The Odd Couple (1968)

A hallmark Neil Simon comedy shot with Panavision parameter by film/stage director Gene Saks, his second feature film, paired with Lemmon and Matthau, the second out of their 10 collaborations, after their prize-winning bash in Billy Wilder's THE FORTUNE COOKIE (1966).In the main, it is a one-apartment knockabout, the eponymous couple, Felix Ungar (Lemmon) and Oscar Madison (Matthau), are best friends but equipped with diametrical personalities, Felix is a fastidious neat-freak whereas Oscar a congenital slob. In the opening scenes, we follow Felix wandering off a hotel-dotted Manhattan in the night, he checks in a high-story room and decides to kill himself spurred by the unforeseen cessation of his 12-year marriage, only to find the window is jammed.Starting with a suicidal attempt going awry, that's the spirit a quality comedy should have because it heralds that nothing would go more serious than that! So once Felix thinks better of it, he goes to Oscar's place, literally a divorcé's dump littered with garbage, food and permeated with smoke, sweat and other repugnant odor, where he meets their usual poker friends, after a flurry of misunderstanding, Felix moves into Oscar 8-room apartment, that's when the discord begins to ratchet up. It is a time-honored template of mis-matched buddy romp, Neil Simon's script ensures that their disparity runs to the maximum in opposite scales, even to a fault at the expense of its characters' likability, especially Oscar, emblazoned as a macho ingrate, in comparison with Felix's nagging but at least good-natured punctiliousness. Thankfully, the two stars' chemistry gratifyingly hits the right mark (Lemmon is a compelling sprain-prone dynamo and Matthau is in his element with his trademark rakish sloppiness), and leavens the implausible story with trenchant one-liners (that F.U. monogram for instance), including a hilarious double date with the Pigeon sisters (Evans and Shelley) from Britain, where sensuality humbled by sentimentality. In retrospect, THE ODD COUPLE is an archetype of urban bromance (minus the gay undertone), likens the friendship between two men to a married couple (the only missing link is the consummation) when they are shoved under the same roof, and aggrandizes their tough/vulnerable dichotomy for laughter, a thoroughly pleasurable pot-boiler (if not a sharp-edged satire or an irresistibly droll goofball) borne out of an ingenious idea.

Felix Ungar has just broken up with his wife. Despondent, and at a total loss, he goes to kill himself but is saved by his friend Oscar Madison. With nowhere else to go, Felix is urged by Oscar to move in with him, at least for a while. The only problem is that Felix is neat, tidy, and neurotic, whereas Oscar is slovenly and casual.........Matthau and Lemmon bounce off each other in this wonderful, sniping, sarcastic comedy, with just a little darkness thrown in for good measure.If you could sum Felix and Oscar up, they would be like the little demon and angel that would sit on your shoulders helping you to make a good or bad decision, they are so different, that the only thing I really questioned during the movie was how on earth did they become friends?A film about a neurotic, suicidal man, living with a couldn't care less slob, gradually falling out sounds like a chore to watch, but one would never question this, and I doubt they ever have, because it's written by a genius, and is bright and breezy, despite some of the dark subject matters it deals with.Some of the humour now seems a little tame, because of the world achangin' over the years, but it's not very often, and it's still funny, because if you've seen this, the chances are you like other comedy's from this era.It's funny, and the two leads are fantastic. It wouldn't surprise me if they were best friends in real life.

Felix Ungar (Jack Lemmon) is despondent after his wife left him. He even fails in his suicide attempts. He moves in with his divorced sportswriter friend Oscar Madison (Walter Matthau). Felix is a neat freak and Oscar is a slob. They don't make the best roommate. They are the odd couple. Oscar convinces Felix to go on a double date with the Pigeon sisters. It doesn't go the way Oscar wants which only makes the living situation worst than ever.Jack Lemmon is terrific. His sinus problem is hilarious. The couple has great combative chemistry together. They are some great lines from Neil Simon. The Pigeon sisters send it over the top. In the end, this is the two guys' performances that make it so great.

We all have differences with our friends,but those differences never become truly evident until we try to live with each other.Clashes will happen,sooner or later,and this point was never better illustrated than it is in this classic comedy.Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau always had great chemistry on screen,but never more so than they did here.Those who enjoyed the pair in the Grumpy Old Men films,will get a big kick out of seeing the two go at it in earlier days.It was the constant clashing that made them work as a team,if I dare use the term,because they were such great actors individually,that they probably wouldn't have preferred to be called such.Great comedy.