| Grumpier Old Men | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Howard Deutch |
| Written by | Mark Steven Johnson |
| Produced by | John Davis George Folsey Jr. Richard C. Berman |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Tak Fujimoto |
| Edited by | Billy Weber Seth Flaum Maryann Brandon |
| Music by | Alan Silvestri |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 101 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $25 million |
| Box office | $71.5 million[1] |
Grumpier Old Men is a 1995 Americanromantic comedy film and asequel to the 1993 filmGrumpy Old Men, directed byHoward Deutch, and a screenplay written byMark Steven Johnson. The original score is composed byAlan Silvestri.Jack Lemmon,Walter Matthau,Ann-Margret,Burgess Meredith,Daryl Hannah,Kevin Pollak andKatie Sagona reprise their roles from the previous film. It is Meredith's final film before his death in 1997.
The feud between Max and John has cooled and they have become good friends. Their children, Melanie and Jacob, have become engaged. Meanwhile, John is enjoying his marriage to new wife Ariel. John and Max still call each other "moron" and "putz", respectively, but with friendly intentions.
The spring and summer fishing season is in full swing with the annual quest to catch "Catfish Hunter", an unusually largecatfish that seems to enjoy eluding anyone who tries to catch it. However, the local bait shop closed after Chuck, the previous owner, died. Maria Ragetti has purchased the property with the intent of converting it into a fancy Italian restaurant.
Irritated that it will no longer be a bait shop, Max and John join forces to sabotage the restaurant. They are successful at first with theirpractical jokes. However, when Ariel learns what is going on, she tells John to apologize to Maria, and he does after Ariel kicks him out of the house. Max and Maria begin dating after discovering a shared passion for fishing, while her mother Francesca dates John's father J.W.
To further complicate things, Jacob and Melanie call off their engagement due to stress from their parents' involvement. On hearing the news, John and Max reignite their feud and return to their childish pranks, such as John cutting a hole in Max's fishing net and detaching the anchor to his boat. Max retaliates by disconnecting John's motor from his boat and broadcasting him nude (while Ariel was making a clay sculpture of him) at aSears department store. Ariel is stressed because of it and leaves John until things settle down. At the restaurant, Francesca is worried about the amount of time that Maria spends with Max. She reminds her daughter of her five failed marriages, and she worries that Max will make it six.
After being convinced to think about it, Maria reluctantly stops seeing Max. Distraught over losing Ariel, John goes to the lake seeking his father's advice, but he finds that J.W. has died in his favorite spot, with a fishing pole in one hand and a can of beer in the other. Following the funeral and the spreading of J.W.'s ashes in the lake, John and Max call off their feud again.
After realizing that their inability to properly plan a wedding is what drove their kids to call it off, they decide to set it right. They help Jacob and Melanie reconcile, explaining their drama. John decides to reconcile with Ariel and convinces Max to talk with Maria. He does and convinces her to take a chance on him, while convincing her mother that he is not going to be like her previous sons-in-law. John and Max manage to catch "Catfish Hunter", but they reluctantly decide to release it so that it can symbolically remain with J.W. in the lake.
After they let the fish go, they realize that they are late for the wedding happening in town, and they rush to the church as quickly as they can. The wedding is revealed to be for Max and Maria, who have reconciled (Jacob and Melanie have eloped). On the way to their honeymoon, they discover Max's one-eyed bulldog Lucky in the car with them, put there earlier by John as a prank. Ragetti's is also reformed so that it will be both a restaurant and a bait shop.
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In March 1995, it was announcedJack Lemmon,Walter Matthau, and Ann-Margret would be reuniting for a sequel toGrumpy Old Men titledGrumpier Old Men with production slated to begin in July of that year.[2] Later that month, it was announcedSophia Loren had joined the cast.[3]
Meredith'sAlzheimer's disease caused him to be coached throughout his performance in the film.[citation needed]
Grumpier Old Men grossed $71 million at the North American box office, against a production budget of $25 million.[4][5] The film was released in theUnited Kingdom on March 1, 1996.[6]
On review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 20% based on 20 reviews, with a rating average of 4.3/10.[7] OnMetacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating to reviews, the film has a score of 46 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[8] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on a scale of A+ to F.[9]
Roger Ebert of theChicago Sun-Times gave the film a score of 2 stars out of 4.[10]
Kevin Thomas of theLos Angeles Times described the film as contrived and getting by on the star power of the cast.[11]
Stephen Holden ofThe New York Times wrote, "Grumpier Old Men, which was directed by Howard Deutch from a screenplay by Mark Steven Johnson, who also wrote the first film, doesn't even try to make sense. And for all the vaunted grumpiness, nobody stays mad for long."[12]
WhenJohn Davis was questioned about the possibility of a third film prior to the release ofGrumpier Old Men, Davis jokingly responded "Sure, let them all get divorced".[13] In March 1997, a sequel titledGrumpiest Old Men was announced to be in development, withHoward Deutch andMark Steven Johnson slated to direct and write the film, respectively.[14] The sequel would've seenJack Lemmon,Walter Matthau, Ann-Margret, andSophia Loren reprising their roles with their characters embarking on a trip toItaly.[15]Burgess Meredith was also set to reprise his deceased character in a dream sequence for Lemmon and Matthau's characters.[16] Prior to his death,Marcello Mastroianni was slated to join the film playing the first husband of Sophia Loren's character.[17]
After the failure ofMy Fellow Americans,Warner Bros. became more hesitant on formally green lighting the sequel. When word came down thatParamount Pictures had a completed script forThe Odd Couple II forJack Lemmon andWalter Matthau,John Davis attempted to use the forthcoming project as a means of convincing Warner Bros. to start production. Warner Bros. would only agree if Deutch agreed to defer part of his directing fee, which resulted in Deutch, Lemmon, and Matthau instead choosing to work onThe Odd Couple II.[18] In August 1997, Deutch confirmedGrumpiest Old Men had been cancelled.[19]