Going in Style (2017)

When three movie legends like Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Alan Arkin make a movie together it's very hard to pass it. It's even harder if said movie is a heist movie, a genre I love, and it's even suggested to you by someone you usually trust with movie suggestions. And it's terrible when said movie just isn't that good. Yes, I'm talking about Going in Style. 

Joe (Michael Caine), Willie (Morgan Freeman) and Al (Alan Arkin) are senior citizens and lifelong friends trying to survive with their pensions in New York. But when their pensions are cancelled, they plan to rob a bank. None of them has ever done anything criminal in their lives and to pull off the heist, they are going to need help and a lot of practice.

I haven't seen the original movie (I found out this was a remake only after watching it), and yet the plot turned out exactly as I was expecting it to be, very predictable and not original at all. It doesn't take any interesting or surprising twist, and it has a way too happy happy ending. So happy that make me sick. 

The writing isn't any better in the characters department. The characters aren't that interesting, they are kinda full and rather forgettable. They all are given a reason for doing the bank robbery, but those subplots kinda feel forced and clichéd. And other than that, they have no such thing as development.

Warner Bros. Pictures

That said, the leading trio, Freeman, Caine and Arkin, actually have a nice chemistry. They really look like friends (and maybe they are in real life, I don't know) and the heist isn't the only thing they pull off. Although most of the humour is dull, a little contrived and eventually gets very repetitive and kind of annoying, the three actors manage to deliver several funny moments and make the film a little entertaining and not a complete waste of time. 

The gags aren't spectacular but a few of them work nicely, like the supermarket heist, especially the escape, and the bank robbery. The bank manager played by Josh Pais made me laugh pretty loud.