House Calls

Viewed September 13, 2021. Really taken to the next level by the easygoing chemistry between Matthau and Glenda Jackson. There’s an extended piece of physical comedy where, inspired by the Hays Code’s rules about sharing a bed, they try to figure out whether it’s possible to “make love” while each keeping one foot on the floor, and the resulting sequence is one of the most inspired and hilarious seduction scenes in cinema.

A widowed surgeon (Walter Matthau) and a divorced baker (Glenda Jackson) work their way towards a love affair, while he grapples with the politics at his own failing hospital, especially the fallout from the senile Chief of Staff's (Art Carney) ineptitude. There are good moments and the cast is fun, but the material often lets them down; it's hard to understand what Jackson sees in the selfish, smug Matthau, and the choppy, episodic structure is pure sitcom, complete with a freeze-frame ending.

Probably an overrating.