It was Billy Wilder who first teamed Jack Lemmon with Walter Matthau; that was for The Fortune Cookie back in 1966. Two years later, they were reunited for the screen version of Neil Simon`s very popular play, The Odd Couple, as pernickety Felix Ungar and messy Oscar Madison, incompatible bachelors who share an apartment (the play and film spawned a popular tv series of course). Now, 30 years later, Felix and Oscar are back: Felix`s daughter is marrying Oscar`s son. The grumpy old men have been separated for years, Felix living in a sterile New York apartment, Oscar in a chaotic Miami pad. They fly into Los Angeles where they plan to drive a hire car to the wedding - but everything goes wrong, of course.
Lemmon and Matthau have been given thin material in their recent films - Grumpier Old Men and Out To Sea weren`t worthy vehicles for them. But Neil Simon`s still witty one-liners and the precision timing of these likeable veterans pack plenty of laughs into this familiar trip. Walter Matthau, especially, has lost nothing of his irascible way with attacking a joke, and if you admire these old troupers, and want to visit them again, this is worth a trip to your local cinema. It`s very old fashioned, but it`s great fun.
