Good concept, poorly executed.

Blistering performances.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

And how many times has it been made and remade? I'm probably more familiar overall with the TV series version, with Jack Krugman and Tony Randall, which by necessity had to broaden the story and pump up the minor supporting characters. There's even 1-2 FEMALE versions.But the original has more lives than a cat -- several FILM versions, plus countless stage productions since the 1960s.I've never completely got what is supposedly so funny about it, except some universal battle between sloppy folks and neat freaks.Just caught some of it on late-night TV, and one thing -- nit picky, but it drove me nuts (my inner Felix Ungar?) -- is when Felix is cooking dinner for Oscar and two ditsy Pidgeon sisters.The whole thing is predicated on Oscar coming home "late" -- by about 30 minutes -- and Felix's meatloaf is "ruined". In fact, we see it later as a flaming charcoal briquette....why not turn the heat OFF?This is the kind of departure from reality that makes me crazy in films. Meatloaf is about the easiest, most relaxed food on earth. It keeps for HOURS -- even DAYS -- once cooked, you can eat it COLD (it's delicious -- try it some time!). You can cook it and reheat it, and if anything, the flavor is even better having mellowed.There is no way, not even for a nut like Felix, that a meatloaf would have to be served instantly or "go bad". For starters: after cooking, the meat must "rest" for 20 minutes or so.On top of that: when he goes shopping....and the whole premise is they are eating at home to "save money"...Felix goes to the butcher and orders FOUR POUNDS of freshly ground beef. Good lordy! Neil Simon clearly never cooked a meatloaf in his life, nor even bothered to look up a recipe! FOUR POUNDS! that would make enough meatloaf for a dozen people, with leftovers.Meatloaf is a classic Depression-era recipe intended to STRETCH a very small amount of ground meat - with fillers, bread crumbs, chopped veggies, beaten eggs, etc. -- so that a pound of meat or LESS could feed a family. A meatloaf that was "all beef" would be greasy, heavy and terrible.It makes no sense for two "broke bachelor's" trying to save money on a dinner date, to buy FOUR POUNDS of ground beef (even at 1967 prices). Even considering how eccentric Felix is - - how OCD -- the way he's cooking this, and acting like a meatloaf is a fragile soufflé, just makes zero sense.NOTE: as a broke young woman years ago, I used to be able to concoct a full sized -- and delicious! -- meatloaf from one scant HALF POUND of ground beef, bolstered with a lot of add-ins like bread crumbs and beaten egg, and a few secret ingredients. I will happily supply that recipe -- Lily"s Famous Meatloaf" on request to anyone interested!

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.

And now I see what the big deal is about. Finally got a chance to watch this movie, thanks to AMC (which is becoming my new favorite channel) and I love it! The movie is about a recently divorced neat freak moving in with his best friend, who happens to be a complete slob. This is one of those movie which has become so engrained within our popular culture that most people know what it is about without even seeing. This movie went on to spawn a television show (twice) and even a sequel something like 20 or 30 years later. It is just that good, mostly thanks to Walter Matthau. Matthau's larger than life performance is great to watch but equally counterbalanced by Jack Lemmon's neurotic character. The first 5 minutes of the film is a little slow but it picks up once Matthau comes into the picture. This is a gem and had me laughing out loud more than once. Sharp dialog and witty comebacks makes this picture so much fun to watch. I highly recommend it.

The majority of this film was able to capture its comedy very well. The pacing was a bit slow at times, but the comedic banter between the two leads was enough to make this movie a very positive and fulfilling experience. HOWEVER (and this is a very big "however") this ending was very unsatisfying. I knew that it would be, mostly because there could never be an ending that would please everyone with a concept such as this. However, I felt that the overall experience was dampened simply because of its lackluster finale. The movie itself isn't flawed. It instead was the idea that simply wrote itself into a corner. The acting in this film is very good. I enjoyed many of the comedic bits not only between the two leads, but also when their friends were involved in the conversation. I know a movie is very good at getting its point across when it is able to make the audience uncomfortable WILLINGLY. It does this a few times. The overall feeling that one will receive after viewing it, however, is not the awkward unfamiliarity that is portrayed by the characters, but instead a very sour taste from how fast and unsatisfying the ending comes. Instead of a usual resolution, it seems to plummet back to where it started. This could be seen by some as a refreshing change from usual movies that follow similar story arcs. This is not the case for this movie, however, since it leaves you thinking that it could have ended better. Everything leading to the climax is stellar, but the overall ending is an experience that doesn't seem to fit the rest of its charm.