Grumpier Old Men

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	Jack Lemmon Walter Matthau Ann-Margret Sophia Loren Kevin Pollak Daryl Hannah
Cinematography	Tak Fujimoto
Edited by	Billy Weber Seth Flaum Maryann Brandon
Music by	Alan Silvestri
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date	December 22, 1995 (1995-12-22)
Running time	101 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$25 million
Box office	$71.5 million

Grumpier Old Men is a 1995 American romantic comedy film and a sequel to the 1993 film Grumpy Old Men, directed by Howard Deutch, and a screenplay written by Mark Steven Johnson. The original score is composed by Alan Silvestri. Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Ann-Margret, Burgess Meredith, Daryl Hannah, Kevin Pollak and Katie Sagona reprise their roles from the previous film. It is Meredith's final film before his death in 1997.

Plot

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 large catfish 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 their practical 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 a Sears 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.

Cast

• Jack Lemmon as John Gustafson Jr., the neighbor of Max
• Walter Matthau as Max Goldman, the neighbor of John
• Ann-Margret as Ariel Truax Gustafson, John's second wife
• Sophia Loren as Maria Sophia Coletta Ragetti Goldman, Max's second wife
• Daryl Hannah as Melanie Gustafson, John's daughter and Jacob's wife
• Kevin Pollak as Jacob Goldman, Max's son and Melanie's husband
• Burgess Meredith as John Gustafson Sr., John's father
• Max Wright as the County Health Inspector
• Ann Morgan Guilbert as Francesca "Mama" Ragetti, Maria's mother
• Katie Sagona as Allie Gustafson, Melanie's daughter

Production

Meredith's Alzheimer's disease caused him to be coached throughout his performance in the film.

Reception

Box office

Grumpier Old Men grossed $71 million at the North American box office, against a production budget of $25 million. The film was released in the United Kingdom on March 1, 1996.

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 21%, based on 19 reviews, with a rating average of 4.2/10. On Metacritic, 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. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on a scale of A+ to F.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film a score of 2 stars out of 4.

Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times described the film as contrived and getting by on the star power of the cast.

Stephen Holden of The 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."

Unmade sequel

A sequel titled Grumpiest Old Men was announced as in development, with Howard Deutch and Mark Steven Johnson slated to direct and write the film, respectively. However, the film was ultimately never made.

See also

• Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau

External links

• Grumpier Old Men at IMDb
• Grumpier Old Men at AllMovie
• Grumpier Old Men at Rotten Tomatoes