Grumpier Old Men

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Grumpier Old Men
Directed by Howard Deutch
Produced by Richard C. Berman
John Davis
Written by Mark Steven Johnson
Starring Walter Matthau
Jack Lemmon
Ann-Margret
Sophia Loren
Burgess Meredith
Music by Alan Silvestri
Cinematography Tak Fujimoto
Editing by Maryann Brandon
Seth Flaum
Billy Weber
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date(s) December 22, 1995
Running time 101 min
Country Flag of the United States United States
Language English
Budget $25,000,000 (est.)
Preceded by Grumpy Old Men
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Grumpier Old Men is a 1995 Warner Bros. romantic comedy film starring Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon, Ann-Margret, and Sophia Loren, with Burgess Meredith, Daryl Hannah, Kevin Pollak, Katie Sagona, Ann Morgan Guilbert.

This sequel to Grumpy Old Men (1993) was directed by Howard Deutch, the screenplay was written by Mark Steven Johnson. The original music score was composed by Alan Silvestri.

The film was Burgess Meredith's final motion picture appearance. He was already suffering from Alzheimer's and had to be gently coached through his role in the film.

[edit] Plot summary

The film is a sequel to Grumpy Old Men and is set about six months later. That is, most of the film takes place in the summer, opposite of the time frame of Grumpy Old Men.

The lifelong dispute between Max and John has cooled as their children, Melanie and Jacob, are getting married to each other. The men learn that their favorite hangout, the old bait shop, is being taken over by Spaghetti Ragetti's cousin Maria Ragetti and her Mother, who plan turn it into an upmarket "ristorante". The bait shop had been previously owned by their mutual friend Chuck (Ossie Davis), who died in the first film. The conversion of the bait shop is also coming at an inopportune time for the fishermen of Wabasha, as a legendary catfish dubbed "Catfish Hunter" by residents is returning to the local pond having not been caught by anyone for years.

Max and John comically attempt to sabotage the venture, but Maria opens up her restaurant, with an initial lack of success. She tries to "convince" Max to give up trying to close her down, but her efforts don't initially pan out well. Ariel intervenes after Maria's attempt to seduce Max in a red dress at Slippery's Tavern fails. She orders John to apologize to Maria, and when he refuses, Ariel kicks him out of the house.

With nowhere else to go, John bunks with Max, but barely lasts an hour after being unable to live with Max's sloppy living conditions. He tells Max that he intends to apologize to Maria.

John heads to the restaurant and apologizes for his earlier behavior over a shot of grappa, which causes him to pass out in a booth. Thinking that John spent the night with Max, Ariel asks about his whereabouts, but becomes convinced that John is having a fling with Maria, after she learns that John didn't stay with Max and also did not come home.

Through all this is a mini-subplot involving Maria's mother Francesca (Ann Morgan Guilbert) and J.W., John's 95-year-old and still sexually-active father. J.W. approaches Francesca while both are shopping with their children in a supermarket. Having his advances initially refused, J.W. is the lone diner on the restaurant's opening day. J.W. finally charms Francesca after he cleverly rebuts her insults, and the pair enjoy an evening together on the lake beneath the stars.

Max and Ariel ride together to the restaurant to look for John and confront Maria. Seeing John emerge from a shower in the back in a woman's robe and with a lipstick mark on his cheek (Maria had kissed him goodnight after he passed out earlier), Ariel refuses to allow him to explain.

"Nobody had sex with anybody here last night!" John shouts, but his comment is rebuffed by his father, who emerges with Francesca, clad in a housecoat.

"Speak for yourselves!" J.W. exclaims before kissing Francesca on the cheek and leaving the restaurant with the air of a contented man. Francesca sets Ariel and Max straight by telling them that Maria wants nothing to do with John. When Ariel asks how she knows, Francesca says it's because it's Max Maria really wants, finally putting John in the clear.

Confused, Max asks what she wants with him. She responds with "I'd rather kiss a dead moose's butt!" (a line spoken by Max to Jacob about making up with John in the first movie)

Max goes to the lake one day to find Maria fishing from a boat. He tries again to make a date, and after a little hard to get, she finally accepts. The date goes well and when it appears to be blossoming, her mother intervenes.

Francesca reminds her daughter of her five failed marriages (a fact that has been kept hidden from everyone) and dissuades Maria from continuing her relationship with Max. A brokenhearted Maria, accepting her mother's remark that she is "cursed in love", then fails to shop for a date that she and Max arranged earlier and refuses to answer her phone.

During Oktoberfest, Jacob and Melanie's relationship becomes strained when the wedding planning from their fathers has resulted in numerous disasters, as Max and John are entirely clueless to what their children want. Following an argument at the festival, Melanie calls their wedding off. An argument over who is at fault causes Max and John to reignite their feud.

Not knowing where to turn after all of this unravels, John visits his father at his usual spot on an old couch at the lake. John sits next to his father, ready to vent about his problems when he realizes that his father has died.

A large turnout comes for J.W.'s funeral, as John pours his father's ashes into the lake, with Max at his side and Francesca tossing a single rose after the ashes. Max walks by Maria, who murmurs an apology after him, but Max refuses to acknowledge her. After the funeral, Max and John make up and plot to patch things up between Melanie and Jacob. They make up after Jacob enters the house in John's full body bear costume and Melanie is forced to listen to him apologize.

The film ends with Max and John on the way to church, presumed to be for their children's wedding. However, the two are sidetracked by a fellow fisherman who's seen Catfish Hunter at the lake. Max decides that he and John should go after the fish before the wedding, leaving everyone at the church waiting for them.

The two men do spot the fish, but are having trouble reeling it in and holding it (thanks in part to John's destruction of Max's fishing supplies and boat motor during their reignited feud). Eventually they're able to bring it into the boat, but John convinces Max to let him go, recounting of how his father tried to catch him for 20 years and never did ("He belongs in the lake with Pop"). They throw Catfish Hunter back and head for the church, where the ceremony is still being held up to the chagrin of everyone

As Melanie walks down the aisle, it's clear that she is not the bride, telling Jacob at the altar as he reveals his wedding band "see what we missed?". Maria makes her entrance as does Max.

The two wed and drive off in a limousine to "Ragetti's Fine Dining...and bait!", revealing that the restaurant's building will also be housing a bait shop.

[edit] Cast

[edit] External links