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It seems as though everyone is jumping on the elderly adventures bandwagon these days. Aging actors are coming out of the woodwork to play retired secret agents, musicians, and romantic leads. So it’s no big surprise to see Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, and Alan Arkin teaming up to play a bunch of old cons in director Fisher Stevens’s Stand Up Guys.
When Val (Pacino) is released from prison after 28 years, his best friend, Doc (Walken), is there to pick him up. Val is eager to paint the town red with his old pal, but Doc has a secret that’s holding him back. Their old boss, Claphands (Mark Margolis), still blames Val for his only son’s death—and he’s given Doc just one day to kill his old friend.
It doesn’t take Val long to figure out that his time is almost up. So he decides to steal a car and break their driver, Hirsch (Arkin), out of the nursing home for one last wild and crazy night.
The synopsis makes Stand Up Guys sound a bit like The Hangover with an elderly Wolf Pack. And, at times, that’s exactly how it feels. There are car chases and shootouts and naked women locked in trunks. There’s an incident involving Viagra and a rundown old brothel that results in a trip to the emergency room. And there are some less-than-funny gags involving a bunch of old guys trying to figure out how to start a new-fangled car. At times, it’s wildly funny; at other times, it feels just a little too childish for a bunch of old tough guys.
But Stand Up Guys isn’t all fun and games. While you might expect (or at least hope for) non-stop laughs, the characters often take time to reflect—to discuss their mistakes, their regrets, and their mortality—which makes the film feel less like The Hangover and more like The Bucket List. It may be realistic, given the situation, but these serious moments bring the pacing to a grinding halt—and they feel completely out of place between pharmaceutical heists and shootouts. And that uneven storytelling makes the whole thing feel like an erratic ride with someone who’s just learning to drive a stick: just when it starts to get moving, it jerks to a stop once again.
Stand Up Guys does have some entertaining moments, though—and, really, the cast alone makes it worth watching. Walken is always a hoot—and Arkin brings some much-needed energy to the old guys’ antics. So while it’s far from the perfect old guy action comedy, it’s not a bad choice for movie night with your dad.
Listen to the review on Reel Discovery:
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