Why Him? (2016) *

Directed by:  John Hamburg

Starring:  Bryan Cranston, James Franco, Zoey Deutch, Keegan Michael-Key, Megan Mullally, Griffin Gluck, Cedric the Entertainer

Why Us? is a more appropriate title for this movie.   What did we as an audience do to deserve it?   We paid our hard-earned money to see this "comedy" in the hopes of being entertained or at least mildly amused, yet we are subjected to something that seems designed to make the viewer as uncomfortable as possible.    Why Him? does not have an original plot and there is nothing fresh about how it is treated here.   In fact, writer-director Hamburg recycles his formula from Meet the Parents, which compared to Why Him? is a Best Picture contender.   But, it ups the ante on slapstick, gross-out humor, unlikable characters, and then tries to reverse course and become earnest.  Ugh.

Where do I begin?   Let's start with Laird (Franco), a California tech billionaire dating the daughter of Midwest printer company owner Ned Fleming (Cranston).  After an inauspicious introduction to Laird while on Face Time, Stephanie (Deutch), invites her family to California for Christmas to meet Laird in person and see what a wonderful guy he is.  How someone as bright and pretty as Stephanie can fall for an obnoxious creep like Laird is one question the movie never answers.     Laird does not make a favorable impression.   He says "fuck" and "motherfucker" nearly every other word (much to Stephanie's chagrin).  He yells obnoxiously and obscenely flaunts his wealth, which involves serving sea urchins and California bear for dinner courtesy of his live-in chef.    He all but hits on Stephanie's mother Barbara (Mullally) and behaves with too much uncomfortable familiarity with the others.   Laird is repellent and even more so when he tries to be nice.  Stephanie says he is simply trying too hard to impress Ned.   My advice: Try a lot less hard.

Ned, not unreasonably, doesn't like Laird and definitely doesn't like his idea of proposing to Stephanie on Christmas Eve.    The movie then encroaches on Meet the Fockers territory as Ned tries to do some undercover research on Laird and fouls up considerably.     Laird's firewall includes Laird's face superimposed on an octopus which violates an avatar of the hacker with forced anal sex.     What is it with James Franco and movies with unfunny homoerotic humor?     Is at least one homoerotic joke per movie spelled out in his contract?    If so, why?

Why Him? is a question Ned asks his daughter openly.    She defends him as a sweet, caring guy despite all evidence to the contrary.    Everybody gets into the act of being loud, shrill, or rude, including a Siri-like disembodied voice voiced by Kaley Cuoco.  Even she swears.  Nothing in Why Him? is funny or even inspired.  It is a dead zone.  There are many talented people involved in Why Him?, which feels like a day off for them and wastes their time that could've been devoted to catching up on sleep.   

The Pacifier (2005) * * *

 

Directed by:  Adam Shankman

 

Starring:  Vin Diesel, Brittany Snow, Max Thieriot, Brad Garrett, Lauren Graham, Faith Ford, Carol Kane, Chris Potter, Morgan York

 

The Pacifier successfully kids Vin Diesel's macho action star image and turns the movie into more fun than expected.     We know the story arc and we know it is predictable.     Navy SEAL Shane Wolfe (Diesel) is assigned to protect the family of a recently deceased computer programmer who created something wanted by nefarious people.     He is a fish out of water, naturally, and the kids don't take kindly to his attempts to run the house like basic training.    Then, the chasm between Shane and the kids closes, they learn to love and respect each other, and then team up to battle the bad guys.    Nothing new here, but The Pacifier has a pleasant appeal to it.

 

I may be in the minority, but I have always been a fan of Diesel's work.    While the action films surely don't do wonders for his range, he possesses intelligence and a steady screen presence.    I liked him in films like Boiler Room, Saving Private Ryan, and Find Me Guilty, which gives Diesel dimensions not shown in the Fast and the Furious or XXX movies.      In The Pacifier, which may be Diesel's only comedy to date, he shows us his likability too.     Shane is a man who is only at home when he is leading missions to rescue people or blow things up.     He is not as adept at handling rebellious kids while their mother (Ford) is off to Switzerland trying to gain access to her late husband's secret bank account.    The family does seem to get over his death rather quickly, but then again the movie isn't interested in delving into grief.  

 

Subplots such as Seth (Theriot) being bullied at school for wanting to be an actor is dealt with, the eldest daughter Zoe's (Snow) upcoming driving exam, a school production of The Sound of Music which seems to have the budget of the movie, and Shane's burgeoning relationship with the school's principal (Graham), a former military woman herself. are all presented and resolved within the film's 90-minute running time.    Let's not forget the Neanderthal gym teacher (Garrett), who assists in Seth's bullying and gets a satisfactory comeuppance when he challenges Shane to a wrestling match.    

 

The Pacifier has enough to satisfy everyone.    The mixture of action and sentimentality may seem ungainly at first, but the movie is paced well and the atmosphere never becomes too heavy.    In the end, Shane connects with the family and the villains are taken down handily.    There is also a pet duck which bites people on cue.    How many movies can boast about a family having a pet duck?  

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

Patriots' Day (2016) * *

Directed by:  Peter Berg

Starring:  Mark Wahlberg, John Goodman, Kevin Bacon, Michelle Monaghan, J.K. Simmons, Alex Wolff, Melissa Benoist, Themo Melikidze, Michael Beach

Patriots' Day, like Oliver Stone's World Trade Center (2006), begins with the dawn of a seemingly ordinary day in which people will soon have their lives forever altered by terrible events occurring a few short hours later.     Patriots' Day is the story of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, their aftermath, and the subsequent investigation and manhunt for the suspects.     We have a gripping story here which Patriots' Day never fully exploits for its strengths.     It is never as wound up as it should be; instead it is content to go off on tangents which distract from the movie's core.    It starts, sputters, and starts again, while never fully connecting emotionally as it should.  

The biggest issue with Patriots' Day is Mark Wahlberg's character, a Boston cop named Tommy Saunders who turns out to be fictional.     Why do we need a fictional person gumming up the works when there are plenty of real people we can focus on?     Director Peter Berg and Wahlberg team up for the third time with Patriots' Day, which is, like Lone Survivor (2013) and Deepwater Horizon (2016), based on a true story.     But Saunders isn't a real person, so why center the movie around his point of view?    The movie struggles to contrive various ways to shoehorn Saunders into the middle of each crucial development.     The FBI needs a "guy who knows the area" of where the bombing took place, so they call on Saunders and no one else.     The suspects carjack a vehicle and kidnap its owner and escapes (which led to a big break in the case) and who happens to be patrolling the area and respond first to the 911 call?   Tommy Saunders.    Minutes later, when the suspects are involved in a shootout with Watertown, Mass. police, who happens upon the scene but Tommy Saunders?    And who determines first that this was indeed a bombing?   Tommy Saunders.   He isn't a person; he is the movie's Forrest Gump.

Oh, did I also mention Saunders is saddled with a bum knee (which requires him to have his wife bring a "fatter brace" to the marathon finish line and thus place her in the middle of action too)?    He also has a backstory in which he is working his way out of the Boston PD doghouse, and working the finish line (which he feels is beneath him) is the last step in his penance.     Patriots' Day tries mightily to give Wahlberg stuff to do, at the expense of the real people who were directly involved in the event.     Since he is fictional anyway, why saddle him with all of this baggage? 

The movie works best when it focuses on the chaos of the bombing and its chilling, confusing aftermath.    The FBI investigation is led by Richard Deslausiers (Bacon), who sets up shop quickly in an abandoned warehouse and is at odds with police commissioner Ed Davis (Goodman) and Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick (Beach) as to how to proceed when crucial information is revealed.    Finding the bombers while viewing countless surveillance videos and sifting through evidence is akin to finding a needle in a stack of needles.   Deslausiers doesn't want to tip his hand and scare the Muslim suspects into hiding.    He doesn't want to be wrong and accuse two Muslims of the crime and have to face media backlash with profiling accusations.     Bacon and Goodman are more than up to the task of presenting us with competent lawmen who have to carefully weigh their options and not blow their case wide open.

Wahlberg brings his everyman quality to the role of Saunders, but the movie becomes too much of a star vehicle for him.    The movie bends and contorts to accommodate him, while shortchanging other people such as the victims and the investigators.     When the payoffs involving the victims arrive, it lacks the emotional oomph that it should have.     The movie wisely does spend time fleshing out the motives of the Tsaranev brothers, who committed the heinous acts, but were surely incompetent criminals who may as well have left a trail of bread crumbs to their location.     There is an interesting dynamic between the brothers.    The older Tamerlan (Melikdze) takes his cause with deadly seriousness.     The younger Dzokhar (Wolff) treats the whole thing like he is playing a real-life version of Grand Theft Auto, which only adds to his callousness.     He is constantly begging his older brother to "give him a gun".    To Dzokhar, this is all a big game.

We know how everything turns out, but the movie doesn't generate the suspense like better movies based on a crisis (Apollo 13 is a prime example).     A strong film based on a well-known story knows that we know how the events unfold, but still keeps us captivated.     Patriots' Day never fully keeps us involved, which is a shame because all of the ingredients of a gripping film are here.     We just don't wind up with one. 





 

The Boss Baby (2017) * 1/2

Directed by:  Tom McGrath

Starring:  (voices of)  Alec Baldwin, Steve Buscemi, Jimmy Kimmel, Lisa Kudrow, Tobey Maguire, Miles Bakshi

I'm not sure which audience The Boss Baby is expected to appeal to.    It doesn't have enough references and sly jokes to keep adults interested and a child wouldn't know what to make of a baby who shows up one day wearing a suit.    The parents of Tim (Bakshi) don't seem to even notice this odd sartorial choice of their new baby, who apparently wasn't born the customary way, but manufactured by a company called BabyCorp and taxied right to the front door.     The Boss Baby is high concept that stayed stuck at the concept stage.

Nonetheless, there is no point in arguing how or why The Boss Baby (Baldwin) showed up in Tim's household.   We accept him as a fact of life and now he is stealing away all of the attention Tim used to receive from his doting parents.     The Boss Baby is a demanding infant who runs his parents ragged.    This is all by design, as The Boss Baby's intentions are soon explained, although not necessarily made clear.     Tim's parents work for PuppyCorp, run by Francis E. Francis (Buscemi) which is expecting to unveil to the world a new breed of dog which will be so adorable that it will cause all parents to love it more than their babies.    (I think).    The Boss Baby's plan is to thwart this unveiling in Las Vegas and thus earn his long overdue promotion.     He enlists Tim's reluctant help in doing so, since the quicker The Boss Baby gains his promotion, the quicker he will be out of Tim's life. 

The filmmakers assumed the idea of a suit-wearing infant voiced by Alec Baldwin, who is experiencing a career renaissance by his SNL Donald Trump impersonations, would be enough to keep everyone amused and nothing else would need to be done with it.     With such a confusing plot and even more confusing plot developments, mixed in with the obligatory sentimentality we could see coming a mile away, The Boss Baby is dead in the water.     All of this is an ungainly fit.

The Boss Baby was clearly not made for me.    Maybe children will get more out of it than I did, which is just as well.    Some of the kids in the audience appeared to have a good time.    I'm not going to be that guy who would try to keep you from seeing The Boss Baby, especially if you have younger children who may enjoy seeing this unusual baby in action.     I wasn't much amused by it, but I'm hardly the authority on what would work for children.  

Thirteen Days (2001) * * *

Directed by:  Roger Donaldson

Starring:  Kevin Costner, Bruce Greenwood, Steven Culp, Dylan Baker, Kevin Conway

The world stood on the brink of nuclear war during two weeks in the fall of 1962.    This may sound hyperbolic, but this was the case when the USSR began building missiles, which if launched could wipe out millions of Americans, in Cuba.     The American response would've been to annihilate millions of Soviets with its missiles.     There was always the threat of such drastic action during the Cold War, however unlikely it may have seemed.     After all, what good would it do to virtually destroy each other?    During the Cuban Missile Crisis, we nearly had to deal with such a question for real rather than hypothetically.

Thirteen Days portrays the internal battles that went on in the White House during that time.    President John F. Kennedy (Greenwood) faced not only the dreary prospect of causing the deaths of millions with one launch order, but the mounting pressure of his Joint Chiefs of Staff who were itching for a fight to issue such an order.    War dogs such as Gen. Curtis Lemay (Conway) and other military hardliners wanted to go to war.     Kennedy, accompanied by his attorney general brother Robert (Culp), and his special assistant Kenneth O' Donnell (Costner), weren't so eager and for completely understandable reasons.     The generals saw the crisis as a chance to finally use their  military arsenal and flex their muscle, as if somehow such a move would result in any sort of meaningful victory.    They didn't care.     Kennedy did.    His job was to stare down his own generals as much as it was to stare down the Soviets.     The decision fell on Kennedy as commander-in-chief to make the call and history would have reflected that he made the decision to wipe out millions of lives.    This was not something Kennedy took lightly, and rightfully so.

We see the political maneuverings, the choosing up of sides, and both sides digging their heels in.    The President has the ultimate decision, but that doesn't mean others can't (or won't) try to influence him.     The Kennedys and O'Donnell see the alternative possibility of diplomacy with Soviet leaders, which are largely unseen in the film except at crucial moments.     The movie doesn't take the easy way out and make the generals villains and the Kennedys heroes.    Neither group knows exactly how to handle such an unprecedented situation and rely on their experience to navigate through it.     Thirteen Days doesn't take sides, although we know now what the correct side was.     The players in the film don't have the luxury of history.

Costner is the star of the film, but his character isn't necessarily the focal point.    He does his due diligence in support of his longtime friends, including making calls to Air Force pilots running spy missions and asking them not to get shot down.     You have to read between the lines to understand what he is actually saying to the pilots without expressly saying it.     Thirteen Days correctly shifts the focus to the President and his brother, who stand to lose the most politically if they make the wrong move.     The rest of the world stood to lose even more.     Greenwood, a strong character actor, gives us a strong-willed, thoughtful Kennedy who convinces us of the sometimes overwhelming internal pressure cooker going on inside.     He makes a convincing Kennedy, which isn't easy to do.  

O' Donnell has a family, but is rarely home during the two weeks.    His scenes with his family feel obligatory and slow things down.    The movie could have not even mentioned his family and we would have been none the wiser.    Jackie and Ethel Kennedy remain unseen and the movie doesn't suffer because of it.    Thirteen Days is an excerpt of an unsure period in which the world faced an unprecedented threat.     The people do the best they can according to their natures and the information presented.     As the film ends, we see the Kennedys and O'Donnell walking outside, catching their respective breaths and discussing the future, which ended much too hastily for them.     It is unsettling to realize that John would be dead in a little over a year and his brother five years after that.   

Born on the Fourth of July (1989) * * * *

Directed by:  Oliver Stone

Starring:  Tom Cruise, Willem Dafoe, Kyra Sedgwick, Raymond J. Barry, Caroline Kava, Frank Whaley, Jerry Levine

Oliver Stone's Platoon was a story of the fighting in Vietnam itself.    Born on the Fourth of July is a story of its aftermath, embodied in soldier Ron Kovic (Cruise), who comes home paralyzed, forgotten by his country, and jeered by anti-war protesters.    He steadfastly supports the war, even after his stay in a horrifying VA hospital with conditions akin to those in a supposed third world country.    But then, his anger, guilt, and remorse mounts.    What used to be clear to him no longer is.    He drowns his sorrows in alcohol and self-destructive behavior which alienates him from his family.     Then, after years of aching soul-searching, Kovic realizes his purpose is to speak out against the war; to join the protesters who gave him the finger or called him "baby killer".    He knows more about that than those who stood on the sidelines.   In Born on the Fourth of July, this transition is painful and soon inevitable.    

Born on the Fourth of July does not take Kovic's transition lightly.    It follows Kovic from patriotic teenager eager to fight for his country in the early days of the Vietnam War to his role as a wheelchair-bound anti-war advocate.     You may wonder why Kovic didn't immediately turn against the war once he was paralyzed from a bullet wound.     For Kovic, his belief in his country ran deep.   He defended it even while staring face down at his own vomit for hours in a VA hospital.    He defended it even though his guilt and rage haunted his waking hours while unable to move without wheelchair assistance ever again.  

Tom Cruise was Oscar-nominated for Best Actor for his role here.    If I had a vote, I would've cast it for Cruise.    He never steps wrong.    We see him as a wide-eyed, true believer in the Vietnam War which causes him to sign up for service as soon as he graduated high school.    We see him grow up fast in the horrid conditions of Vietnam.    We see him make two crucial mistakes which haunt him for the rest of his days and serve as the eventual impetus for his change.     When he returns home, he stubbornly, defiantly tells others, "Love it or leave it,"     He soon learns there is plenty of gray area.
This all exists seamlessly and convincingly in the same person.    Cruise is never less than sympathetic, fascinating, and compelling.     He allows us to be a witness to his internal suffering, which is not something every actor can do well.

Stone allows Kovic to be his argument against U.S. foreign policy in which we shoot first and ask questions later.     That happened in Vietnam.    And in Iraq.    The repercussions are still felt today and will forever more.     The government sent young men and women to die in wars that were unnecessary and unjust; started only because the government thought there were perceived threats that didn't exist.     Or maybe it thought we needed a war right about then.    Stone, a Vietnam veteran who has stared into the inferno of war, has made his cynicism about the government well known not just here or in Platoon, but in JFK, Nixon, and W.    Stone is at his best in the political milieu.    He lends a heart to oppose the cold bureaucracy of his government.   

Born on the Fourth of July allows us to witness Kovic's transformation which is a long time coming.    It is at first harrowing, then immensely powerful.    The Cruise performance, along with Magnolia (1999) represents his best work to date.     These days, Cruise is content on making multi-million dollar action blockbusters which keep him in the money, but don't actually showcase his considerable talent.     Watching Born on the Fourth of July again reminds me of his pure ability.    While Kovic's changes represent an ideological awakening for him, there is always the sobering reality that, no matter what, Kovic will always be confined to a wheelchair; a daily reminder of his sacrifices.    It is more sobering to know that there are others whose sacrifices were even greater...and sadder because they were in the service of the Vietnam War.   

Mr. Saturday Night (1992) * * *

Directed by:  Billy Crystal

Starring:  Billy Crystal, Julie Warner, David Paymer, Helen Hunt, Ron Silver, Mary Mara

The recent death of Don Rickles got me thinking about Mr. Saturday Night, a movie about fictional insult comic Buddy Young, Jr. (Crystal) who could have been a Rickles contemporary in another universe.   Both Young and Rickles are funny, but Rickles knew how to walk the tightrope between funny and potentially explosive subject matter.   He insults, but in a way to let you know he is truly kidding.   Young doesn't have such judgment.   He insults to wound people and his stand-up act spills over into his personal life more often than it should.     This leads to numerous career-derailing moments for Buddy.    He could have been a legend, but became a cautionary tale.

The Buddy Young Jr. character was performed by Crystal during his incredible one-year stint on Saturday Night Live.   Crystal has likely seen such comics before.   He has the timing and delivery of a Borscht Belt comedian down pat.   But, we wince when a joke falls flat or Buddy loses his audience.   There are times he tells one joke too many and should have quit while he was ahead.    But, that isn't Buddy's style.   His brother, Stan (Paymer-in an Oscar-nominated role), is his manager and likens himself to "the guy who follows the elephant act with a shovel."   His assessment is correct.    

This isn't to say that Buddy is insufferable.   He isn't.  He just doesn't know how to read people.  He is forever defensive and his own worst enemy.   There are times, such as his courtship of his wife Ellen (Warner) in which we see Buddy's sweet side.   It pops occasionally as the film progresses, as Buddy realizes he has hurt too many people and blew too many chances during this showbiz career.  These transitional scenes are hit and miss and are the weakest parts of the film.   They seem more obligatory than real changes of heart.   

Crystal, in his directorial debut, performs and directs with a love of comics like Young.    He doesn't ask for pity or even understanding.    He invites us to observe and perhaps heed the wisdom in avoiding the wrongheaded choices Buddy makes.    As the film progresses, Buddy starts out as a teenage comic who learns to insult after masterfully handling hecklers.   "You're New Jersey in pants," he tells one.    He works the clubs in the Catskills and meets his future wife there.   Stan is at first part of Buddy's act and even fancies Ellen himself, but prefers to stay on the sidelines and manage (and perhaps envy) the more courageous Buddy. 

As the film opens, Buddy is an aged comic with dimming career prospects.   He once hosted his own TV show in the 1950's, but lost it once he accused Davy Crockett and those at the Alamo of being gay (in response to losing in the ratings to the Davy Crockett show week after week).   He went from being the toast of the comedy world to "that guy who blew his own TV show out of the water" with one ill-advised rant.   He was supposed to work a cruise for the winter, but they cancelled on him.    He works nursing homes, but not steadily.   His new agent (Hunt) has no idea what to do with him.   

Ellen is eternally patient and understanding, as is Stan.   But Stan soon wants to retire, which hurts Buddy as well as inconveniences him.    In typical Buddy fashion, he accuses Stan of being disloyal.  We can only speculate how many times over the years Stan and Ellen have had to set him straight, which is more often than not a fool's errand.    His daughter Susan (Mara) has issues which may or may not be attributed to Buddy's cantankerous ways.   

Mr. Saturday Night is a comedy first and foremost, lest I made it sound gloomy and tragic.   Buddy's behavior sometimes is tragic, but nothing he can't come back from.    It is a tribute to Crystal's considerable talent that we find ourselves caring enough for Buddy to hope that he figures it all out, even in his 70's.    It is never too late.   And in the end, he is still a pretty funny guy. 

Singles (1992) * * *

Directed by:  Cameron Crowe

Starring:   Campbell Scott, Bridget Fonda, Matt Dillon, Kyra Sedgwick, Eddie Vedder, Jim True, Sheila Kelley, Bill Pullman

Cameron Crowe's Singles focuses on relationships between Seattle twenty-somethings and was filmed just as the city's grunge scene was gaining national prominence.    There is no mention of Nirvana and Pearl Jam, mostly because Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder plays Matt Dillon's band mate in this film.   The music and the clubs add color, but the issues the people face happen everywhere.    We can surely see parts of ourselves in the various characters which populate Singles; characters looking for love and even some validation of themselves during an unsure time in their lives. 

Singles' main relationship is between Seattle professionals Steve (Scott) and Linda (Sedgwick).    They meet shortly after painful breakups with others and are hesitant to show their true feelings to each other.    Instead, they play games of one-upmanship which lead to insecurity and worry.    They make it a point to wait a few days before calling each other so as not to appear to eager, or heaven forbid interested in a relationship.     The initial courtship is one big power play.    Maybe that adds to the excitement. 

The other relationship detailed in Singles is between barista Janet (Fonda) and local grunge musician Cliff (Dillon).     Janet is openly in love with Cliff, while Cliff openly has little regard for her.    Their feelings are obvious and not shrouded in power plays and mystery.    Janet blames herself for not being able to keep Cliff interested.     She even inquires about breast enhancement.    Cliff keeps Janet at arm's length because, despite local critics' reviews to the contrary, he sees himself as a future rock superstar who will have women fawning all over him.    Why get tied down to Janet?
He is pushing thirty, and a little long in the tooth to be prancing on local stages dreaming of mainstream success.   Just don't tell him that. 

Linda and Steve eventually let their guards down, but more complications arise which test their newfound love.      Janet learns to finally let go of Cliff, while Cliff soon realizes Janet was the best girlfriend he could ever hope for, but now it's too late.    Singles moves along with smart dialogue and sympathetic people.    We care for them and want them to be happy, even the clueless Cliff.     Some of the people follow an unwritten relationship playbook as a way to avoid being hurt.    Others jump headlong into love heedless of the risks, not afraid to put themselves out there, be rejected, and then put themselves out there again.    A mutual friend of both couples (Kelley) is single and hopeful to the point of creating promotional videos of herself to prospective mates.

The actors are smart and make us care.    Crowe's writing takes on a real feel to it.   The dialogue isn't written to be quotable, but carry a certain truth we can all recognize.    In the grungy nightclubs in which the booze flows and people body surf (remember that?), Singles reassures us that the old-fashioned ways of love still survive.    

Going in Style (2017) * * *

Directed by:  Zach Braff

Starring:  Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Alan Arkin, Ann-Margret, John Ortiz, Christopher Lloyd, Matt Dillon, Siobhan Fallon, Kenan Thompson

Zach Braff's remake of the 1979 dark comedy Going in Style is indeed cheerier than the original film.    The plot outlines remain the same (three elderly men rob a bank in response to their financial/living situations), but otherwise we are talking about two completely different movies.    There is nothing wrong with that.   The actors here are clearly having fun and we do too.   

In the film's opening scene, Joe Harding (Caine) is discussing his grave mortgage situation with a smug, unsympathetic bank manager when the bank is robbed by three masked men.    Joe's mortgage payments ballooned and he is thirty days from being evicted from his house.     When he and his lifelong friends, Willie (Freeman) and Al (Arkin), learn their pension from their former company will be frozen, making their tenuous financial situations even more tenuous, they decide to rob the same bank in retribution.    

Their trial run as fledgling criminals in a supermarket does not go well.    They can't even steal food right and wind up chastised by the store manager (Thompson), who can barely contain his incredulity at the would-be-criminals' pathetic ineptitude.    But soon the trio is in touch with a thief (Ortiz), who teaches them the ropes about crime.    Their plan, alibis, and execution of the plan are all worked out, although not without hitches.    In the 1979 version, which starred George Burns, Art Carney, and Lee Strasberg as the three friends, the guys almost expected to be caught and prepared for it.     The crime for them was to ease their financial burdens before dying and maybe earn them enough money for a weekend trip to Vegas.   Anything to get them out of the daily doldrums of sitting on a park bench.

Besides Joe's house issues, Willie is in renal failure and needs a kidney, while Al teaches saxophone to absolute no-talent students.    Arkin's non-verbal expressions of his displeasure with one of the students is one of the funniest moments of the movie.    These guys aren't just robbing a bank for kicks.    As in the 1979 version, the actors here are instantly familiar and we are comfortable with them.    Caine, Freeman, and Arkin have an unforced chemistry.    They know and like each other.    Are these the types of roles that earn Oscar nominations (all three men have won Oscars)?    No, but it is great to see them let loose and keep up with the energy Braff establishes early.  

I wasn't a fan of Braff's directorial debut Garden State (2004), which was as lifeless as Going in Style is energetic.    He was not the obvious choice to direct this material, but he finds a nice, easy pace and moves the film along.    This is not the type of film in which anyone goes to jail, which suits me just fine.    The original Going in Style had a dark edge to it.    It doesn't end happily, although Burns was content with the outcome.     This version of Going in Style covers the same themes (how society tends to cast aside the elderly), but does so in a lighter fashion.     Both films say the same things in different ways, and both are very effective.