Grumpier Old Men

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Grumpier Old Men
Directed by	Howard Deutch
Produced by	Richard C. Berman John Davis
Written by	Mark Steven Johnson
Starring	Walter Matthau Jack Lemmon
Cinematography	Tak Fujimoto
Editing by	Maryann Brandon Seth Flaum Billy Weber
Release date(s)	1995
Running time	101 min
Country	USA
Language	English
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 film was Burgess Meredith's final motion picture appearance.

[edit] Plot summary

The story is about the same two men as in the earlier movie, Max Goldman (played by Matthau) and John Gustafson (played by Lemmon), and all the same characters as the first movie with two added new ones, Maria and Mama Ragetti. The setting is during the fall season, six months after the first movie.

John is now married to Ariel (played by Ann-Margret), and the lifelong dispute between Max and John seems to have finally cooled, but occasionally the two argue over fishing and their attempts to catch "Catfish Hunter," an enormous catfish in a nearby lake that is prized by all the fisherman. Also, their children are getting married to each other, Melanie and Jacob, and they are planning everything for them; including having the reception at Slippery Tavern, which is credited to Max's doing; and having a wedding cake with a bride holding a fishing pole that has the groom on the hook at the other end of the line, and the cake to read: Melanie has landed herself another husband, (courtesy of John's doing). After the death of Chuck in the first movie, the old bait shop has been purchased by Maria Ragetti (played by Loren), who arrives in town with her mother, Mama Ragetti (played by Guilbert).

Maria plans to turn the bait shop into a "ristorante," and is opposed by comic sabotage efforts by both Max and John. They resent the change because it means that the restaurant will bring in customers, and all the noise will scare away the fish in the nearby lake. Also, they won't be able to leave their boats by the dock overnight anymore because it will be private property, and there will be no more bait, which, the restaurant sits on top of the best baits in Wabasha. Plus their loyalty to Chuck makes it hard for them to let go. They try to prevent Maria's restaurant from opening by letting loose a rodent during inspection day, changing the road signs leading to the restaurant, mixing the paints, taping up the restaurant with police crime scene tape, and putting up false signs on the restaurant door. However, despite their efforts, Maria still opens up her restaurant, but on opening night, she has no customers except for Grandpa Gustafson, who's only there because he has a crush on Mama Ragetti. Maria decides to go to town to seduce Max into giving up on trying to close down her restaurant. She wears a revealing red dress and goes to Slippery Tavern, where John and Max are, but although Max is very much attracted to her, he's dead-set on keeping the bait shop as it was. Maria, frustrated, leaves the tavern, and meets Ariel for the first time on her way to her car. Ariel befriends Maria, and tells her not to take what John and Max are doing personal, that they just have a hard time of letting go.

Ariel goes into the tavern, and tells John that he has to go to Maria and apologize. This embarrasses John in front of Max, who tells him that Ariel has him on a choke collar, and John informs Max that he's the king of his own castle and he won't apologize. The next scene is John in his pajamas with a pillow, standing in front of Max's door, because Ariel kicked him out. After being with Max for a few minutes, John can't stand it anymore. Max's house is unkept, he has three TVs on and doesn't watch any of them, and all of his food have gone bad. John realizes that he's being a fool, because next door he has a beautiful wife, his own bed, "and a refrigerator full of food that hasn't passed their expiration date yet". John tells Max that he's going to the restaurant to apologize to Maria. At the restaurant, John has too much wine, and passes out. In the morning, when Max greets Ariel, they both realize that John wasn't with either one of them, and they assume that John and Maria slept with each other. This is believed even more strongly when they've arrived at the restaurant to find John coming out of the shower in Maria's bath robe. However, Mama Ragetti, after having spent the night with Grandpa Gustafson, puts Max and Ariel's minds at ease when she informs them that Maria doesn't want anything with John, that she wants Max. Later on, Max finds out that Maria is a fisherman too, and a pretty good one, and at the lake when they are both in their boats, he asks her on a date in a round-about way. But Mama Ragetti reminds Maria that she is "cursed" in love, because she's been married five different times, and all of her marriages ended up in divorces. Despite Mama Ragetti's warnings, Maria goes on a date with Max anyway, and they have fun and fall for each other.

Everything seems to be going well, except for Melanie and Jacob, who are starting to have problems with their wedding, mostly because their fathers are the ones who are controlling everything it seems. At the Oktoberfest, they are getting frustrated with the wedding plans, and Melanie thinks that they need more time before they marry, which upsets Jacob, because the wedding is only a week away. They argue, and walk away from each other, and Max and John blames the other's child for what happened. This leads them to call off the truce and start their feud with each other again. They do things to each other like cutting off the bottom of the fishing net, cutting off the rope to the anchor, removing the motor from the boat, John has his cat scratch up Max's car seats, and Max gets a new bulldog which ruins Ariel's kitchen, art work, and garden. This last act causes Ariel to get fed up with Max and John's bickering, and she leaves John to go live with Melanie in her old house. Meanwhile, after Mama Ragetti's constant misgivings about Maria's "curse", Maria gives in, and she leaves Max alone without any explanation to him. This causes Max to be even more bitter.

John goes to the old couch by the lake, where Grandpa Gustafson also goes to fish. He goes there to vent to his father about Melanie and Jacob, him and Max, and him and Ariel, but when he sits down next to his father, he realizes that his father isn't moving. He passed away while he was fishing, which was how he always wanted to go, and how John always remembered him. He is cremated, and his ashes are scattered into the lake, and at the funeral everything seems to have settled itself between Ariel and John, and John and Max. On Halloween, Jacob and Melanie make up, and it's assumed that the wedding is still on hold. Max decides to go to the restaurant for an explanation from Maria, and Maria tells him about her "curse". Max tells her that he doesn't believe in that, and that anyone who tells her differently doesn't know anything, implying Mama Ragetti.

Finally, everyone is getting ready for the wedding, but on their way to the church, Max and John find out that a fisherman has hooked Catfish Hunter, and this may be their best chance to get him. They stop at the lake, and after a long battle that keeps everyone at the wedding waiting for hours finally catch him. Afterwards, however, John tells Max that it belongs in the lake with his father because he had been trying to catch him for years. Max gives in and they slip him back into the lake, and race to the wedding. They burst into the church in their fishing boots, and the ceremony begins. Melanie comes down the isle and stands before Jacob, and Jacob expresses how glad he is that they eloped. Maria comes down the isle next in a wedding dress, as it is not Jacob and Melanie's wedding, but Max and Maria's. The two are married and drive off past a sign for "Ragetti's Ristorante and Bait Shop", finding afterwards that John has pulled off one last prank, putting Max's flatulent bulldog in the car with them.

Grandpa Gustafson is played by Burgess Meredith, Melanie Goldman is played by Daryl Hannah, Jacob Goldman is played by Kevin Pollak, and Allie (Melanie's daughter) is played by Katie Sagona.

[edit] Quotes

• John: I'm cold
  Max: Here's some matches, set yourself on fire!
• John: Have you figured out what you were gonna say?
  Max: Yeah. "Maria, there are many fish in the sea, but you're the only one I want to mount over my fireplace."
  John: (pauses) That's not...bad.
  Max: Did you notice the sexual innuendo?
  John: I did...I did.
• Max: What I wanted to say, Maria...what I'm trying to say...is that...there are many women floating in the river...but you're the only one that I want to stuff...and stick over on my wall...over the fireplace.
  Maria: Thank you so much.
  Max: (whimpers) I didn't say it right.
• John: I don't believe it. You and that beautiful lady?
  Max: I am the Lethario of hearts, I am the gangster of love.
  John: Gangster, huh? Well tell me, was it more of a hold-up than a stick-up?
  Max: (laughs) Even your infantile penis jokes seem charming and witty this morning, sir.
• Grandpa: Oh, an Italian girl! What do you say we go back to my place? I'll show you my cannelloni.
• Grandpa: ...and finally Baby Bear looked up and he said, "Somebody's been sleeping in my bed, and the bastard's still there!" But Goldilocks had a Remington semiautomatic...with a scope and a hair trigger! And that was the end...of the Three Bears.
• Grandpa: Kids swallow quarters all the time! If she craps out two dimes and a nickel, then you can start worrying, eh?
• Grandpa: I've been to Hawaii
  Mama Ragetti: Oh yeah, which island?
  Grandpa: Come-on-I-wanna-lay-you

[edit] External links

• Grumpier Old Men at the Internet Movie Database