'Going in Style' - Movie review

This remake of the 1979 Martin Brest film that had George Burns, Art Carney and Lee Strasberg as seniors burglarizing a bank, has marquee names playing the lifelong buddies, all Oscar haloed geriatrics now, Willie (Morgan Freeman), Joe (Michael Caine) and Albert (Alan Arkin) who decide to step off the straight-and-narrow when their pension funds get nixed in a corporate takeover

Going in Style
A; Comedy/Drama
Director: Zach Braff
Cast: Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Alan Arkin, Ann-margret Null, John Ortiz, Matt Dillon, Christopher Lloyd, Kenan Thompson, Peter Serafinowicz, Joey King
Rating: 

This remake of the 1979 Martin Brest film that had George Burns, Art Carney and Lee Strasberg as seniors burglarizing a bank, has marquee names playing the lifelong buddies, all Oscar haloed geriatrics now, Willie (Morgan Freeman), Joe (Michael Caine) and Albert (Alan Arkin) who decide to step off the straight-and-narrow when their pension funds get nixed in a corporate takeover.

There's need coupled with vengeance here and it could well have had a highly combustible affect- but the treatment( other than the first 15 odd mins) is so uninspiring that it fails to mark up any affection. Screenwriter Theodore (Hidden Figures)Melfi doesn't quite have the 'real life meaningfulness' to work on here so he just sits with the headlines – leaving the inter-personal engagement to seem like an unconvincing façade.

After a disastrously inane trial attempt, the trio decide to seek expert training. Joe contacts his ex-son-in-law, criminally well connected at that, Murphy (Peter Serafinowicz), and a professional thief (John Ortiz) also gets on board.

Despite the requisite heist-planning montage including split-screens, animated blueprints, timers, and details of each one's alibis accompanied by a score engineered to thump up the experience, this one doesn't come close to any Steven Soderbergh heist film. The opening stylishness and interesting character intercessions give way to obvious stupidity and inexplicably dumb shenanigans. To think that these sweet old men were willing to put themselves through this inanity, is certainly not appreciable.

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