The Odd Couple

The enduring comedy of the Odd Couple continues to be the basis for sitcom after sitcom, now 44 years after Neil Simon's original was brought to life by Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon, it's time to go back to the drawing board and find the two young actors who could bring to life the opposite roommates. Since both Matthau and Lemmon had been rather experienced, and yet fairly anonymous up until "Odd Couple" I'll try to follow the same basic script here.

Characters
Felix
Oscar

Felix
Christopher Mintz-Plasse, the 23 year old actor who first made it big as McLovin in the Judd Apatow hit "Superbad," has continued to prove his comedic chops in "Role Models" and "Year One." Though he has yet to break out, he has been surrounded by a stream of top notch comedic talent, and no one would doubt that his characteristic haltingly awkward characteristics are both hillarious and a perfect fit for the role Jack Lemmon made famous.










Oscar
Jay Baruchel, who turned 30 this month, made his way up through a series of short lived TV comedies before nabbing the title character in the rom com "I'm Reed Fish." He's proved his funny on the big screen in the surprise hit "Tropic Thunder" and "Night at the Museum 2." While it may be hard to picture the suave Baruchel as the slobbish Oscar. I think it's Jay's natural laid back comfort that would fit him naturally into the role. As for the chemistry that they would most certainly need to make the project work, there can never be any guarantee, but hopefully they started to develop some on the sound stage of "How to Train Your Dragon" which the two worked on together.