The Marriage Fool

"The Marriage Fool" (also known as "Love After Death") is an excellent made for TV movie. Much of this is because it addresses an important topic that is seldom talked about...widowers remarrying. Often, their children react very badly to 'new mom' and do a lot to undermine these second marriages...and so it's nice to see this addressed here.

The story begins when Frank (Walter Matthau) is attending his wife's funeral. Soon after, his son, Robert (John Stamos) convinces him to get out and have fun...and Frank does that. In fact, he soon meets Florence (Carol Burnett) and after whirlwind courtship, they decide to get married...and Frank's kids are, at best, ambivalent towards this.

At the same time, Robert begins realizing that despite his looks and success on the job, he's lonely....and he has a phobia about commitment. So, the story is not about Frank's journey but Robert's.

This is a very sweet film and it's nice to see Matthau in his penultimate movie. The cast is quite good and while the story has no huge surprises, it's sweet and well worth seeing. And, I also noticed that Stamos is quite nice here...one of his better performances. Overall, a very enjoyable film which will likely leave you feeling happy.

We watched this the other night with a few glasses of wine and came away entertained and happy. Although the film may be typical of the type actors make when in their latter years, with Walter Matthau heading the cast it was always going to be above average. Great support from Carol Burnett as the new lady in his life and John Stamos as the hesitant son, both playing it with just enough without going over the top. I would never have known this was made as a TV movie if I hadn't read about it, it seems to have production values and talent way above the usual TV fare. One point - a number of rather crass paintings of clowns appear in the film and one of them looks just like Matthau's old partner Jack Lemmon, I wonder if this was deliberate? Recommended without hesitation.

This is a film to enjoy with your family... John Stamos performance is good, and what can I say about Walter Matthau?, he carries great the movie in his shoulders.. The chemistry between Matthau and Stamos is perfect. This is the kind of movie to watch on a Sunday morning, or when you are in the mood of watching happy ending stories.

It must be said that i cannot resist anything by Walter Matthau in it and thank God i was not proven wrong.This is so easy watching and tender and believe me when i say that former wooden teen hrob John Stamos has just about carried the flick here. You can identify with him and that's just all the premise he needed to perform. Carol Burnett was neatly cast and subdued but it's so good to see her and Walter in a role that allows them to be so relaxed.By the way, Teri G as the Stamos love interest...she can wear those gold tops anyday on a cold morning. All in all ..a gentle,touching and honest film.

I watched this in the wee small hours of Saturday morning on Irish Television, RTE, and found it totally enjoyable. Never mind the obvious talent of Walter Matthau and John Stamos, for me the beauty in this film are the women. Carol Burnett and Teri Polo and the wives of the sons bring great humanity (if that's the right word) to this film. It was wonderful to see a film of this quality at 2 O'clock in the morning.

Well done RTE for showing it.

I have been asked to write more on this subject but I have run out of any more comments. This seems silly. It's like being back in school when you were asked to write an essay about collecting blackberries during the Summer and to ensure that the report had 3000 words or more, otherwise you won't get a prize. Surely you can make a comment for whatever length.!!! This just doesn't make sense!!!