When Felix Ungar’s (Jack Lemmon) wife throws him out, he responds first by getting drunk at a bar, then by trying to commit suicide by throwing himself out of a hotel window before finally showing up at good friend Oscar Madison’s (Walter Matthau) apartment. Oscar, too, has been living the single life since separating from his own wife. Taking pity on Felix, Oscar invites him to move in. He regrets his decision, though, when he learns that Felix is a neurotic neat freak who compulsively cleans, keeps Oscar’s former pig-sty of an apartment obsessively tidy, and constantly berates him about his slovenly ways in between depressed musings about the break-up of his marriage. Will their friendship survive? Can these two find some sort of common ground, or will Oscar kill him first?
