The The Odd Couple television series, starring Tony Randall and Jack Klugman, rivaled The Bob Newhart Show for the best written sitcom in the seventies. As if the delightful chemistry between Randall and Klugman and their flawless delivery wasn't enough, the elaborate verbal banter written for the show could stand alone and still be scintillating comic gems.

The show is so fondly remembered, it would have been a cinch for this TV reunion movie from 1993 to rely on nostalgia and its stars to carry it. Fortunately for us, it doesn't, at least not for the first half. The quality of the writing isn't nearly up the standard set by the series, but it's still funny and still a cut above other TV series reunions. The downfall is that it loses steam midway through; somewhere along the line, it ceases to be funny, and we wish it would hurry and wrap up the story. It's not that the second half is bad, just that it fails to live up to the first.

But take this movie for what it was supposed to be: a trip down memory lane for the fans of the old show. With those expectations, it meets and exceeds them.