Charming cast of veterans lets ‘Going in Style’ slide by
“Going in Style” will probably be a lot more enjoyable if you’ve never seen the original.
It’s not that the remake is terrible. It’s cheerful and undemanding, and an appealing cast makes the time pass painlessly. But the 1979 film is poignant and layered. It’s funny, and not afraid to directly address some dark topics, including mortality, loneliness and the way we tend to overlook our aging population.
The new version smooths away most of those edges. What your left with feels more like an agreeable sitcom episode — imagine an all-male “Golden Girls” in which the main characters take up grand larceny — as opposed to something with nuance or depth.
The basic premise is the same. Three friends, all well past retirement age, decide to rob a bank. Joe (Michael Caine) comes up with the idea after witnessing a
robbery. Pals Willie (Morgan Freeman) and Al (Alan Arkin) join in. The motivation? Joe is on the verge of losing his house, while all three guys learn that their pensions are permanently frozen.
They get help from Jesus (John Ortiz), a guy with vague underworld connections (and hitting a vaguely sour note: the only noticeably Hispanic character in the film has to be a criminal?). He teaches the guys the ins and outs of thievery, and soon the trio has a plan they’re ready to execute. Very soon, in fact; no one can say the film is slowpaced, as our heroes get up-to-speed plotting an intricate heist in seemingly record time.
Ann-Margret, kitten-ish as ever, livens things up as a grocery-store employee who has a thing for Al; the two sing a fun duet of “Hallelujah I Love Him So.” And certain gags register; the guys watch “Dog Day Afternoon” before the day of the heist, a big no-no.
The cast works hard; Caine can take a throwaway line like “What you can do with frozen fish is admirable” and turn it into comic gold. Freeman can add gravitas to anything, and the chemistry between Arkin and Ann-Margret is sweet. But generally, the film is more forgettable and pleasant than anything else, and it doesn’t seem to aim for more than that.
Why remake a film if you plan to dumb it down?