The Odd Couple




Took me three hours to figure out F.U. was Felix Ungar!

Lemmon and Mathau team together in this film adaptation of Neil Simon's popular play of the same name.

Felix Ungar (Jack Lemmon) is an overly uptight individual, who also happens to be a compulsive neat freak. When he and his wife separate, his best friend Oscar Madison (Walter Matthau) forcefully offers Felix to stay with him at his apartment. This is of course an idea doomed to failure from the very beginning, as Oscar is just about the complete opposite of Felix: easy going and disorderly, to say the least regarding the latter.

It's definitely a while before things really start rolling, but otherwise the adaptation from stage to screen is fairly seamless. The scenes are long, dialogue driven affairs that mainly take place in the apartment Oscar and Felix share. Still, director Gene Saks keeps things interesting and the scenes are never claustrophobic. It's not exactly an uproarious comedy, but the script is often quite hilarious, especially in regards to Oscar's sarcastic wisecracks and Felix's emasculated behavior patterns. At one point, the boys go on a double date with two ditsy British gals from a different floor: mirthful awkwardness follows. The Odd Couple also revolves around the issue of divorce, or rather how these two friends deal with the after effects. For them it's not so great being single again, as they slowly drive each other crazy enough that eventual homicide seems inevitable. Really, both men are the way they are because it's their way of coping with life. The movie's theme music is also odd and unforgettable.

But what keeps the whole thing from tumbling into any one of the pitfalls that could have haunted this movie is the buddy chemistry between Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, which would grow to be life long. This was only the second time they had teamed together, but it would be hard to guess that just from watching them here. Lemmon is perfect as the uptight Felix and Matthau is the always-lovable slob he would become famous for playing (he was actually the one who played Oscar in the Broadway play). Ironically, they were originally going to play their two roles the other way around, which is pretty hard to imagine. The rest of the cast is dependable, though Monica Evans and Carole Shelley are nothing short of perfect as the twittering Pigeon sisters.

The Odd Couple takes such an unassuming look at the aftermath of divorce that it seems almost accidental. In any case, how funny that look happens to be is certainly no accident.



-The Gnome