For this final entry into this year’s “Thanksgiving Films You Missed,” we’re gonna watch "Grumpy Old Men,” a comedy directed by Petrie and starring Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau and Ann-Margret. I have to give you fair warning: this film barely deals with Thanksgiving, and all the scenes set around it are over within the first half hour of the film. However, it does mesh decently well with the themes of Thanksgiving, so I’m comfortable talking about it for this series.
“Grumpy Old Men” has a fairly simple story; it’s about two neighbors, Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, who have known each other since they were children, and have been fighting with each other all that time. This only gets worse when Ann-Margret moves in across the street and both of the men develop romantic feelings for her. Their simple pranks turn into a pranking war, and as Lemmon begins to win out Margret’s affection, Matthau escalates the pranks even further, at one point pushing Lemmon’s ice fishing cabin down the lake with his truck with Lemmon still inside. These pranks are a lot of fun to watch, thanks to the childish glee that Lemmon and Matthau carry them out with.
That childish glee also helps make clear the relationship between Lemmon and Matthau, who despite their fighting never really stopped being friends. Both actors do a great job at conveying how much they care about each other underneath their petty disputes, and their natural chemistry makes their bickering a lot of fun to watch.
Similarly, Lemmon and Margret have a lot of chemistry, and their romance is sweet and believable because of it. Margret’s character is in a lot of ways a manic pixie dream girl, but her older age and performance lend her a depth beyond that trope, making it clear that she is more than just a prize to be won. And this depth is actually best expressed in her interactions with Matthau, whom she shows a level of clear restraint around when compared to Lemmon, since she has no romantic interest in Matthau.
Praise being sung, “Grumpy Old Men” is not without its flaws, most of which come through near the end. There’s a subplot established early on about Lemmon being at risk of losing his house, thanks to some miscalculations he made when dealing with the IRS. After being established in the first few minutes of the film, it disappears until the end where it’s solved by the Deus ex Machina of Matthau’s son pulling some strings as the mayor of their town. Another subplot is also rushed in involving a romance between Lemmon’s daughter and Matthau’s son, with the only thing redeeming it being that their children have solid chemistry. Both of these subplots are less than satisfying, and the IRS subplot feels entirely unnecessary, with its only visible purpose being to provide Matthau with an opportunity to show his care for Lemmon by pranking the IRS agent.
Still, this film is a lot of fun, and it’s undergirded by solid themes of the importance of family, and not throwing away your shot at a better life. That combined with the excellent cast bringing these characters to life, and a lot of very clever dialogue and physical comedy, makes it a great film to view around Thanksgiving, despite not really having much to do with the actual holiday.
