a cliff and exploding. Or maybe a crop duster could fly down and cover them with toxic powder as they walk down the road looking for a ride. Or maybe they could buy new clothes without realizing that they've purchased glow-in-the-dark underwear. Or, better yet, Felix could yelp "NYAH-NYAH-NYAH" every time his sinuses clog up. Just like in the first one, except a lot more often and 30 years later.

What to say? Most of the jokes resonate like a bowling ball being dropped in the kitchen -- CLUNK. I've said it before and I'll say it again; Walter Matthau can do no wrong, as far as I'm concerned. He can, however, deliver the wrongs that Simon has written for him, like a part-time retiree from the grocery store who brings over a bag full of rancid cabbage. Lemmon is a different story, though. I've often been irritated by his endlessly pressure-cooked performances, and Felix is purposefully designed to be irritating. So, there you go. Still, he doesn't have anything to do except the wheeze and the continual exasperation, and I was doing that myself by the end of the movie. If I can just remember to do it again 30 years from now, voila! I've got a sequel.

There are no sex scenes in "The Odd Couple II," and thank God for small miracles. There's also a bit of unexpected, and somehow inappropriate, profanity. They really shouldn't have done this to Matthau, but look at it this way: every dollar they give to him is one that Keanu Reeves won't be able to pocket. PG-13. 90 minutes.

Related sites:

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• Official Page: THE ODD COUPLE II

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