RAH Humor Review: "Grumpy Old Men"

by Ray Koziel

In the movie "Grumpy Old Men", Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau are

back together again as two elderly gentlemen who have known each

other since childhood. Lemmon and Matthau, John Gustafson and Max

Goldman respectively, were good friends as children. Their

relationship changed when Max accused John of taking his girl. Now

as old men, they greet by calling each other "putz" and "moron" and

have fun by playing pranks on each other.

Enter Ariel, played by Ann-Margaret. Ariel is a beautiful, middle

aged woman who just happens to move across the street from John and

Max and immediately grabs their attention. Ariel is always looking

for new and exciting things. As she gets to know her new neighbors,

she helps John and Max rediscover their own inner youth. In the

process though, the old rivalry between Max and John is rekindled.

In the end, Ariel ends up with...woah! You didn't think I was going

to spoil the ending now?

A delightful character in the movie is John's father, played by

Burgess Meredith. He plays the dirty old man character perfectly,

encouraging his son to go after Ariel or he might do it himself.

Also, hang around through the closing credits. They show some of the

bloopers which took place while filming the movie, including some

good one-liners from Meredith.

All in all, "Grumpy Old Men" is an amusing movie that subscribes to

the philosophy that even though growing old is mandatory, growing up

can be optional. {RAH}

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Ray Koziel is a systems programmer/analyst for a consulting firm in

Atlanta. Since Ray has started contributing to RAH, his wife has

become more at ease now that he has a new target for his weird sense

of humor.

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