The damper is put on a weekly blokes’ poker game when one of
the guys, Felix, doesn’t show up. The rest of the boys soon discover that his
marriage has ended and things take a turn for the worst when he shows up on the
host, Oscar’s doorstep. Fearful that he’s depressed and suicidal, Oscar
proposes to take Felix in as a roommate. Whilst at first seen as the decent
thing to do, the idea soon becomes regrettable as grungy, lazy, divorced, and
slobbish Oscar’s world is turned completely around by Felix’s incessant
cleaning, cooking, and organising. As each one realises the plight of the
other’s wife having to live with them, Oscar and Felix’s friendship gets
strained, so much so that they might end up killing each other.
This movie’s
theme music is going to be stuck in my head all night! Even as I type this, I’m
going “ba da ba da ba daaaa, da ba daaaa, da ba da”. But who cares? This movie
is a classic little comedy that proves that plays adapted into films work as a
thing. A real thing. The casting was excellent, the screenplay was witty and
wonderful, and the composition of each shot was done with a finesse that was
simple and understated enough to be memorable. This is a great little flick!
The damper is put on a weekly blokes’ poker game when one of the guys, Felix,
doesn’t show up. The rest of the boys soon discover that his marriage has ended
and things take a turn for the worst when he shows up on the host, Oscar’s
doorstep. Fearful that he’s depressed and suicidal, Oscar proposes to take
Felix in as a roommate. Whilst at first seen as the decent thing to do, the
idea soon becomes regrettable as grungy, lazy, divorced, and slobbish Oscar’s
world is turned completely around by Felix’s incessant cleaning, cooking, and
organising. As each one realises the plight of the other’s wife having to live
with them, Oscar and Felix’s friendship gets strained, so much so that they
might end up killing each other.
Neil Simon wrote the screenplay, adapting it
from his original play of the same name. It just goes to show that the mediums
aren’t really all that different and that sometimes the original masterminds
behind the creation of the story and the characters we fall in love with are
the best people to write anything pertaining to them. Heavy on the witty
dialogue and all about the impeccable comedic timing of the two leads, the
screenplay is indulgent in every type of comedy: slapstick, irony, wit and
timing, conflicting characters, and schadenfreude. The film is indeed almost
shot like a play, with lengthy scenes, minimal sets and shooting locations, and
the actors encouraged to use voice and gesture, everything at their disposal.
Both Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau deliver grand performances as the two
conflicting personalities. Lemmon speaks with a wonderful, nervous, fast pace
and is very neurotic, obsessive, compulsive, and sensitive whilst Matthau
revels in his slovenly ways; he slurs his speech, his voice rises in sleepy
crescendos, and his stoop and heavy footsteps are just the mould-covered cherry
on top of a completely wretched and miserable character. The two of them are
just delightful together, bouncing off each other wonderfully and the chemistry
is something to behold.
Starring John Fiedler, Herb Edelman, David Sheiner,
Larry Haines, Monica Evans, and Carole Shelley, The Odd Couple is a gorgeous little movie that sort of ends on a
really interesting note, keep an eye out for it. Filled with drama, wit, and
every kind of comedy, its subtleties and its confrontations are all memorable and
it was a very good film to spend a Thursday night in with!
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