Seeing Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore reunited in a retirement home (or seeing Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy onstage in the original Broadway production), no doubt the audience thought they were going to see a charming "old folks still got it" romance. I certainly thought so, but it isn't like that at all! It's a heavy drama, showing that old folks still have tempers and emotional issues carried through the decades of their lives. Why watch something like that, especially since it usually stars a couple you'd like to see having a sweet relationship together?
Mary starts the movie new to the retirement home, and she's lonely. With no visits from the outside and no friends on the inside, she's drawn in by the outgoing personality of Dick when he invites her to play a game of gin rummy. They start to play and get to know each other, but the new acquaintanceship seems to push each other's buttons almost immediately. Mary rolls her eyes when Dick focuses on counting cards rather than answering her question, and Dick is a sore loser when Mary has a lucky streak.
My problem with this movie is the same problem I had with Wrestling Ernest Hemingway. There were so many plot twists the story could have taken (one option would be Mary and Dick are ex-spouses who try to start over, another surprise could be that Dick is Mary's imaginary friend, and a third is that a brain tumor is causing Dick's temper), but playwright D. L. Coburn wrote a very straight-forward story. There are no surprises, only two incompatible people who shouldn't really try to be friends with each other. Is the point of the story that most residents in retirement homes are so far gone they're not able to develop friendships, so Mary should just be grateful for a cohesive conversation with Dick?
The message I was able to garner is that old folks, although not exploring romantic options in this play, do "still got it" in other ways. They still have old hurts, issues that trigger arguments, and tempers that scare people. They also still have the acting chops to take on meaty roles. There's no reason for actors and actresses with white hair to be relegated to "kooky granny" parts. They can, and should, still headline movies for as long as they want to. Old people are just young people with wrinkles, and the sooner young people understand that the better.
