Amazon.com video review:
Mike Nichols directed the 1965 stage production of Neil
Simon's The Odd Couple, but while Nichols went on to become a
vitally intelligent director of contemporary comedy, Simon's career
thrived in the 1970s and '80s before dwindling towards sentimental
fluff like this amusing but mildly disappointing sequel. Closer to Grumpy Old Men
than the wry wit of Simon's original play and 1968 screen adaptation,
the movie finds former roommates Oscar (Walter Matthau) and Felix
(Jack Lemmon) reluctantly reuniting for the wedding of Oscar's son to
Felix's daughter. When they get sidetracked in California, the
road-movie formula unleashes the comedic chemistry of Lemmon and
Matthau (which alone makes the movie worthwhile), but it's too casual
to match the original's depth or dramatic foundation. Simon and
Grumpy director Howard Deutch could have deepened the
Oscar-Felix relationship to make it funnier and more emotionally
involving, but instead they've played it safe with some good laughs in
the kind of sketch comedy that Nichols would avoid. Simon's capable of
much better than this, but Lemmon-Matthau fans will have a good time
anyway. --Jeff Shannon
