Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, and Alan Arkin rob a bank in Going in Style

Post date: Apr 13, 2017 2:22:56 PM

By: Robby Timmler, Staff Writer

Posted April 13th, 2017

Going in Style is the story of three 80 year old friends: Joe (played by Michael Caine), Willie (played by Morgan Freeman), and Albert (played by Alan Arkin), that have lost their pensions, that had previously been funding their retirements, because the old steel factory that they used to work at is moving to Vietnam and the pension are frozen until the move is over. This puts the three friends into a pickle because now they're not going to be able to pay rent. So Joe comes up with the idea of robbing a bank and ask Willie and Albert if they want to join in and they say yes. So the three friend try a dry run by robbing a grocery store, but they get caught. This causes Joe to get the idea that they need some guides on how to steal. So Joe goes to his ex-son in law Murphy (played by Peter Serafinowicz), who owns a pot store to lead him to someone who knows how to steal. This leads Joe to José (played by John Ortiz) who teaches the three friends how to rob the bank and what is all need to do it. So Joe, Willie, and Albert get the supplies need for the job and come up with their cover stories, so they can pull off what they consider the impossible.

Going in Style is film that certainly is meant for senior citizens, but is still a fun watch. The cast is great, especially the 3 main leads: Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, and Alan Arkin, who have great chemistry and comedic timing together. While Arkin brings most of the one liners, Caine and Freeman brings most of the emotion with their situations. Caine’s character is taking care of his daughter and granddaughter by providing a roof over their heads, but that might be taken away from him. Freeman’s character is on a waiting list for a new kidney and doesn’t have much time to reconnect with his daughter and spend more time with his granddaughter. The weakness of Going in Style is that some of the jokes don’t land and that there many holes in the plot, like while the three friend are scoping out the bank, their taking photos of the bank, including the location the cameras,which in reality would be a major red flag to the bank that they're going to be robbed. Going in Style gets a 6.5/10 stars.