Outside of "Pete n' Tillie" and her cameo in "The Front Page", Carol Burnett and Walter Matthau (who seemed made to order as a screen couple) only worked together again in this sweet TV movie about a recent widower who tries to find happiness with a widow of four tears, struggling to gain acceptance from his family when they decide to get married. Their love story is seen through the eyes of his handsome and charming son John Stamos who is against his father getting remarried. Not only that, he has another son with a wife Matthau (and most likely the audience) automatically dislikes, an obnoxious and demanding female who does nothing but complain and cause trouble. Stamos has troubles in his own personal life, so there's plenty of conflict to go around.
A sweet and mostly likeable ensemble (outside of Johanna Beck's character), this was one of Matthau's last films, and he's far from his typical grumpy old man. Son Charlie is the poor fictional son stuck with Beck, and beautiful Teri Polo is very good as the latest one in Stamos's string of women who could just be the one. When Matthau tells demos that he's obviously just a confirmed bachelor, it's obviously more than because he's a playboy. He obviously was more affected by the fact that his parents were extremely happy and afraid that he could never be that happy. It's nice to see his character come around, especially since Burnett turns out to be such a great catch for his dad. Most people only find this kind of happiness once in their life, and so this ends up being a sweet drama with moments of light comedy and showing two of the masters of humor at their very best without the broadness.
A sweet and mostly likeable ensemble (outside of Johanna Beck's character), this was one of Matthau's last films, and he's far from his typical grumpy old man. Son Charlie is the poor fictional son stuck with Beck, and beautiful Teri Polo is very good as the latest one in Stamos's string of women who could just be the one. When Matthau tells demos that he's obviously just a confirmed bachelor, it's obviously more than because he's a playboy. He obviously was more affected by the fact that his parents were extremely happy and afraid that he could never be that happy. It's nice to see his character come around, especially since Burnett turns out to be such a great catch for his dad. Most people only find this kind of happiness once in their life, and so this ends up being a sweet drama with moments of light comedy and showing two of the masters of humor at their very best without the broadness.