‘Going In Style’ brings old dogs with not-so-new tricks
IMAGINE AT the end of your life, after working yourself to the bone, the people you dedicated your life to suddenly turn around and put you out to pasture. That’s the scenario for the heroes of Going In Style (Joe, played by Michael Caine; Albert, played by Alan Arkin and Willie, played by Morgan Freeman).
After 30 years at the same company, the trio is swindled out of their hard-earned pension. Down on their luck, at their wit’s end and not enough time to start over, they decide to do the only logical thing they can think of – rob a bank.
Before reading any further, if the idea of three men in their late 70s planning and performing a bank heist is too much for you to swallow, this is not the film for you. I, myself, had to seriously suspend my disbelief just to suffer the premise. Once I did that, though, I found myself seriously enjoying a movie that I did not expect to.
CAST OF CLASS
Most of that is due to the sheer level of class brought by the cast here. Going In Style is not the first film to bring together a premier cast of actors of a certain age. Usually, those movies are just plain embarrassing. This time, though, the performances of
Before reading any further, if the idea of three men in their late 70s planning and performing a bank heist is too much for you to swallow, this is not the film for you.
Caine, Arkin and Freeman actually feel wonderfully understated. They give these characters life and make their stories tremendously relatable.
Not only are the characters easy to get behind, but the film has its fair share of laughs. It’s not every day you see Morgan Freeman being pushed in a motorised shopping cart. There’s the odd joke here and there that doesn’t exactly land, but overall, there were far more hits than misses.
The downside to Going In Style is that it doesn’t feel very fresh. It is certainly better than I anticipated, but ultimately, it’s a movie that you wouldn’t miss much by staying at home. While the actors certainly elevate their roles, it still remains the feel-good movie that lightly tugs at your heart strings, playing a safe inoffensive song. That said, viewers hoping to take the entire family to the cinema should be wary of the profanity in the movie. Perhaps there is one too many curse words for younger viewers.