Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Hitchcoc We lost a couple of truly gifted comedians with the deaths of Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. These two guys were hilarious alone, but put them together, and it was dynamite. They shined brightly in "The Odd Couple" and are equally delightful in this one. Throw in the veteran, Burgess Merideth as an even older grumpy old man, and it's even better. Ann-Margret plays the attractive senior woman (we should look so good) that catches the hearts of these old goats. There is so much byplay and competition between them that you can't help yourselves. They keep butting heads as they try to make headway with the lovely lady, and, of course, make fools of themselves. If you want to hang on to the end, see the bit with the three male stars going at it at the conclusion in a verbal joust.

PWNYCNY They are grumpy. Going at each other. Nasty. Neighbors. And it's all because of women. According to this movie, life is about sex. It's sex that keeps you young, or at least thinking young. The grumpiness is wonderful and funny. It's tit-for-tat as two oldies keep on feuding, sounding as ridiculous as they act. Introduce a woman and things get worse. Two guys fussing and fuming like two little kids, and that's because they're not getting what they crave for - tender loving care from the opposite sex. They roar like bears but they're really teddy bears who need a momma bear to keep them comfy. The movie presents an idealized portrayal of women as being naturally soft and nurturing - and it works! Introducing the sexual factor is not a literary contrivance. It's true. The movie is not making it up. The metaphorical imagery suggested by the two principals is unmistakable. John and Max are lonely men who feel so marginalized and so inadequate that they are projecting their rage onto each other. And they do some nasty things that really hurt. Ariel just adds fuel to the fire as she plays off the two men, making them even agitated. Now the sexual juices are flowing for the first time in years and they can't handle it. They are reliving puberty, but this time it has a tinge of desperation because they are old. If not now, then when? Sex is equated with life; who wins the women is the survivor. To find out who wins, watch the movie.

classicsoncall Well you're never going to convince me that someone who looks like Ann-Margret is going to wind up marrying a character like John Gustafson. I know, I know, it happens in real life sometimes; it's just that you're not going to convince me of it.But if you like to see a couple of old codgers go at it hammer and tong, then you'll get a kick out of Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau in this flick. Amicable enemies since childhood, they never let an opportunity for a good zinger go by, but underneath it all you know they have a soft spot for each other. It took that hospital scene to bring it out when Max (Matthau) had to break down and call Gustafson 'friend' in order to see him. Good timing there too, as you had to watch him think about it.By the time this picture was made, I guess you could say Ann-Margret was no spring chicken herself, but she can sure carry her age better than most. I like the way she challenged Gus to seek out new things, a bit of a subliminal message in the picture as a takeaway for anyone watching to stay young at heart. Sadly, most of the principals from the film have passed on (Lemmon, Matthau and Burgess Meredith), but with their movies and comedy as a legacy, they'll keep many a generation young at heart for a long time.

Steve Pulaski Grumpy Old Men focuses on the town of Wabasha, Minnesota, where two bickering elderly residents reside and consistently bicker with one another. They are retired teacher and widower John Gustafson (Jack Lemmon) and retired repairman and fellow widower Max Goldman (Walter Matthau), whose friendship as children ended when John dated and married Max's crush in high school.Now, such a rivalry reaches critical mass when an attractive eccentric named Ariel (Ann-Margret) moves across the street and steals the eye of both men. Both John and Max are smitten with the woman and try to find ways to earn her friendship and maybe even her hand. However, both men are far past their prime in terms of relationships, but John and Max can put many fighting youngsters to shame with the way they try and get back at one another.Such a film would not be half as memorable or fun if the leads weren't the legendary screen actors Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. The film pulls of its hardest job effortlessly because of them and that job is making both men truly seem like lifelong rivals who have a subtle but present soft-spot for one another. Lemmon and Matthau manage to achieve a shockingly believable relationship in that regard, and their performances mimic the kind that would've been present in early black and white cinema or even the Vaudeville days.Both of their performances require energy that some would assume would be far past their years. But, as usual, Lemmon and Matthau defy the odds and commit to hilarious performances of sweetness, sourness, and true comedic talent. One mustn't forget the talent possessed by Ann-Margret as well, who handles the female character "stuck in the middle of lunacy" role to strong effect, especially in the more dramatic scenes. Consider when she gets her lengthy monologue with John about how him and Max need to stop fighting each other. It's a scene of surprising emotional honesty thanks to writer Mark Steven Johnson's refusal to make the monologue too sentimental.Johnson, who would later find some success writing and directing films based on lesser-known superheros, keeps the film heavy on humor and relatively minimal on the inclusion of emotionally manipulative sequences in the film. First and foremost, the film remembers it's a comedy and refuses to compromise its title for frequent and contrived dramatic instances. However, when the drama does roll around, it's handled in a pleasantly modest way (especially towards the end, when the film goes for broke in a sequence that shows humanness to the fullest degree).Grumpy Old Men can easily be criticized for having a plot like a sitcom and rather ordinary direction by Donald Petrie, who refuses to do much with the story visually other than capture the snowy landscape of Wabasha, Minnesota. However, like many comedies with high-profile actors, it may be easy to critique the plot's contrivances, but it's hard to fault the actors for being so committed to a project they inherently fit into well. Lemmon and Matthau captures the soulful energy of bickering neighbors wonderfully and that's worth the price of admission alone.Starring: Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Ann-Margret, and Kevin Pollak. Directed by: Donald Petrie.