"The Odd Couple: Together Again" is a reunion movie for a 1970s TV series. This came out during a period in which quite a few TV shows of the 1960s-70s were having reunion movies....mostly very bad ones. The worst were "The Beverly Hillbillies" and "Green Acres" because so many of the original actors were dead...or just looked dead on the screen. But the rest were, in general, a bad lot...such as "Return to Mayberry" and "Leave it to Beaver"...in which June talks to Ward by talking to his gravestone! A most cringe-worthy scene indeed!
So, is "The Odd Couple: Together Again" any different or is it just another painful and forced reunion? Well, at the outset it was hindered a bit as a few of the series regulars were not in the film...and although John Fiedler (Vinnie), Al Molinaro (Murray) and Janis Hansen (Gloria) were alive, they didn't participate in the project and I have no idea why.
The story is has two main plots. First, Felix is still with Gloria following the final episode of the series. But, his daughter is getting married and he's driving his 'Gloria' crazy....so she sends him to temporarily live with Oscar. As for Oscar, he's just had throat cancer surgery and he just wants to have EVERYONE leave him alone. Felix, on the other hand, won't let Oscar shut out the world and spends much of the film working hard to get Oscar involved with life.
So is it any good? Well, as far as the set goes, yes. Although the original sets no longer existed, they did a good job of recreating the first set from the old series. As far as actors go, I mentioned above that they lacked all the old actors...but I admire them for including Klugman and not shying away from his real life throat surgeries. He sounded like a gravely frog but was understandable and I'm glad he was in the movie...although it was a bit sad to watch as well. As for Tony Randall, he WAS Felix in every possible way and did a great job.
This brings us to the most important aspect of this made for TV movie....the plot. It's not as funny as the shows, which is understandable considering the throat cancer theme! Making it as funny would have been difficult...and a bit tacky. But it was poignant and sweet...which works for me.
Apparently, this project as well as a traveling show, were pet projects for Randall...as the way he acts in the film is similar to their real life relationship. In real life, he tried his best to help Klugman get out of the house and face the world...which was very sweet. Overall, a surprisingly good reunion movie even if it's not the comedy most would expect.
