The Odd Couple

The Odd Couple (1968)
Paramount Pictures
Directed by Gene Saks
Starring Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau

The Odd Couple is the story of two friends, Felix Ungar (Jack Lemmon) and Oscar Madison (Walter Matthau), who are forced to room together when Felix’s wife decides to leave him. Once Felix learns of this, he tries several times to kill himself, but ends up pulling his back trying to jump out a window. Fearing for his safety, Felix’s friends decide that he should stay with Oscar to make sure he doesn’t try anything again.

Once Felix grows into his situation, he begins to take a wife persona towards Oscar. He cooks and cleans his apartment, non-stop, until Oscar has had enough. There is much tension between the two as Oscar does not appreciate Felix’s actions. All Felix does is ruin Oscar’s social life, including a poker game and a dinner date for the two with young foreign ladies.

This film is based upon the play written by Neil Simon. Many people may find fault with the film for not being “like the original” but The Odd Couple does a good job of telling the story of these two friends. The music will stick with you for a while, and is very catchy. Neal Hefti’s composition of jazz instruments really set the tone for this film right from the opening scene.

Lemmon and Matthau are wonderful together on screen as the “odd couple.” There is a great chemistry between the two that make this comedy tremendously funny. It is great to see how Felix’s failed marriage has turned him into a wife. Throughout the film he constantly wears an apron and bickers with Oscar as if they had been married for years. The Odd Couple is a great comedy that shows how far friends will go for others, and how much those friends can take care of each other.

Rating: B+


February 23, 2010