While older women generally have a harder time getting hold of roles in Hollywood, this is very different for men. Action stars from the eighties and nineties can still do the same now that they have almost reached their seventies and in most films there is room for men of age, also in the field of comedy. That occasionally produces terrible titles such as Dirty Grandpa, but also more entertaining titles such as Grumpy Old Men. Within the comedy genre there is another sub-genre, namely that of films in which old men do things they would not normally do. Think of The Bucket List, but also a Tough Guys from 1986, in which two old men who are out of prison and decide to rob a train. Going in Style is also a title that is similar in a sense.
When the elderly Joe Harding (Michael Caine) is told that he is losing his home to the bank, he gets inspired by a bank robbery and decides to convince his friends (played by Morgan Freeman and Alan Arkin), who also have had bad news, to rob the bank. Are they able to do that successfully?
Going in style is a remake of a film with the same title from the seventies with George Burns in the lead. I have to admit that my expectations, despite the excellent cast, were low. Perhaps under the influence of the terrible Standup Guys, in which Arkin also played. Yet I was pleasantly surprised by the light-hearted tone, the successful jokes and the chemistry between the three main characters. This is far from Oscar material but a delicious snack that for what it is certainly belongs to the better movies.
