Grumpy Old Men - Movies Review

The GRUMPY OLD MEN is a film about retired school teacher John Gustafson and former repairman Max Goldman, they are childhood friends and neighbors in Wabasha, Minnesota. This is a comedy movie. They have been feuding for years, they often quarrel with each other. I can feel that they like each other so much. They both have boring and lonely single lives, and they both love the ice fishing. They life have been changed when a woman named Ariel moves into the neighborhood.

The struggle between the man is always for woman, a man would love to pay everything for a good woman. John Gustafson and Max Goldman feel that Ariel is May, and they willing to do everything for her. Finally John decided choose friendship and give up love! And he felt sorry for May marry him. Director made a turning point，when Ariel spends more time with John due to their shared professions as teachers and love for playing chess, they fall in love and John returns the fishing rod to Max. However, Max gets jealous that he’s losing Ariel to John and intentionally pushes his ice fishing shack into the icy lake with his car. After many quarrels and mischiefs, the friendship became to love. Although the friendship love is not great than maternal love, but enough to make people cry. They both give up emotional entanglements and John have gained trust and understand from Max. Finally, John gains Ariel’s love.

From beginning of the movie, we can easily fell that John is a lovely aged urchin. The director introduces John’s personality traits that from very beginning of the movie. Using humor and funny performance to attract audiences. He owing thousands in back taxes, and his desperate attempts to avoid field agent Elliot Snyder shows that he has a old face but heart keep young. What I learned from John is that keep a good friendship sometimes need tolerance. When John was splitting firewood in his backyard, after some conversations, Max and