The Sunshine Boys | Walter Matthau, George Burns | Matthau and Burns--the perfect couple

The Sunshine Boys | Walter Matthau, George Burns | Terrific comedy by two old masters

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The Sunshine Boys

	The Sunshine Boys Walter Matthau, George Burns MGM (Warner), 1999 average customer review:based on 21 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Neil Simon's Broadway hit about an effort to reunite a pair of aged vaudevillians for a TV special is both funny and poignant, thanks to the inspired casting of Walter Matthau (perhaps the consummate Simon actor) and George Burns (who kicked off something of a career comeback with this Oscar-winning role). They play a former comedy team who split up years ago over disagreements about how the act should be performed and, more importantly, over their conflicting views about the importance of show business versus that of life. Matthau is hilarious, sometimes touchingly so, while Burns remains a master of comic economy. Richard Benjamin is also good as Matthau's nephew who brings them back together. This was remade for television with Peter Falk and Woody Allen. --Marshall Fine

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Matthau and Burns--the perfect couple

Acting more odd than he was in the Odd Couple, and definitely more grumpy than he was in Grumpy Old Men, Walter Matthau turns in an over-the-top performance as the volatile half of the Lewis and Clark vaudeville team. (He plays the impatient Willie Clark.) The perfect foil for Matthau's Clark is George Burns as his partner for 57 years--and then ex-partner for another 11--Al Lewis.

Much of Neil Simon's comedies focus on the pairing of people with irreconcilable differences, like The Odd Couple or The Good-bye Girl. Others focus on people out of their natural environments, like The Odd Couple Two or The Out of Towners. The Sunshine Boys centers on two men who, although professionally perfect together, are mortal enemies off-stage. On top of that, the men are out of their milieu, in terms of time. Their vaudeville careers are long over, and their attempt to rejoin for a television variety show, only highlight how anchored in the past they are--especially Matthau.

This comedy, although slightly dated (I'm sure the ACLU would accuse it of age-ism), still has a lot of laughs, more than I had anticipated. The Sunshine Boys is a must for anyone's Neil Simon or New York Comedy collection.

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Terrific comedy by two old masters

Wonderful and hilarious Neil Simon comedy about two old vaudevillians who worked together for 43 years, but hate each other. A chance to work a TV variety show tracing the history of comedy brings them together again for the first time in 11 years. Walter Matthau and George Burns play the two old troopers, and it's marvelous to see them work. Matthau is a grouchy curmudgeon - loud and proud and irascible; Burns is a bit more mellow but just as proud. A very funny movie, and poignant, too.

Peer under the mask of Vaudeville characters

From the wisecracking opening salvos to the heartfelt ending this movie is sheer hilarity that leaves you with more than badda bing badda boom punchlines and broad brush slapstick. It allows us a look under the grease paint of two vaudevillians who have been through the trials and triumphs of one of comedy's most unique times and how when brought back together for a nostalgic revisit fall back into their act and old habits which agitate each other to our delight. Walter Matthau plays Willie who is the partner who never learned when to quit and is constantly looking for that next great venue which will catapult him back to the fame he had. Unfortunately the ravages of age have made him forgetful and he has trouble remembering his lines, among other things, and then tries to improvise a wisecrack to cover his mistake that leaves the audience in hysterics. George Burns plays his retired partner and straightman Al Lewis. The flow of one liners and crisp dialogue keep the movie at a rapid pace and there is no end to the scene stealing and, in Matthau's case, scene chewing that keeps you laughing throughout. Each scene reveals that their act was their relationship and they used this to cover their friendship which had become strained by the demands of the businesss. They were business associates who were very good working together. However they both had mutual professional respect for each other's talents and this in the end helped to reveal the genuine affection that they had for each other. This is a movie for all ages and all families who wish to see a couple of masters who can use pathos, a sharp tongue, and a quick wit to entertain and make you laugh.

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HI-larious!

But you'd probably have to understand Neil Simon to agree. This one has alot of that edge found in brighton beach memoirs which came several years later.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

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