"Worst Comes To The Worst, We Get Caught, We Get A Bed, Three Meals A Day, And Better Health Care Than We Got Now..."
From the trailers of Going In Style alone, the narrative for such a film could be concluded as a crime-centred comedy featuring classic and well-respected actors, all of whom have won numerous awards for their respective art, most notable of which is of course the esteemed Academy Award, which focuses upon a narrative of elderly trials and tribulations with the ultimate endgame being a resort to criminal activities. Sound familiar? Oh yeah, particularly with the inclusion of Alan Arkin in a leading role which of course links oh so heavily to the 2012 movie Stand Up Guys that it seems so redundant that a film so obviously similar in terms of narrative could be released only five years later, even worse so when considering Going In Style is a remake in itself of the 1979 movie of the same name. Alongside films such as Last Vegas and the widely panned release of Dirty Grandpa last year, the genre of esteemed acting money grabbing releases is once again rife within your local cinema chain, a chance to rejoice if ever there was one. With the release of Going In Style therefore, a movie written by Hidden Figures director Theodore Melfi and directed by Scrubs star Zach Braff, it comes as no surprise that Braff's movie is one which pulls no punches in terms of originality but as a whole is a surprisingly enjoyable piece of fluff which does no harm whatsoever and actually accomplishes something many contemporary comedy films fail to do; make me laugh!
With a leading trio in the form of Arkin, Caine and Freeman, the notion that Going In Style is the type of movie for each of the three to simply come in and pick up the cheque was indeed at the forefront of my mind throughout the course of the film's meaningful 90 minute runtime, yet unlike it's sibling this week in the form of Table 19, a similarly timed so-called comedy, Braff's movie is Annie Hall in comparison, with Going In Style not attempting to be anything more than a cheesy, throwaway geriatric-based comedy which lavishes in the charm and fundamental reliability of its' leading stars. Whilst the film's concluding act mirages into the sort of narrative that watchers of Hustle would be extremely snobbish at in terms of its' utter, utter silliness, Going In Style is a solid enough comedy to be worthy of entering your local cinema screen just long enough to appreciate how good Ann-Margaret looks for someone aged 75. Not exactly going in style come the end, Braff's movie is passable cheese and sometimes passable cheese is just good enough.
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