Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Those grumpy old men














This is one of my all time favorite comedies and I find myself revisiting it from time to time as I did again today. Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau appeared in 10 movies together and I think this is the best of that lot. These two grumpy old men have had a grudge for over 50 years with each other and one day when a woman called Ariel (Ann-Margret) moves next door things escalate to an all out war between them. Sure this movie follows quite common paths and is even predictable, but it doesn't matter at all as it's pure magic. I can't think of a better comedy duo than Lemmon and Matthau and seeing them going at each other like this is something absolutely hilarious. Now I know this movie might not be for everyone, but for me these grumpy old men arguing are simply brilliant. Time hasn't been kind to the movie, but still I found myself laughing like the first time I saw it. The predictable plot and some of the nowadays cliched jokes don't matter much as this is pure warm hearted entertainment.
92%
















Of course there had to be a sequel for the brilliant first part, but luckily this time it's not bad at all. Despite the story taking a few unneeded turns which kind of drag the movie along, this comes close to the original. This time Sophia Loren plays the woman who starts a chain of events which lead to the peace between the grumpy old men being broken and it's all out war again. Again the predictable plot troubled a bit, but then again I guess I could watch Lemmon and Matthau going at each other without any plot at all, they are just so hilarious. This is a great sequel especially if you like the first part as it's basically more of the same.
79%


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