Stand Up Guys (2013)

Get up guys, stand up guys

Released from prison after serving 28 years, Val (Pacino) reunites with his old friend and partner Doc (Walken). Val correctly guesses that Doc has been ordered by a long-time crime boss to kill Val by 10AM the next day. Doc is on a mission to make Val's apparent last living day the biggest adventure of both their lives.

You'd be forgiven for thinking this film would be good, considering it stars three winners of the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Sadly, you were mistaken.

Al Pacino, Christopher Walken and Alan Arkin give a trio of magnificent performances, being the only thing that carries this weak film. For a film that's labelled as a crime comedy, it's telling how not even Alan Arkin can deliver on the laughs, and saddening how Al Pacino has to follow in Robert De Niro's steps from Little Fockers and attempt humor by pretending to have a viagra-induced erection.
Their choreography seriously needed work

The direction is sloppy, and the script doesn't seem to have had much effort put into it, delivering one poor line of dialogue after another, and then try to stretch out the films running time with numerous diversions that serve little other than to detract from the potential there was. What could've been a plot built with a real emotional factor is instead wasted on numerous dull scenes and poor attempts at jokes.

The worst bit of it all was the ending, which came about in a pretty abrupt fashion, lacking any sense of closure for these characters we've followed for 94 minutes and feeling nothing short of unsatisfactory.

If the three main roles were played by any lesser actors than the trio that is Pacino, Walken and Arkin, then this film would have a much lower rating, as their great performances is the only saving grace in this poor film.

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