The Odd Couple II is a 1998 American buddycomedy film and the sequel to the 1968 film The Odd Couple. It is the final film written and produced by Neil Simon, starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. Released nearly three decades later, it is unusual among sequels for having one of the longest gaps between the release of a subsequent film. The Odd Couple II premiered on April 10, 1998, and was a critical and commercial failure, grossing less than half of its predecessor at the box office.[2]
Plot
It has been 17 years since Oscar Madison and Felix Ungar have seen each other. Oscar is still hosting a regular poker game and is still an untidy slob, now living in Sarasota, Florida, and he is still a sportswriter. One day, his son Bruce calls with an invitation to California for his wedding the following Sunday. A second shock for Oscar—the woman who his son is marrying is Felix's daughter Hannah.
On the flight from New York to Los Angeles, it becomes clear that Felix has not changed his ways either—he is still a fussy, allergy-suffering compulsive neat nuisance. Oscar and Felix are reunited at the airport and are very happy to be together again after 17 years. They share a rental car to fictional San Malina for the wedding. However, the trip begins with Oscar forgetting his luggage at the Budget car rental, including wedding gifts and wardrobe. On the trip, Felix falls asleep, and Oscar takes a wrong turn onto the freeway, then loses the directions to San Malina when his cigar ashes burn them.
He and Felix become lost and cannot remember the name of the town where they are headed. They get to a rural area and argue about Felix's lost suitcase when the rental car rolls off a cliff and catches fire. They are arrested several times by the same local police in fictional Santa Menendez, first for catching a ride in a truck carrying illegal Mexican immigrants. They are released after the truck driver confesses, and learn the name of the town where the wedding will take place.
At a bar in town, they meet two extroverted women, Thelma and Holly, and buy them drinks. Accepting an offer of a ride from a stranger older than them, Felix and Oscar end up inside a $150,000 vintage Rolls-RoyceSilver Wraith. The stranger drives extremely slow, but he stops altogether when he unexpectedly dies. Felix and Oscar are arrested a second time by the same Santa Menendez police, but again are released when it is discovered that the elderly man died of natural causes. Frustrated by being arrested twice in Santa Menendez, the police chief advises Oscar and Felix to take a bus to San Malina.
On the bus, they meet Thelma and Holly, who are running away from their redneck husbands. However, the bus is stopped by the husbands, who take their wives, with Oscar and Felix at gunpoint. In their car, the husbands tell them that they are going to "cook a couple of fine geezers" in the woods for flirting with their wives.
The bus driver informs the police of the husbands' use of a gun on a public vehicle, and their car is stopped at a police roadblock. All of them are again taken into custody by the Santa Menendez police.
After meeting with the police chief for the third time, the boys are freed and driven directly to the local airport by the police, who are pleased to be rid of them. A woman boarding the airplane is also en route to the wedding and recognizes them. She is Felice Adams, the sister of Oscar's ex-wife Blanche.
Felix's eyes light up when he learns that she is a widow, and they are mutually attracted. They arrive at the wedding to find that Bruce is having second thoughts about the marriage due to his parents' bad history. Felix and Oscar argue with their ex-wives, after which Oscar persuades his son to go through with it. Felix's suitcase is returned, and the wedding transpires without a hitch.
The next day, Felix and Felice leave together on a flight to her home in San Francisco, and part ways with Oscar, who returns to Florida. Oscar is telling his poker friends about the wedding when the doorbell rings. It is Felix, who says things with Felice did not work out. Felix wonders if he could move in with Oscar until he finds his own place. Oscar refuses, but eventually relents, insisting that their days of being roommates will be over if Oscar catches Felix matching any of his socks, to which Felix very happily agrees. Before long, Felix cleans the apartment, and Oscar begins to again regret taking him in.
Howard W. Koch, the producer of the original 1968 film by writer Neil Simon, had frequently discussed his desire for a sequel. Koch was unsuccessful in convincing Paramount Pictures to approve a sequel, despite the original film's success and the return of Simon as the writer. Simon had 37 pages written for The Odd Couple 2, which he said were left "sitting in the drawer" for ten years.[3]John Goldwyn and Paramount studio chairman Sherry Lansing began serious consideration of a sequel in July 1996, before announcing it on March 30, 1997,[4] without the involvement of Koch; instead, Paramount chose Robert W. Cort and Dave Madden as producers for the project.[3] Silverman, Baranski and Hughes were cast in May 1997.[5][6]
The film marked the tenth and final collaboration between Lemmon and Matthau.[4] Jean Smart described the characters of Thelma and Holly as "a bad '90s version of the Pigeon sisters", characters who appeared in the original film.[7]
Reception
The Odd Couple II was a critical and commercial failure. Despite the fact that Lemmon and Matthau had success with similar roles in their Grumpy Old Men films in the mid-1990s, this project was not as successful as expected.[9] The film grossed $18 million at the North American domestic box office, and although Lemmon and Matthau's previous film Out to Sea also disappointed, it was better received by critics and had a slightly higher box-office gross.[10]
It holds a total of 27% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[11] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "B+" on scale of A+ to F.[12]
Stephen Holden of The New York Times called it "a dispiriting, flavorless travesty, the equivalent of moldy tofu mystery meat".[13]
At the 1998 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, the film was nominated for Worst Sequel and Most Painfully Unfunny Comedy.
