
In Fabric
Strickland frequently tests viewers’ patience, but his off-putting sensibility is powerful enough to make In Fabric as mesmerizing as its subject: salesmanship as a sinister,…
Strickland frequently tests viewers’ patience, but his off-putting sensibility is powerful enough to make In Fabric as mesmerizing as its subject: salesmanship as a sinister,…
Portrait of a Lady on Fire is its own, wondrous, magnificent thing.
Roger Ebert on James Ivory's "Howards End".
"The Ballad of Narayama" is a Japanese film of great beauty and elegant artifice, telling a story of startling cruelty. What a space it opens…
An article about today's noon premiere of a new movie about architect Benjamin Marshall at the Gene Siskel Film Center.
An article about the screening of Horace Jenkins' "Cane River" on Friday, November 1st, at the Academy Film Archive in Los Angeles.
Scout Tafoya's video essay series about maligned masterpieces celebrates Steven Soderbergh's Solaris.
An article about today's noon premiere of a new movie about architect Benjamin Marshall at the Gene Siskel Film Center.
An FFC on Gavin Hood's Official Secrets.
A celebration of Yasujiro Ozu, as written by a Far Flung Correspondent from Egypt.
A piece on Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, and Joe Pesci, and what they've meant to the career of Martin Scorsese.
A review of Apple TV's Truth Be Told with Octavia Spencer and Aaron Paul.
“Grumpier Old Men" takes us back to Wabasha, Minn., which I think of as Grumpyville because most of the residents appear to be grumpy old men, just as most of the residents of Mickeyville are mice. The two leading local grumps are John and Max (Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau), who are neighbors in houses so close that when the blinds are up (as they usually are), they can not only eavesdrop on each other but also even videotape what's happening next door.
One of the peculiarities of their neighborhood in Grumpyville is that beautiful, sex-starved women are constantly moving in. In "Grumpy Old Men" (1993), Ann-Margret became their new neighbor. She apparently was unable to find any eligible bachelors in the entire town (or state), except for Matthau and Lemmon, and ended up, as you will recall, marrying Lemmon.
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Matthau remains a bachelor, morose and peppy, still going fishing every day, but boy, is his luck about to change: Sophia Loren moves into the neighborhood. She's opening an Italian ristorante in the building formerly occupied by Chuck's Bait Shop, and the grumps don't like that, because her customers will scare away the fish. So they play a series of tricks on her, like sticking up detour signs so her customers will get lost and surrounding her parking lot with those yellow streamers that say "Police Line - Do Not Cross." The movie's subplots involve Daryl Hannah as Melanie, John's daughter, and Kevin Pollak as Jacob, Max's son. They got engaged in the previous picture and now the Grumps are planning their wedding and reception, which will mostly take place, it appears, in saloons and bait shops.
Also on hand is 95-year-old Grandpa Gustafson (Burgess Meredith, at 87), who seems to live forever on his strict regime: bacon for breakfast, bacon sandwiches for lunch and drinking his dinner.
Meredith, as a randy old coot, has some of the movie's best lines; he more or less singlehandedly accounts for the "salty language" that wins the movie a PG-13 rating. But the film basically belongs to Matthau and Lemmon, who have worked together so often that they fall easily into a rhythm of insult and affection.
Ann Margret seems to have fallen easily into the married life, which mostly consists of pecking her husband on the cheek before he heads off to fish. And the young people go through a perfunctory spat, more or less for plot purposes.
This is, of course, a big-screen sitcom, and in fact I would love to see this material transplanted to the TV screen, where it belongs.
John and Max are next-door neighbors in the tradition of the Ricardos and the Mertzes, living in each other's pockets and discussing every decision, no matter how intimate. The addition of the visiting sex bombs resembles the way sitcoms use guest stars. And no misunderstanding is so big it can't be cleared up with a joke, or a kiss.
"Grumpier Old Men" is not terrifically compelling, although it is probably impossible not to enjoy Matthau and Lemmon acting together.
It feels like what it really should be, a sitcom pilot. By the end of the film, both of the Grumps have gotten married, so I guess there won't be another sequel, unless something tragic happens to one of the wives, or one of the Grumps starts fooling around. Hey, look - there, across the street! Isn't that Joan Collins moving in?
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An early review of Clint Eastwood's Richard Jewell out of AFI Fest.
A Far Flung Correspondent weighs in on the MCU controversy.
This message came to me from a reader named Peter Svensland. He and a fr...
The top 50 shows of the 2010s.