The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 112

Home Catch Up on Mwajs-So-Odd Couple's Best Hits vijjoo i FT lit mi FOREVER AT ODDS: As fussy Felix, Jack Lemmon is constantly cleaning up for roommate Oscar (Walter Matthau) in "The Odd Couple," left. Decades later, the pair continued to butt heads in "Grumpy Old Men." What's Hot Last week's Top 5 rentals: "I Know What You Did Last Summer," "The Peacemaker," "The Full Monty," "Devil's SCOTT DEL AMO Selena Advocate" and "In Out." Last week's Top 5 sellers: "Peter Pan," "Selena: Commemorative Edition," "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery," "Ferngully 2" and "The English Patient." What's New In stores this week: "Boogie Nights" (New Line), drama about 70s porn industry starring Burt Reynolds. (R) "Seven Years In Tibet" (Columbia TriStar), historical drama starring Brad Pitt. (PG-13) "Red Corner" (MGM), political thriller starring Richard Gere. (R) "I Love Lucy: The Classics" (CBS, $10 each), remastered episodes of the beloved comedy series.

"Mummies Alive! The Legend Begins" (Buena Vista, $15), animated adventure. "NHL's Masked Men: The Last Une of Defense" (NHL Video, $15), a profile of hockey's premier goaltenders. What's Coming Tuesday: "L.A. Confidential," "The Ice Storm," "Kiss the Girls," "The House of Yes" and "Rocketman." April 21: "Flubber," "Mrs. Brown" and "Copland." April 28: "The Jackal," "Anastasia," "Kiss or Kill" and "Telling Lies in America." May 5: "Alien Resurrection," "Mouse Hunt," "Gattaca" and "For Richer or for Poorer." May 12: "Tomorrow Never Dies," "Washington Square," "Playing God" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind: Collector's Edition." May 19: "As Good as It Gets," "Starship Troopers," "Shall We Dance?" and "An American Werewolf in Paris." May 26: "John Grishman's The Rainmaker," "Deconstructing Harry," "The Sweet Hereafter," "Firestorm," "The Night Flier," "Desperate Measures" and "Star Kid." June 2: "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," "Oscar and Lucinda" and "Home Alone 3." June 9: "Scream 2," "The Postman" and "The End of Violence." June 16: "Switchback." July 1: "Wag the Dog." July 7: "Good Will Hunting." Sept15: "Lady.and.tbeTtaraR.' I VidWaii'Mlef tWaMi byivWfeoSWn Inc.

LOS ANGELES TIMES WEEKEND BY SUSAN KING TIMES STAFF WRITER Ji "ack Lemmon and Walter Mat-thau are a couple of terrific actors who have become one of cinema's most beloved comedy teams. With their 10th film together, "The Odd Couple II," opening Friday, it's a perfect time to: catch up on their other collabora-1 tions. It was legendary writer-director Billy Wilder who first teamed up i the two in his biting 1966 comedy! "The Fortune Cookie" (MGM, $20). i Previously, Lemmon had starred in i Wilder's "Some Like It Hot," "The Apartment" and "Irma La Matthau, who made his film debut in 1955's "The Kentuckian," was best known for his roles as heavies in such films as "Charade." In "Fortune Cookie," Lemmon plays an earnest TV cameraman who suffers a minor injury during a football game. Matthau, in a role that won him an Oscar for best supporting actor, is his brother-in-law, a seedy, shyster lawyer who convinces Lemmon to pursue an expensive lawsuit.

Two years later, they created box-office magic as mismatched roomies in "The Odd Couple" (Paramount, $15), which Neil Simon adapted from his Broadway hit comedy. Matthau reprised his stage success as the slovenly sports writer Oscar and Lemmon is perfectly cast as his friend Felix, an obsessively neat, hypochondriacal photographer. Lemmon's only directorial effort was 1971's "Kotch" (Fox, $10), a sentimental comedy drama in which Matthau plays an elderly man who refuses to let his children put him out to pasture. Though Lemmon doesn't appear in the film, his wife, Felicia Farr, does. Love 'Em or Hate CYBERTAINMENT BY MARK GLASER SPECIAL TO THE TIMES First, the controversial "South Park" TV show angered parents and teachers.

Now, the show has angered its fans. After building suspense as to who Cart-man's father was la "Who Shot J.R.?" or "Who Shot Mr. show played an elaborate joke on April 1 by ignoring the question altogether. And just as the show built its early viewership, thanks to an online buzz, the show is taking its biggest lumps online. Fans who planned elaborate parties around the episode or held contests online were hurt most.

When the episode turned out to be one long-running fart joke, fans didn't mince words. Semens. was 10 times t. night," wrote one. "I fell asleep" 56 THURSDAY.

APRIL 9. 1998 Zu4 3 Paramount Pictures share no screen time together. The surprise success of 1993's "Grumpy Old Men" (Warner, $15) proved the two still have the comedic chops they possessed three decades ago. In this slapstick romantic comedy, "Lemmon and Matthau play neighbors, former boyhood friends who have been feuding for years. Their squabbles heat up when the two widowers start vying for the affections of their new neighbor, a vivacious widow (Ann-Margret).

Burgess Meredith is a real hoot as Lemmon's rather ribald father. Two years later, Lemmon and Matthau starred in the fair-to-middling sequel "Grumpier Old Men" (Warner, $20). This time, around, Matthau gets the girl, played by none other than Sophia Loren. The 1995 "The Grass Harp" (New Line), a lyrical adaptation of Truman Capote's novella, is a real and Its Antics Set session, Stone cited Taison Tan's site in particular, saying, "He knows more than we do, I swear." Caltech student Tan runs the must-read South Park Information Center (http:www.beef cake, com), including box shots of upcoming "SP" videos (due out May 5) and reports from the shooting of "BASEketball," the film starring Parker and Stone. Obsessed fans who tape the shows will love the Information Center's "Did You Notice?" section.

You can learn what the Streisand character said in Japanese now on, my name will be Mecha-Barbra or the similarities between "SP's" Christmas show and the old Charlie Brown Christmas special. Each "SP" character has online homages, with the "festively plump" Cartman and the poor ra'ckfng fcrpOi8 MosCdebfi3rf.UhVdev6'teef ji RON PHILLIPS change of pace for the team. Set in the South in the 1930s and '40s, the nostalgic drama finds Matthau quite believable as a retired smalltown judge who falls in love with a sweet spinster (Piper Laurie). Lemmon is featured in a smaller role as a shady scam artist out to fleece Laurie's shrewd, rich sister (Sissy Spacek). Matthau's son Charles directed.

Though it didn't exactly burn up the box office last summer, their comedy "Out to Sea" (Fox) is still a lot of fun. In order to make money and meet women, Matthau, who has a weakness for the ponies, persuades Lemmon to join him as a dance instructor on a luxury liner. Widower Lemmon finds love with Gloria De Haven and bachelor Matthau falls head over heels for Dyan Cannon. Donald O'Connor, Elaine Stritch, Hal Linden and Brent Spiner also star. the Web Abuzz Chris Pirillo, created hundreds of desktop icons for both PC and Mac, that you can download from his site, Just South of South Park http:www.lockergnome.com southpark).

If you think the show's already passed its peak, be sure to vote for it at "Jump the Shark" (http: www.jumptheshark.com), a site that pinpoints the moment of each TV show's decline. The name comes from the "Happy Days" show where Fonzie jumped a shark tank. Other such points of no return include Farrah leaving "Charlie's Angels," and the stars of "Blossom" and "Wonder Years" reaching puberty. Has "SP" "jumped the shark" with its April Fools' episode? Only time and ratings will tell. Mark Glaser is a San Francisco-Jxwed, Jreelonqe.

jojitp; ana you can.reach him at glaze jptiht; maH.com 4. The duo seems to be having a great time in "The Front Page" (Universal, $15), Wilder's 1974 adaptation of the Charles MacAr-thur-Ben Hecht Broadway classic. Matthau plays the overbearing, blustery managing editor of a newspaper; Lemmon is his prize reporter. Despite their rapport, "Front Page" seems forced and off-kilter. Carol Burnett, Susan Sarandon and Vincent Gardenia head the supporting cast Reviews were mixed to negative for their next outing, 1981's "Buddy Buddy" (MGM, $20), which was Wilder's last film.

This black comedy, based on the French hit "A Pain in the A casts Matthau as a professional hit man whose latest assignment is threatened by a suicidal stranger (Lemmon). It was a full decade before their next film, Oliver Stone's controversial "J.F.K." (Warner, $25). Both appear in small cameos and 'Em, 'South Park' halfway through," wrote another. But others found humor in the joke and defended the show as an aberration. The hype and expectation had certainly been building for "South Park," the subject of cover stories in Newsweek, Rolling Stone and Spin, and highly rated within the world of cable TV.

But its foul-mouthed main characters, kids at a Colorado elementary school, have drawn criticism from concerned parents. Unlike Fox, Comedy Central has been relatively lax on fan Web sites, allowing entire scripts, audio and video to be archived on unofficial sites. The official site http:www.comedycentral.com southpark) is no slouch, with storyboards, games, a trivia contest and booster club. creators, Trey Parker, and. IMA MIHHtttMltlltil.il hundreds of sites online.

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