Pete 'n' Tillie may provide the most unromantic view of marriage ever put on the big screen. Two players best known for comedy roles, Walter Matthau and Carol Burnett play the title roles who are a pair of thirty somethings who kind of just fall into marriage because they don't want to end up alone.

They have a son played by Lee Harcourt Montgomery who is taken from them. The question is, can their marriage survive this unspeakable tragedy?

Matthau who does have a bit of wit an extension of his real persona in life gets by with it. He's a philanderer by nature, but he always comes home.

There is some moment of high drama in Pete 'n' Tillie especially coming from Burnett. When her son dies and her breakdown comes, you really do forget you are watching one of the great comic talents of the female gender ever.

Comedy however did get Geraldine Page an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress, a very vain woman who was the original matchmaker for Matthau and Burnett. Burnett and Page square off after Page has a bad moment in a police station, the best female bout since Marlene Dietrich and Una Merkel went at each other in Destry Rides Again. Pete 'n' Tillie also got a nomination for best adapted screenplay.

There's also a very nice turn by Rene Auberjonois as a gay friend of Burnett's who offers her a different kind of marital arrangement with two people who do like each other.

After over 45 years Pete 'n' Tillie holds up very well. It should because the story is timeless.

Walter Matthau and Carol Burnett as a married couple and it's not a comedy? I can't remember if "Pete 'n' Tillie" was advertised as such, but I can certainly believe word-of-mouth on this was bad. The film has a washed-out sense of 'realism' as two single people meet and marry, have a child, and soon face tragedy. It strives to give us sort of a day-to-day examination of married life in the suburbs, but first we need to fall in love with these characters and, despite the charisma of Matthau and Burnett, we don't. They are both brought down to scale (Burnett more fiercely than Matthau) and their comedic tics are mellowed out (Matthau plays a piano nude except for a hat, and it gets a laugh, but then it's back to business). There are colorful moments--and a surprisingly vicious/funny knock-down brawl between Burnett and Geraldine Page--but the script has nowhere to go, the possibilities far exceeding what we see on-screen. An interesting attempt, but perhaps filmmakers who live in Beverly Hills should stay out of the suburbs. ** from ****

Single thirty three year old Tillie Shlaine (Carol Burnett) in San Francisco is set on another blind date with Pete Seltzer (Walter Matthau) at a party. She's guarded and he's flirtatious. He talks his way into her life. They get married. He has affairs. Their son is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Jimmy Twitchell (Rene Auberjonois) is their gay friend. Gertrude Wilson (Geraldine Page) is her mother.

The relationship isn't that romantic. There are some jabs of humor but this is mostly a sad depressed tone. It's interesting to see Burnett play this suppressed cynical character. This isn't that far off for Matthau's normal range. It's difficult to feel for this couple. These actors aren't their exuberant acting persona. The movie never achieves happiness. The movie has a few minor humorous moments but it is almost entirely a downer. It makes for a tiring watch.