Review of Buddy Buddy (1981) by David P — 12 Jun 2014

I wanted to like this, but in spite of a few bright spots it's mostly pretty bad. It's hard to believe this was actually directed by Billy Wilder, who co-wrote with his frequent writing partner IAL Diamond.

Matthau is a crotchety hit man, Lemmon is a neurotic would-be suicide. They keep crossing paths in ways that are evidently meant to be funny but are mostly just annoying. Wilder comes off at some times like a hopelessly out-of-touch, embittered old goat and at others like a bad imitation of himself.

This is probably the lousiest film of his career, and he knew it. Even the presence of the magnificently crazy Klaus Kinski does little to liven up the dreary proceedings. Not really worth your time, unless you're a Wilder completist.