Grumpy Old Men

A comedy built on the enmity of two old men living next door to each other in Minnesota. John and Max have been keeping a quarrel going for nearly fifty years. Neither quite remembers why, but their daily lives run on needling each other: snow clearing, ice fishing, pranks left in the mailbox. Then Ariel moves in across the street. Both like her, and the rivalry takes another form entirely. The strength is in the casting. Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau had worked together on more than ten films, and the fit between them carries all of the comedy; it is not the lines that are funny but the way the two look at each other. Ann-Margret plays Ariel. Burgess Meredith plays John's elderly father and is the film's plainest speaker. It did unexpectedly well and a sequel followed two years later. Snow, ice fishing and small-town life make up the texture; it really was shot in winter. A warm choice for anyone who likes classic double-act comedy and light films about old age. For a viewer looking for something new, it rests entirely on the fit between its actors and the story produces no surprises of its own.