Grumpier Old Men

Things don’t seem to change much in Wabasha County: Max and John are still fighting after 35 years, Grandpa still drinks…

• Director:Howard Deutch
• Genre:Comedy / Romance
• Runtime:101 minutes

Cast

Walter Matthau : Max Goldman
Jack Lemmon : John Gustafson
Ann-Margret : Ariel Gustafson
Sophia Loren : Maria Sophia Coletta Ragetti
Burgess Meredith : Grandpa Gustafson

Several months after the events at the end of Grumpy Old Men, the lifelong feud between Max (Walter Matthau) and John (Jack Lemmon) has cooled, and their children, Melanie (Daryl Hannah) and Jacob (Kevin Pollak), have become engaged after a brief relationship. Meanwhile, John is enjoying his marriage to wife Ariel (Ann-Margret), which occurred at the end of the first film.

The spring and summer fishing season is also in full swing in Wabasha, with the annual quest to catch “Catfish Hunter”, the lake’s largest catfish, consuming the fishing community. However, the local bait shop (which closed due to the death of its proprietor, Chuck, in the first film) is in danger of being taken over by a recent arrival in town, Maria Ragetti (Sophia Loren), and being turned into a fancy Italian restaurant. Max and John join forces to try and sabotage the restaurant and succeed to a point, enough to make Ariel force John to go over to the restaurant and apologize to Maria for what he’s done. Originally John doesn’t want to do it and is encouraged by Max to tell Ariel so, which results in John moving in with Max as Ariel throws him out of the house. John eventually breaks down and goes to apologize to Maria after realizing that Max lives a slovenly (almost squalor-like) lifestyle at his home.

Things go awry, however, when John and Maria trade shots of grappa over the conversation. Eventually, John drinks too much and passes out, waking up the next morning in the restaurant and having Ariel and Max believe that the two are having an affair. Two things are revealed by Maria’s mother Francesca following the confrontation- the first is that she and John’s father are having a relationship, and that Maria in fact is infatuated with Max, to everyone’s surprise.

While out in his boat one day Max finds Maria on the lake fishing, and the shared interest helps to begin a romance between the two. However, Maria calls it off thanks to Francesca (Ann Morgan Guilbert) reminding her of five failed marriages in the past, and Max is bewildered and disappointed. Read more

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