Buddy Buddy

1981 "The greatest movie buddies of all time are back!"
6.5| 1h36m| R| en
Details

During a high profile Mafia testimony case, a contract killer checks-in a hotel room near the courthouse while his next door depressed neighbor wants to commit suicide due to marital problems.

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Reviews

Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.
Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.
Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.
bkoganbing For what turned out to be his final film, Billy Wilder decided to adapt the French black comedy L'Emmerdeur to America and he and his writing partner I.A.L. Diamond came up with Buddy Buddy. As it turned out I saw this film back to back with Wilder's Kiss Me Stupid. In that one, a whole lot of talented actors couldn't raise it above mediocrity. But in watching Buddy Buddy I failed to see why this one was slammed as bad as it was. It's not anything close to what Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau did in The Fortune Cookie or even in the remake of The Front Page. Still Buddy Buddy does have its moments.Of course the film does hinge on the incomparable chemistry between Lemmon and Matthau and they save the film essentially for Wilder. They are two total strangers whom chance throws together at a most inopportune moment.Matthau is a professional hit-man who's been given the job of killing three stoolies who are to testify at a mob trial. He's got the first two and has a plan set for number three.Then of course he meets Lemmon who is despondent over his wife leaving him for a fake sex therapist. He checks into the same hotel in the room next to Matthau who is readying his hit and tries to commit suicide. For the rest of the film Matthau is forced to take an interest in this schnook's marital problems to keep from committing suicide and bringing a swarm of police to the hotel. Matthau and Lemmon get into some pretty funny situation as there seems to be no end in sight to what can go wrong with a well thought out plan. Lemmon's wife is played by Paula Prentiss and their marriage seems very much modeled on the one Lemmon had in The Fortune Cookie. Things work out just about the same way for the unhappy couple.Things kind of work out for Matthau too in a rather unbelievable way for which you will have to see Buddy Buddy. And while it's not like some of the great Wilder classics of the Fifties when Billy was at his creative best, it's far from the worst film he could have gone out on.
Petri Pelkonen Jack Lemmon is Victor Clooney, a man who wants to commit a suicide and Walter Matthau is a hitman called Trabucco.When these two run into each other in the same hotel it can only mean lots of funny moments.Buddy Buddy from 1981 is an excellent Billy Wilder comedy.Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau are amazing together and they always were.Unfortunately Mr Lemmon passed away last week on June 27 on cancer.He was 76 years old.That made me and many other Jack Lemmon fans very sad.Walter Matthau died last year.We never get to see this great comedy couple together again. But you can always watch their great movies on TV.This movie is a must see for every Matthau and Lemmon fan.There isn't a dull moment in this movie.Don't miss it.
gridoon A dreary comedy with some isolated amusing moments. The ingredients for a potentially funny film are here, but most of the laughs just never materialize. The actors try their best (although Jack Lemmon is often somewhat one-note), but it's the flat, uninspired direction that keeps this from taking off. (**)
CABruno "Buddy Buddy," although not the best film ever, is definitely a comedy classic. It took me a while to find it, which surprised once I had finished watching. The chemistry between Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau is amazing and it is as strong as ever in this film.This is the film for everyone who has that one person in their lives that somehow manages to appear at all the wrong times and become more and more annoying with each visit. It's been said that we laugh because things are true, not because they're funny, and this film proves that. Sure, we've probably never met a suicidal television censor while trying to kill someone, but we can most likely all relate to how Walter Matthau feels always running into Jack Lemmon.I tell everyone I know to watch this movie, and I've yet to hear anything bad about it. If you're in the mood for some good laughs and a classic comedy duo, then you must give "Buddy Buddy" a watching.