Going In Style

After surviving an armed bank raid, Michael Caine’s character convinces his fellow retirees, Morgan Freeman and Alan Arkin that they should rob the bank that has seized their old age pension funds. Threatened with foreclosure, re-possession and terminal illness, each comes to the inevitable conclusion that (now in the autumn of their lives) they have nothing left to lose.

‘Going In Style’ isn’t pretentious. It knows what it wants and the heart strings it intends on plucking.

In ’Going In Style’, each of its Oscar-winning leads do what they are best known for. Morgan Freeman is sincerely earnest, Alan Arkin is attractively grouchy and Michael Caine delivers discomfort with heart-wrenching realism. Simply put, if you’re a fan of either of these guy’s work, then you are not going to be disappointed.

Like each of its lead characters, ‘Going In Style’ isn’t pretentious. It knows what it wants and the heart strings it intends on plucking. Additionally aided by equally strong cameos from Matt Dillon and Ann Margaret, it certainly makes for an entertaining and enjoyable ninety minutes. For anyone who enjoyed either ‘The Last Marigold Hotel’ or ‘R.E.D.’, the entertainment here is similarly delivered by acting legends, still flexing their talent and charismatic vocal chords.

The comedy here is of a gentle and observational kind. Whilst not out to challenge its audience with the complexity of the heist (as in George Clooney’s ‘Ocean’s Eleven’), ‘Going In Style’ instead concentrates on the madness of the leads’ enterprise, the colourful characters they meet and their endearing sense of naiveté.

As victims of a seemingly faceless corporate America, ‘Going In Style’ also delivers a sly subtext about growing old and what it means to lose everything. ‘I, Daniel Blake’ this is not but wrapped in a comedy caper confection, it still has some telling punches to throw in amongst its more endearing laughs.