An Exercise In Nonsense

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Blistering performances.

Jack Lemmon does some very funny over-playing as a suicidal man in a southern California hotel who makes friends with his neighbor, a grouchy hit-man on the verge of retiring after one last job, but the picture is botch. American remake of the 1973 French-Italian black comedy "L'emmerdeu" ("A Pain in the Ass") re-teams Lemmon and co-star Walter Matthau with director and co-writer Billy Wilder, but results aren't even sporadically funny. Wilder's witless script (with writing pal I.A.L. Diamond) is a wet noodle: there's no snap, just caustic flapping and nagging. This is also one of worst-looking major studio films of the 1980s, with lemon meringue color and cheap process shots. Matthau, constantly opening-closing-and-reopening his suitcase, looks terrible throughout; with his hair dyed too black and the color of his skin a sickly white pallor, he resembles a waxwork figure. Lemmon sticks close to his proved formula--his nervous/neurotic Lemmon-isms--and survives the morass, but everyone else in the cast has been prodded to play these gross jokes to the hilt. It's a pushy, ugly piece of work. *1/2 from ****

This is a classic example of a film being produced simply because of the names involved. The plot is a weak attempt to make a Billy Wilder comedy in the eighties. I can almost hear how this was pitched to studio executives; "It's the Odd Couple meets Porky's"! Look, anytime the script invokes the clichéd name of Kowalski (always a cop, soldier, or construction worker)for a subplot character, you know the film is in trouble. This thing proves that without an original and inspired story, it's just a waste of truly great talent. This is the only film by Lemmon, Matthau, and/or Wilder that I cannot recommend. The only reason is gets more than a vote of "1" is that I reserve that number for the truly complete pieces of garbage, such as "Battlefield: Earth", "Ishtar", and "Can't Stop The Music".

This was Billy Wilder's last film. The movie stars Walter Matthau as a hit man who quickly gets p***ed with Jack Lemmon who keeps bothering him with his problems. Matthau just wants to finish his job and Lemmon won't let him. There is hardly anything funny in here expect for a couple of small laughs. You should watch The Fortune Cookie instead.

This film features another brilliant performance from the veteran comedy duo, Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau (sadly, both recently deceased). I shouldn't have to say anymore to sell this film to you. If you're a fan of Lemmon and Matthau then you'll love this film, if you're not, then you're philistines and who cares what you think anyway?This lovely example of early 1980s comedy features Matthau as an assassin who's been hired by the Mob to "off this stoolie". During the execution (no pun intended) of this task he bumps into Victor Clooney (Lemmon), a weird little man, whose wife has left him and joined a sex-colony. I can honestly say that I feel no need whatsoever to elaborate any further. As I said, Lemmon and Matthau's names in the credits was enough to make me watch this film and I'm so glad I did. It's hilarious! If you don't find this film funny then check your pulse because you're probably dead.8.5/10