Going in Style

In an era where the box office is largely dictated by men in capes or fast-driving families, there’s something oddly rebellious about a movie where the primary high-speed chase involves a motorized mobility scooter and a pack of stolen organic pork. I watched Going in Style while waiting for my car’s oil change, nursing a lukewarm Diet Coke that a toddler at the next table kept eyeing like it was the Holy Grail, and honestly, the setting felt appropriate. This is "Comfort Food: The Movie," served with a side of righteous indignation and a heavy dusting of AARP-approved charm.

By 2017, we had already seen the "Geriatric Justice" subgenre find its legs with films like The Bucket List or Last Vegas. However, director Zach Braff, the man who once defined indie angst with Garden State, decided to trade in the Shins-heavy soundtracks for a heist flick that feels like a warm hug from your grumpiest uncle. It’s a remake of the 1979 Martin Brest classic, but while the original was a bit of a somber affair, this version is a neon-lit fantasy about sticking it to the banks that spent the last decade making everyone’s life miserable.

The Triple-Threat of AARP Avengers

The real reason anyone is here, and the reason I didn't just spend that hour scrolling through social media, is the central trio. You have Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, and Alan Arkin. That’s three Oscars, a collective age that spans several geological epochs, and enough screen presence to make a phone book reading feel like a Shakespearean soliloquy. Michael Caine plays Joe, the catalyst who witnesses a bank robbery and decides that his disappearing pension is a good enough excuse to try it himself.

Morgan Freeman is Willie, the heart of the group whose health issues provide the requisite emotional stakes, and Alan Arkin is Albert, the perpetual skeptic who provides the dry, cynical wit that keeps the movie from drifting into pure saccharine territory. This movie is essentially "The Avengers" for people who still get a physical newspaper and complain about the price of stamps. Their chemistry isn't just "good"—it’s the kind of effortless rapport you only get when actors have nothing left to prove. They look like they’re having the time of their lives, particularly in a scene where they attempt to shoplift from a grocery store and realize they are spectacularly bad at being criminals.

Zach Braff Finds His Inner Grandpa

It’s interesting to see Zach Braff at the helm here. Known for his specific brand of Millennial introspection, his direction in Going in Style is surprisingly restrained and traditional. He knows the camera just needs to stay on the faces of his legends. The script by Theodore Melfi (who wrote the excellent St. Vincent) leans heavily into the post-2008 resentment towards financial institutions. In a world of streaming dominance where every movie tries to be a "content play" for a global audience, this feels refreshingly small and specific.

The humor isn't trying to be edgy; it’s observational. It’s about the indignity of being ignored by a society that views you as a "fixed asset" rather than a person. There’s a subplot involving Ann-Margret pursuing Alan Arkin that is genuinely charming, proving that you’re never too old for a rom-com subplot that doesn’t feel patronizing. Even John Ortiz, as the "criminal consultant" Jesus, adds a layer of fun to the mandatory training montage.

Stuff You Didn't Notice

The production had its own share of "legacy" moments. Apparently, the masks the trio wears during the heist aren't just random caricatures; they were designed to look like exaggerated versions of the actors themselves—a meta-wink that works better than it has any right to. Also, Peter Serafinowicz (the voice of Darth Maul and the star of The Tick) pops up as Murphy, and his comedic timing almost steals the movie away from the heavyweights.

The film also managed to snag a decent box office run, pulling in over $84 million on a modest $25 million budget. It proved that in an age of CGI overload, audiences still crave a story about people they actually like. Interestingly, Michael Caine has mentioned in interviews that he found the physical demands of the "action" scenes more exhausting than some of his work in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy, mostly because he had to do so much of it while pretending to be even more frail than he actually was.

Going in Style doesn't reinvent the wheel, and it certainly doesn't try to be a deep dive into the ethics of larceny. It’s a "vibe" movie—the vibe being that of a Saturday afternoon when you’ve finished your chores and just want to see some good people win for once. It’s a fantasy, sure, but in our current era of corporate facelessness, watching Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine outsmart a bank is a specific kind of magic. It’s light, it’s airy, and while it might not stay with you for years, it’ll certainly make those 96 minutes feel like money well spent.