In this day and age of slapping a movie together, Hollywood has stooped to presenting to its audience either a banal of mediocre originals stories to franchises or reboots to a never ending pace. And we, the audience, falls prey to the manipulative marketing that comes from the Hollywood machine. Usually reboots turn out to be lackluster versions of the original, even if the original was mediocre itself. Very few turn out to be the same quality or even better quality than that of the original, but when I viewed "Going in Style", I can say that as I was walking out of the theater, I felt that this version was every bit as well executed as its 1979 version counterpart.
Lifelong buddies Willie (Morgan Freeman), Joe (Michael Caine) and Al (Alan Arkin) decide to buck retirement and step off the straight-and-narrow for the first time in their lives when their pension fund becomes a corporate casualty. Desperate to pay the bills and come through for their loved ones, the three risk it all by embarking on a daring bid to knock off the very bank that absconded with their money. Since they obviously had no experience in robbing a bank, Joe was able to find a guy, Jesus (John Ortiz) to show them the ropes since he was considered an unsavory character. With his help, they weren't perfect, but maybe, just maybe, they might be able to pull it off. Actually the idea of the bank robbery came to them when Joe's bank was robbed and the crooks were never caught. So as Special FBI Agent Hamer (Matt Dillon) continues to investigate that robbery, they must be expressly careful that their plans aren't thwarted by anyone, especially Hamer.
Others to round out the cast are Ann-Margaret as Annie, Peter Serafinowicz as Murray, Joey King as Brooklyn, Christopher Lloyd as Milton, Maria Dizzia as Rachel Harding, Joe's daughter, Siobhan Fallon Hogan as Mitzi, the waitress, Kenan Thompson as Security Guard and Josh Pais as Chuck Lofton, bank manager.
This was directed well by Zach Braff ("Garden State" '04, "Night Life" (TV movie) '08, "Wish I Was Here" '14, "Self Promotion" (TV movie) '15) plus TV and shorts. This filmmaker being an established actor--"Scrubs" TV series, certainly knows what it takes to get his actors to work well with each other as well as emitting the most effective emotion needed to 'sell' the character they are playing. It was originally directed by Martin Brest who was one of the directors of the day, and Braff was every bit as talented as Brest. It was crafted well by writer Theodore Melfi ("Winding Roads" '99, "St. Vincent" '14, "Hidden Figures" '16) plus shorts based on the 1979 story by Edward Cannon. It was fairly similar to the original, however with a more modern kick to it. In this version, this seems to be a commentary of the 2008-09 financial debacle that caused poverty to so many people, and it's certainly making a statement of how the elderly are not respected in this society. Melfi is a very diverse writer and obviously chooses his projects with caution, so with this film, it's one more project where he can take an otherwise original screenplay and put a spark into it. And what can I say about Freeman, Caine and Arkin? These guys are consummate pros in their field, and certainly helped make this film sing, which makes it pure joy to see these actors do what they do best.
If you like comedies, as I do, you'll love this, especially considering it's not inanely written like a lot of comedies today. It's funny without being gross, and leaves us with a great message about the geriatric crowd without hitting us over the head. Grab the popcorn for this one.
Out of four Stars: 3.5 Rated: PG-13 97mins.
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