Going in Style is a remake of a classic comedy about a three elderly men who decide to rob a bank when their pension funds are mismanaged.
Back in 1979, George Burns, Lee Strasberg, and Art Carney, headlined a film written and directed by Martin Brest about three men in their twilight years who grow bored with their dull days and decide to spice things up and tip over a bank. Flash forward 37 years and now we are set for a remake, and while it keeps the same name, Going in Style, and a bit of the plot, it looks to take a different angle.
Being 2016, naturally, the men need more motivation for becoming felony criminals than just boredom, and since big banks have been the go-to bad guy in movies since 2008, it only makes sense that the update would keep the guys on the up-and-up by having them stick it to the man, per se, stealing only what they feel is theirs after they are informed their pensions have collapsed. Time for a crime spree.
A comedy with heart no doubt, it stars Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, and Alan Arkin. This marks the sixth time Freeman and Caine have worked together, but the first comedy. It’s directed by none other than Zach Braff of Scrubs fame, working off a screenplay by Theodore Melfi, who adapted the Brest treatment. Mixing a lot of modern tech and pop culture references to give the old men some gags to laugh at, the clip looks to have some fun with the premise.
READ MORE: A review of the Michael Caine drama Youth
The cast is rounded out by a number of other elder legends of the silver screen, including Christopher Lloyd and the irreplaceable Ann-Margret, who is now older than Jack Lemon was when she starred with him in 1993’s Grumpy Old Men. Hard to believe. Going in Style is scheduled for release on April 7, 2017.