Movie Review: The Odd Couple (1968) · 4:38pm Jul 22nd, 2021
It's been a good long while since I've written up my thoughts on any sort of movie. Sorry about that. But let's try to get back into the swing of things, and do so with a classic that I watched with my father at the very start of the year.
Based on the 1965 play by Neil Simon, The Odd Couple is a story with a very simple setup: Felix Ungar (played in the movie by Jack Lemmon) is a finicky TV newswriter whose life has been upended by his wife kicking him out. One of his poker buddies, sportswriter, fellow divorcee, and professional slob Oscar Madison (Walter Matthau, reprising his role from the play) takes him in and offers him a place to stay.
Comedy ensues, as neat freak Felix proceeds to drive the slovenly Oscar right up the wall.
It's a basic premise, but one that spills a lot of laughter and amusement from the viewer all the same.
A lot of that, I think, has to do with the movie's two leads. Jack Lemmon is an actor I've seen more than a few times in various roles, but he's especially delightful in the role of the uptight, persnickety Felix Ungar. It's a character performance that is hilarious in a lot of ways (my go-to example would have to be a sequence where Oscar tries to cheer Felix up by taking him to a diner - more on that later) but at the same time, one that we can still invest in.
The movie opens, after all, with a lengthy introduction to a despondent Felix, reeling from his divorce, aimlessly wandering the nighttime New York City, contemplating suicide. While there are moments that keep this sequence from becoming too grim (Felix can't open the window he intends to leap from, and wrenches his back trying to force it; then when he tries to drown his sorrows in booze, he hurts himself further trying to knock back a shot of alcohol), there's still a certain poignancy under it all that keeps the viewer feeling for the poor guy.
And as for Walter Matthau as Oscar... it's hard to pick out a specific example of his performance in this movie, because really, so much of his material is great. Our first introduction to Oscar, hosting a poker game in his *spectacularly* slovenly apartment, is chock full of standout comedic and character material. The apartment is spacious but disorganized and cluttered with trash, the air-conditioner is broken, and the refrigerator has - according to dialogue - been dead for two weeks. In between jokes and banter with the other card players, Oscar even offers his guests a choice between brown and green sandwiches ("either very new cheese or very old meat"). The phone rings and Oscar chats with his daughter, then exchanges barbs with his ex-wife when she takes the phone. When he hears from her that Felix apparently is missing, Oscar then calls Felix's wife and gets the news of the divorce from her. He and the other guys all worry about Felix and wonder what, if anything, can be done for him.
It's funny and the dialogue is fast-paced, but this sequence serves as a solid character piece on its own. Oscar is a man who embraces the bachelor lifestyle and can sling comebacks and insults with the best of them, but there's a soft spot under the macho exterior.
Indeed, some of the funniest moments in the movie result from some of his well-intentioned efforts to try and cheer up the gloomy Felix. I mentioned a scene in a diner before: Oscar tries, after previous failures to get a depressive Felix to go out and enjoy himself, to take Felix to a local diner and enjoy the food there. Felix just cannot relax, either because he finds the air-conditioning too chilly in the booth that they're at, talks about various allergies that he has (or *thinks* he has), and then he feels his sinuses beginning to act up and tries to clear them... the noises that Jack Lemmon makes, and some of the expressions on Walter Matthau's face, are just priceless. My father was bellowing with laughter and I was pretty close behind him, truth be told. 
(Though that's to say nothing of the attempt at a double dinner date that Oscar sets up between himself, Felix, and two attractive British sisters. That was hysterical and really has to be seen to be truly appreciated.)
Of course, the bulk of the movie's humor comes less from Oscar trying to accommodate Felix, and really more with the ever-growing friction that ultimately develops, and eventually explodes, between two such radically different men living together. Oscar is - perhaps a little understandably - already close to his wits' end after just a week of Felix disinfecting everything in the apartment (all the way down to the poker cards), but the real fun is seeing the way that the tension between the duo really comes to a head... and finally, by the time the movie is over, the way that Felix and Oscar have rubbed off on each other, for the better.
The Odd Couple is a movie that entertains, decades after its original release. Besides the energy of its two leads, this is a movie that delivers some fine performances from the rest of its ensemble as well. The other players at Oscar's poker game are all greatly memorable in their own quirky way; they really feel like a group of people who've been gathering for weeks to play their game. The English sisters I mentioned earlier are a comic delight as well. (It's also interesting to look into this movie, either as a piece about life in New York City in the era that the movie takes place in, or just as a "New York story" by itself. This really is the sort of story where, only in a city such as New York, could you have people as different as Felix and Oscar winding up knowing each other and living together.)
Definitely worth a watch if you're looking for a good way to pass an afternoon. Would probably rank this one as a comfortable seven and a half, maybe eight out of ten.
Props to Neil Simon for making a story that still brings in laughs, over half a century later. 
Hehe. Sounds like a fun movie. I haven't seen it, but I've heard it's good. The only thing related to this title is one episode of a short-lived variant of The Odd Couple from 2015. .. oddly the only episode of that series that made me laugh.
5559119
I'd recommend it.
It was pretty fun, I agree.
If I remember right, the premise of this story has been adapted to TV a fair few times. My dad knew of a TV show version of this from the 70s, that was actually his major experience with Felix and Oscar. Though from what I gather (quick wiki search) The Odd Couple's been adapted to TV a few times since... once in the 80s (very short-lived) and yes, one in 2015. How about that?
5559124
Ahhh okay.
5559130
Yeah, indeed.
Anyway, just for the hell of it, here's a scene from the '68 movie. An argument of sorts between Oscar and Felix, after the latter's constant cleaning drives away the former's poker buddies. XD