The theme from The Odd Couple isn't actually used in the Norwegian buddy movie Elling—a typically unadventurous nominee for last year's Best Foreign Language Film Oscar—but the invisible music cues are present in virtually every scene, just waiting to be hummed or whistled. The story of two institutionalized misfits who try to make their way in the world, the film trades in one formula for another: Instead of inspiring crass yuppies to become better people, as the mentally disabled usually do, they present a slightly quirkier variant on the old mismatched-roommates scenario. Carrying over their smooth rapport from an earlier stage production, Per Christian Ellefsen and Sven Nordin star as bunkmates at a mental hospital who are given the opportunity to live by themselves in a modest Oslo flat. A middle-aged man with slight features and a shy demeanor, Ellefsen grew up isolated in his childhood home with his recently deceased mother, a backstory that accounts for his intense neuroses and agoraphobia. In many ways his opposite, Nordin is a hulking oaf who obsesses over food and women (he's a virgin), but doesn't seem to have any major psychological problems outside of a little social dysfunction. Initially reluctant to leave the apartment or even answer the phone, they gradually begin to pursue their passions, with Ellefsen taking an interest in the local poetry scene and Nordin embarking on a tentative romance with the pregnant woman (Marit Pia Jacobsen) upstairs. An all-time box-office hit in its native country, Elling doesn't rework Hollywood tropes so much as claim them for itself, which is probably why the Academy committee embraced it so readily. The natural chemistry between Ellefsen and Nordin keeps the film pleasant and inoffensive, but is there any question about where or when or how it will go? Will Ellefsen's poetry bring him some unlikely renown? Will Nordin remain a sex-starved virgin? Will the pregnant neighbor go into labor at the narrative's convenience? If any of these answers seem at all elusive, then Elling is not to be missed.