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_ MOVIE REVIEW . Groups and organiâ€" zations which wish to receive kits of free Canadian books from the Canada Council should apply to the Book kits available from Canada Council 1981, officials report. Applicants should reâ€" quest an application form by letter or by a tollâ€"free telephone call By Victor Stanton Billy Wilder is a sixâ€"time Acaâ€" demy Awardâ€"winning filmâ€" maker. â€" The coâ€"writer and director of such movies as The Lost Weekâ€" end (1945), Sunset Boulevard (1950), Stalag 13 (1953), Some Like It Hot (1959) and The Apartment (1960),; Wilder is noted primarily for the acerbic wit and satiric bite of his socially relevant comedies. His latest picture, Buddy Buddy, is billed as a comedy, but it is both witless and toothless, and its only relevance to contemâ€" porary society is in a tastelessâ€" ness common to too many other movies of the day. The film, written with his collaborator of the last 24 years L.A.L. Diamond, is an adaptation of a 1973 French move, L‘Emâ€" merdeau, translated as The Pain In The Neck (or, more accurateâ€" ly, a pain located in another area of the anatomy). That picture, which starred the late composerâ€"singer Jacques Brel and was itself based on a stage play, has been described as "a oneâ€"joke affair, only intermitâ€" tently funny." The same descripâ€" tion aptly fits Buddy Buddy. The single joke is that a Mafiaâ€"type hit man is interrupted in his attempt to kill a court witness by the disruptive antics of a suicigeâ€"prone neighbor. What little humor there is comes from the typical performances of Walter Matthau and Jack Lemâ€" mon as the hit man and the mon as the hit man and nc neighbor respectively. From the very beginning, and consistently throughout the 98â€" minute (it only seems donger) movie, there is a predictability in the sequences of events that doesn‘t allow for any sense of anticipation or surprise. _ Wilder‘s idea of visual gags include having Lemmon come out of a service station‘s men‘s washroom and acquaint Matthau with the fact that he‘d just thrown up in there, and then having Matthau walk in and immediately come back out and go into the women‘s washroom. And, a little later, he has Matthâ€" au counsgel Lemmon to go behind some rocks and throw up so that he (Matthau) can more convenâ€" iently shoot him. WATERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1981 Buddy Buddy bombs 31, to the writing and pubâ€" budgets for bookâ€"buy lication section of the ing. Council. S tions who will make the books available to peoâ€" ple in their communiâ€" ties and have limited The annual competiâ€" The picture never achieves enough depth to be truly offenâ€" sive, and vulgarities which a few years ago might have given it some‘ shock value are so comâ€" monplace as to scarcely raise a snicker here. Much of the advance publicity for Buddy Buddy has been centred around the reteaming of Matthau and Lemmon who preâ€" viously coâ€"starred in two Wilder pictures, The Fortune Cookie (1966) and The Front Page (1974), and as well in the movie version of Neil Simon‘s The Odd Couple. (Lemmon also directed Matthau‘s Oscarâ€"nominated porâ€" trayal of the title character in the 1971 film Kotch.) While their performances in this current movie are its greatâ€" est (and, for that matter, practiâ€" cally its only) assets, their ulâ€" timate achievements are severeâ€" ly limited by the considerable limitations of both script and diâ€" rection. Matthau‘s rumpled exterior and virtually deadpan delivery is frequently more effective in proâ€" ducing laughs than Lemmon‘s more frenetic approach to charâ€" acterization. (This is Lemmon‘s seventh film for Wilder, includâ€" ing Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Irma La Douce in 1963 and Avanti in 1972.) Apart from the stars, most of the movie‘s other players are minimal contributors to either the movie‘s story or its humor. Klaus Kinski, father of Tess star Nastassia, could have made an interesting foil to Lemmon in particular had his role of sexâ€" clinic therapist been more thoroughly developed. As the wife of the character played by Lemmon, Paula Prenâ€" tiss is likewise wasted and her shrill and forced performance indicates an almost total lack of directorial guidance. It‘s almest as though Wilder had lost his zest for comedy, although his cynicism, as reflectâ€" ed in the story‘s rather condoning attitude towards murder, seems to have remained intact. Even if one expected no more than frivolqus entertainment, Buddy Buddy would be a major disappointment. Coming from a writerâ€"director with as celebratâ€" ed a background as Wilder‘s, the picture is a catastrophe. either 80 works of ficâ€" tion, poetry and plays, 80 works of nonâ€"fiction, or 40 works of chilâ€" dren‘s literature. The kits are available in Applicants can reâ€" Waliter Mathau (left) stars as a hit man trying to do one last job before he retires. His life becomes complicated by Jack Lemmon, a suicidal deserted husband in Buddy, Buddy. Gallery features Canadian works The Kitchenerâ€"Waâ€" He continued, ‘"For terloo Art Gallery will color presented, but feature a number of not arranged, is withâ€" specidl1 exhibits beginâ€" out expression. It is ning Thursday, Dec. only when that relaâ€" 17. tionship is established First, the gaiiery in that the expressive vites area residents to â€" qualities can be felt." First, the gaiiery inâ€" vites area residents to view, through the eyes of Isaac Erb, a portrait of Turn of the Century Maritime Life. Born in New Brunsâ€" wick in 1846, Erb‘s sepiaâ€"toned photoâ€" graphs of harbors and logging activities, facâ€" tories, feats‘ of engiâ€" neering, patriotic celeâ€" brations and country picnics provide glimpses into the life of the people of his provâ€" ince between 1877â€"1924. This selection of 84 photographs from the Erb collection is an illustration of craftsâ€" manship and a record of the people who setâ€" tled and lived im New Brunswick. Turn of the Century Photographs was orâ€" ganized by the National Film Board of Canada. As well, an exh.fbition of recent paintings by Mark Grenville will be on display through Jan. Grenville‘s new works, large color abâ€" stracts on paper and canvas, are built on controlled color combiâ€" nations. *‘Because color first engages the senses rather than the utmost concern that the interactions of color be correct,‘"‘ Grenville has said of Grenville‘s imaginaâ€" tive and colorful paintâ€" ings will be on display in the main gallery. Born in Clinton, Ont. in 1950, Grenville reâ€" ceived his B.A. Fine Arts from the Universiâ€" ty of Guelph. He has participated in solo and group exhibitions at the London Regional Art Gallery, the S.R. Simpson . Gallery, To ronto, and the Univerâ€" sity of Guelph. in 1978, he exhibited in the Cycle Gallery of the Kitchenerâ€"Waterloo Art Gallery. Mark Grenville, an exhibition of recent works, was organized by the Kitchenerâ€"Waâ€" terloo Art Gallery. And until Jan. 31, local residents can view recent drawings by K&ren Louise Fletcher. _ â€" A most impressive aspect of Fletcher‘s new work is its sculpâ€" tural depth. The drawâ€" ings of Fletcher have had~ an abstract patâ€" ternâ€"like quality ~and viewers will find in her larger format, a new approach to her sensiâ€" tivelyâ€"done drawings. Born in Moose Jaw, Sask. in 1952, Fletcher received her B.A. Fine Arts from the Universiâ€" ty of Wateribo. Works by Ms. Fietcher have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions throughout Ontario and at Memorial Universiâ€" ty Art Gallery in St. John‘s, Newld. Fletcher also had a show in the Cycle Galâ€" lery of the Kitchenerâ€" Waterloo Art Gallery in 1976. K a ren Lo uise Fletcher, an exhibition of recent work, was organized by the Kitchâ€" enerâ€"Waterloo Art Galâ€" In addition, the reâ€" cent work of John Hofâ€" stetter, organized into an exhibit entitled Inâ€" tersection, will be shown through to Jan. 31. works on display in the Mail Gallery consist of a series of multiâ€"media colleges on plexiglas that he has been exâ€" perimenting with for the past few years. The artist himself has said, "I‘ve used the concept to combine the disciplines of printâ€" making, painting and sculpture intd a single visual unit." Right of Way, a major scuiptural work of colorful photoâ€" screened viny!l panels, will be installed both inside and outside the gallery in such a way that the gallery interâ€" sects the art. In this attempt to deal with the concept of space, Hofstetter will use over 800 panels. Visually impressive, Hofstetter‘s recent contemporary work, is a response to the arâ€" tist‘s feeling for landâ€" scape. Hofstetter was born in North Bay in 1952 and received his B.A. Fine Arts from the University of Waterloo. Hofstetter‘s work has been exhibited at the Tom Thomson Memoâ€" rial Gallery in Owen Sound, the Art Gallery of Hamilton, the Rodâ€" man Hall Gallery in St. Catharines, the Art Gallery of Brant in Brantford, the Burâ€" naby Art Gallery in Burnaby, B.C., the Meâ€" morial University Art Gallery of Newfoundâ€" land and at the Kitchâ€" enerâ€"Waterloo Art Galâ€" lery. A few of the local artists represented in the Art Rental Collecâ€" tion include Roy Ausâ€" tin, Margaret Bigley, Hubert Haisoch, David Hunsberger and Jean Klaassen. The exhibiâ€" tion also features works by well known artists: ofls by Frances Ann Johnston, waterâ€" colors by Jack Reid, collage by York Wilson and drawings by Wilâ€" liam Winter. The art rental serâ€" vice is a project of the volunteer committee of the gallery. And finally, Rentâ€" ables, the fifth annual exhibition of works from the Art Rental Collection of the galâ€" lery will be displayed until Jan. 3.