The Sunshine Boys (1975)

My first comedy. I am dreading this but will watch it anyways. This didn't even make the top 100 on the AFI's 100 best laughs so I'll bet this is really awful.

I'll be blunt - this sucked. I hated this. This is supposed to be a comedy but I only laughed twice - I counted. Neither one of those laughs were much in the way of laughs, just slight chuckles that didn't last for more than a second. I don't remember what I laughed at but I'm certain that at least one of them wasn't even for a joke but rather something stupid that wasn't meant to be funny in the first place.

First, the plot. This movie is about two former vaudeville comedians who are supposed to be reunited. They hate each other. Admittedly, the plot isn't that bad. It's nothing great but it was straightforward. I wouldn't go as far as to say it was interesting or exciting or anything like that, but at least it felt like something was happening.

This movie stars Walter Matthau and George Burns. They were both okay I suppose but neither one of them did a whole lot for me. George Burns won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for this movie but I have no clue why. This must have been the only movie made in 1975 because there was nothing overly spectacular about his performance here. He wasn't on screen all that much which makes his award more confusing. I realize he was a supporting actor and not a lead, but still he didn't have all that much screen time. When he was on screen he didn't really do much. Both actors play senile old people which probably takes some skill to do but you don't really feel like they're skillful, just irritating and since they were both incredibly old when they made this you can't help but think maybe they are that senile.

I was warned by someone who is the closest thing to a film expert I know that I'd hate this. He was right. He said this is something only old people would enjoy (and he's in his fifties - he says he's too young for it) and he's right. I guess if you were as old as the characters in this movie you might be able to relate or something. The characters, while old, are not sympathetic in any way. I don't feel for the characters and I just don't care about them. One of them has a heart attack in the movie and survives. If he would have died I could have cared less.

Overall, this movie has a plot that is rather solid. There aren't many plot holes. The only problem I saw was the fact that the nephew constantly complains of chest pains despite being just 33. While young people can have heart problems, nothing ever comes of this so it seemed rather superfluous. It was probably put in for comedic effect, but I didn't laugh. A mediocre, but sensible, plot is not enough to save this movie, however. The acting is mediocre although it is probably about as good as you'll get for what they were trying to do. The characters in this movie are ones that people under sixty will not relate to and this problem is compounded by the fact that these characters are dull and aloof. Combine all that and you get a bad movie. It's not quite bad enough to where you want to shut it off constantly and it is easy enough to sit through, but it's something you most certainly would not want to see again and because of that it's well deserving of its very low score - just the 4th F I have assigned and the 2nd in the last four movies I have seen.

59/100
F

UP NEXT: My first western, A Fistful of Dollars.