GOING IN STYLE

GOING IN STYLE

If you think you've seen this movie before, you probably have seen the original or one of the many knock-off films like it. The original was released in 1979 and starred venerable comedians George Burns and Art Carney along with Lee Strasberg. It was one of the first films directed by Martin Brest and was pretty damned funny. Brest had another film that featured old folk going for one last hurray, namely "Scent of a Woman".

Since then, there have been at least one other old fart heist movie including "The Maiden Heist" with Christopher Walken and Morgan Freeman. There was the fairly recent "Stand Up Guys" which featured Al Pacino, Christopher Walken and Alan Arkin as three old geezers out creating illegal mayhem. I'm pretty sure there are others. If you need geezers trying to make a comeback of any kind, look no further than "Space Cowboys".

But Zach Braff took a script written by Theodore Melfi ("Hidden Figures") that modernized the original story to be a revenge/survival tale. The target is a bank that is somehow involved in ruining all their lives.

Braff cast Oscar winners Morgan Freeman as Willie, Michael Caine as Joe, and Alan Arkin as Al; retirees who see this one bank freeze their former employers assets - including their pensions, triple the mortgages and basically screw them every which way. The greedy back is the bad guy and deserves whatever it gets.

After witnessing the bank getting robbed one day, they get the idea to get back at the bank by pulling their own heist. Tossed in as amusing support are a lovely-as-ever Ann-Margret as Al's casual sweetie and a scene stealing Christopher Lloyd working his old Taxi schtick.

The 90-minute or so film doesn't throw any surprises. The one true funny scene is there practice robbery of the local grocery store. But this remake is much brighter than the original. In the original, the old folk were robbing the bank because the were bored and felt like society had kicked them to the curb. In Braff's version, they actually had decent lives until the bank became dirty.

However, it is not as funny as it probably could have been. The script was written for a comedian to make funny, not for Oscar winners to become comedians. So you wind up with a very watchable film featuring dramatic actors doing their best.

Braff leaves much to the experience in his veteran cast which could have used some guidance. It's interesting to see this Melfi script so incomplete unlike "St Vincent" and "Hidden Figures".

"Going In Style" is yet another remake that really didn't need to be remade, but it does leave you with a nice experience of seeing these film legends together, giving their best to a script that is only palatable. -- GEOFF BURTON

GEOFF BURTON

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