Out to Sea

Is it me, or is this Grumpy routine getting old? Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau cruise on their palpable screen chemistry as bickering brothers-in-law acting as dance hosts on a cruise ship. Together, they're tiresome (can we please have a moratorium on Lemmon calling Matthau a "moron"?), but apart they each find their rhythm; gambler Matthau comically romancing the wealthy Dyan Cannon, and widower Lemmon touchingly learning to love again. For fans, this will be smooth sailing, and one can't help but admire the subversive demographics-be-damned casting of Donald O'Connor, Hal Linden, Elaine Stritch and Gloria DeHaven, who made her screen debut in Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times in 1936! But it is Brent Spiner who waltzes away with his scenes. As the martinet cruise director, he seems to be doing a sly impersonation of his Star Trek co-star Patrick Stewart. Optional. (K. Lee Benson)