Out To Sea

Out To Sea

Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau are out to sea—without a rudder, a compass, or a clue! In this crass bit of seniorsploitation, Lemmon plays a sad-sack widower who gets shanghaied into becoming a dance host by his smooth-talking brother-in-law, played by Matthau. Once aboard, they run afoul of a sadistic cruise director (Brent Spiner) while Matthau tries to pick up a gold-digging hussy played by fiftysomething bimbo Dyan Cannon. A manipulative attempt to swindle money out of the generation that came of age during the Harding Administration, Out To Sea has the wit and sophistication of your average Fox TV pilot. Playing a character who's supposed to be a canny, womanizing bon vivant, the elderly and feeble Matthau's attempts at physical humor are more depressing than hilarious, while Lemmon is given little to work with as Matthau's bland, morbid sidekick. It's nice to see that the filmmakers have stocked the supporting cast with such senior-friendly Branson staples as Hal Linden and Donald O'Connor, but Out To Sea is ultimately little more than brain-dead, derivative pap. Matthau and Lemmon have developed a niche as perhaps the only commercially bankable seventy-plus comedy team, but it would be nice if they were able to retain their dignity without having to turn out slightly tonier versions of Chris Farley/David Spade vehicles.

 
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