This feels so randomly directed by Zach Braff.

The trio of legendary stars are genial enough company for an hour and a half, but Going in Style is otherwise a bit of a bore, particularly compared to the original George Burns vehicle of the same name, which laces its old-age and caper humor with genuine anger and grit and is just far more provocative while still remaining an accessible studio picture. This version, flatly directed in pedestrian-journeyman mode by Zach Braff (no Garden State-style lifting from Wes Anderson and Hal Ashby here), is just too soft, too generic, too bland. Even its best gags and one-liners are not worth more than a smile. The central heist is abrupt and completely devoid of suspense, and the film lumbers on forever afterward, blundering through three or four perfectly suitable final shots. What the film could use most is even a minor injection of danger: it is ultimately telling the story of three pension-reliant men who turn to crime out of anger with the financial system, but any chance to embrace uncertainty (will they be captured or injured?) or briefly explore economic anxiety is swerved around in favor of broad, sanitized farce and, worse still, maudlin subplots. And the insistently jaunty original score becomes nearly infuriating, though generally adept soundtrack assembler Braff counters with a few choice cuts by, among others, Dean Martin and A Tribe Called Quest.

C

The actors do well but the cheap jabs at humor just don't work entirely. There is a lack of suspense and the stakes are bogged down by annoying montages before and after the heist. The biggest crime are the motives which generates no warmth towards the characters. The side story of the Chinese girl was cringe-worthy and the final "joke" during the ceremony was BAD, whoever wrote that should stop writing. The three veterans play each other very well but there is nothing much to showcase here.

4/10

Funny, but not much else to say. If you like the actors, you'll like it.

B