The Octogenarian job arrives
Three Oscar winners team up in charming remake of 1970s heist film
Back in 1979, in the original Going In Style, three duffers played by George Burns (of course), Art Carney and Lee Strasberg knock over a bank. As Burns sees it, they can’t lose — even if they get caught, their pension cheques will be waiting for them when they get out of jail.
In the remake, however, the seniors are pulling the job because they don’t even have pension cheques any more. The company for which they used to work, now under new (foreign) management, has recently dissolved the retirement plan, leaving them all flat broke. See what 38 years will do?
The unfortunate three are played by 84-year-old Michael Caine, 83-year-old Alan Arkin and “baby face” Morgan Freeman, who will turn 80 this year. The opening scene finds Caine facing off against a smarmy bank manager (Josh Pais) when three masked men walk in and rob the place.
Like other citizen gangsters
of film lore, they refuse Caine’s offer of his wallet, explaining that they’re only taking the bank’s money. Almost immediately he starts flirting with the idea of becoming a senior citizen gangster himself.
It’s difficult to go wrong with this subject matter. The original, directed by Martin Brest, had a certain wispy, bittersweet charm. This time Zach Braff takes the helm, with a pumped-up script by Theodore Melfi (Hidden Figures) that emphasizes the planning and the all-important creation of credible alibis.
So we watch the boys perform a practice run in which they try to steal the ingredients for chicken cordon bleu from a local supermarket.
It goes badly, so they seek out professional help; John Ortiz as a shady criminal type with a heart of gold. Cue the inevitable montage, in which Caine et al prove they’re not just tricky; they’re geriatricky. (This might be the first crime-planning scene with two pee breaks.)
It would be entertainment enough just to watch these three Oscar-winners slumming their way through the movie’s moves, but the film’s backers clearly felt those would be insufficient rewards.
Just as every heist remake feels the need to up the financial take (see Ocean’s Eleven, The Italian Job, The Thomas Crown Affair, etc.), this one decides more emotional investment is required.
Thus the inclusion of adorable family members for Caine and Freeman, and a love interest for Arkin in the form of a thankfullynot-much-younger-woman, played by Ann-Margret. They’re not really necessary — Matt Dillon as a supercilious FBI agent is the only foil they need — but they don’t slow up the action too much, so it’s difficult to fault them.
Going in Style may not provide a huge payoff, but its modest charms are still fun.