Metascore
53 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 16 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 16
  2. Negative: 2 out of 16
  1. Reviewed by: Caryn James
    80
    Grumpy Old Men is the kind of holiday movie a lot of people are searching for. It's cheerful, it's well under two hours and it doesn't concern any major social blights, unless you think Jack Lemmon tossing a dead fish into Walter Matthau's car is cause for alarm.
  2. 75
    Grumpy Old Men works more often than not. It's an example of a frothy, good-natured holiday picture that adults can relax and enjoy. As a comedy, the movie contains enough fresh humor to keep the laughs coming.
  3. Reviewed by: Desson Howe
    70
    In today's mouse-toting, instant-gratification world, this kind of old-fashioned, character-driven slapstick is wonderfully incompatible. It's a grumpy last hurrah.
  4. 67
    Relaxed, valedictory, exquisitely titled, Grumpy Old Men feels like an odd couple's last hurrah.
  5. Reviewed by: Staff (Not Credited)
    67
    It's not "The Odd Couple," despite the nostalgic casting of the male leads, but it has a few laughs, and Matthau carries rubber-faced comedy into a new dimension. [7 Jan 1994]
  6. Reviewed by: Sidd Shah
    63
    Two old people doing old people things, talking about old people stuff, and eating old people food. Sound interesting? Grumpy Old Men is a film that manages to be one of the scariest things I have ever seen. [28 Jan 1994, p.L]
  7. Old age is seen from a sentimental distance; interaction between characters often rings false; and Ariel is an indistinct, happy idiot. The impression that comes across is of a writer who cares but doesn't really know what he's talking about. [25 Dec 1993, p.E1]
  8. Reviewed by: Staff (Not Credited)
    63
    All things considered, Grumpy Old Men might have fared better re-worked as a domestic drama that took full advantage of its talented cast, with the lame funnybone attempts left, like the ubiquitous dead fish, buried in the backseat.
  9. 63
    The film barely skims the grimmer realities of growing old - sickness, money problems, loneliness and death. Still, you couldn't think of two better Grinches to spend the holiday with than Lemmon and Matthau. [23 Dec 1993, p.5D]
  10. If you're young enough to have missed some of the better Lemmon-Matthau pairings, like "The Fortune Cookie" or "The Odd Couple," then Grumpy Old Men won't seem so grumpy. [25 Dec 1993, p.2]
  11. Despite the numerous predictable jokes about geriatric sex, the movie is very appealing for numerous surprising reasons. Many of them have to do with ice fishing in Minnesota. [9 Dec 1993, p.A14]
  12. 50
    The movie is too pat and practiced to really be convincing, and the progress of Ariel's relationships with the two grumps seems dictated mostly by the needs of the screenplay. But Matthau and Lemmon are fun to see together, if for no other reason than just for the essence of their beings.
  13. Reviewed by: Jay Carr
    50
    The trouble with Grumpy Old Men is the patronizing attitude -- ageism, really -- that takes a too-broad approach to their geriatric world and renders it plastic. It is too cute and sanitized to allow its performers much in the way of opportunity.
  14. Reviewed by: Simone Rose
    40
    Watching Matthau and Lemmon in this vehicle is sometimes hard to stomach after knowing that they are worthy of so much more. Instead of making anyone laugh all it's poor, cheap comedy does is make you cringe for these respectable actors.
  15. Reviewed by: Louis Black
    30
    Grumpy Old Men is supposed to be about how love reinvents life and I'm not even really sure where it gets lost, but it ends up going nowhere.
  16. Reviewed by: Geoff Pevere
    25
    Grumpy, dopey and wheezy. In this dispiriting spectacle of feuding codgers, two of the finer comic actors of their genration are reduced to being cute and talking dirty. [31 Dec 1993, p.C3]