Stand Up Guys (2012)

As his acting career is reaching its final stages (not yet but soon) Al Pacino can still find many ways of reinventing himself in areas he's never been in before. Though his leading man days are behind him, Pacino feels there's still some fuel left in the tank that no one could tell him otherwise even by starring films below his talents like "Stand Up Guys" a character driven vehicle which would have been the type of film he would have dismissed about a decade ago. I feel he should performed in more of these character dramas by the end of the 1990's that way we wouldn't watch a legendary performer like Pacino slowly fade out his status a top box office draw. Still, there's no one who has the nerve to arbitrarily say it to his face.Pacino stars as Val, a petty crook who's been incarcerated for over 28 years and has now been released. The only person who greets him is his old partner Doc (Christopher Walken), only not with open arms, but with the task of taking his life assigned by their old accomplice Claphands (Mark Margolis). Claphands has revenge on his mind for Val was responsible for the death of his who aligned with Val while Val served nearly three decades behind bars and has vowed that on the day of his release, he will be whacked. Doc is now in precarious situation that if he doesn't do the task, he'll be killed never meeting his estranged granddaughter (Addison Timlin).For a script to work, it needs to be in good hands of a trustworthy scriptwriter who can where these characters are coming from and to refrain from focusing too much on the plot, especially since the three leads are in the 70+ club. Sadly, the script was written by the much younger, fresher playwright Noah Haildle who's making his feature length screen debut. Not to say the guy's got no future, but the film feels more theatrical than it does cinematic, plus there's no motives into what makes these characters tick. It's just saturated with too much talk and it feels very random and frequent and they say a lot without holding anything that sparks interest. Which makes this 95 minute film feel like a two film. The momentum is at a snail's pace.The story circles around the long hours of events prior to Val's demise as Val and Doc getting into some mischief as a ploy to stall the execution. Such activities include entering a whorehouse just to steal some Viagra, steal a muscle car, gathering another old comrade in crime Hirsch (Alan Arkin), saving a rape victim (Vanessa Ferlito) while leaving her to take revenge on them and to operate a bulldozer to bury Hirsch who died from natural causes. Sounds like a lot in one night! Right? With a full table like this had the makings of a great comedy caper along with the pathos and the sad scenes combined. Sadly, Haidle only merely scratches the surface of these scenarios.Sure knowing that the film stars three screen legends like Pacino, Walken and Arkin in the leads is truly worth a viewing, but that would be the only legitimate reason to watch this film at all. Arkin is the one who stands out the most here, such a shame he has the thinnest role. Sure the acting is great though it doesn't stick out and the finale has moments of intrigue, sadly the script and the snail pacing of this film made this long night all the more longer.

I am really confused as to how anybody could have liked this film at all. Seriously. 15 minutes of it was all me and my girlfriend could take.There is so much wrong with this movie it's hard to know where to begin.First off, the dialog between characters is unbelievably boring and slow. To see this kind of work out of veteran actors was embarrassing. I'd swear Pachino was either doing it on purpose or he's had a stroke. Really awful.Christopher Walken was equally dumbed-down and wooden. We didn't even watch long enough to get to Arkin.Many times when watching a bad movie, the poorness of the story usually has unintended comedic quality for that reason alone. This picture can't even provide that.It's just random, confusing and completely void of any kind of rhythm or personality.Thank God I only paid 2$ for it the bargain store, because now my copy is going to the fine folks at GoodWill.No, scratch that. It will be thrown away. I can't in good conscious let some other sucker plunk down hard earned money for it.That wouldn't be right.

Before I wrote this, I checked out some of the other reviews and, based on what I read, you're probably not going to agree with me. Apparently, from what I've seen, the majority of people who watched 'Stand Up Guys' really enjoyed it.I'm not saying that it wasn't an okay film, but, based on having two of the greatest actors in the leading roles, I thought it was going to be better than it was.Christopher Walken plays a hit-man who's charged with the task of 'offing' Al Pacino who has been released from prison after 28 years. The only trouble is... they're friends and so Walken takes Pacino on one last night of hell-raising.It's a good premise and it is at its best when it's sentimental. However, it was also billed as a 'comedy' and I didn't find that much to laugh at (primary some smutty jokes about the problems elderly men have between the sheets and that's about it).Pacino overacts and Walken underacts. And, no matter how great the actors are (and they are great!), the somewhat average script makes little more than an average movie.I didn't hate it. It passed an hour and a half. It's just I was expecting better, but, like I say, there are a lot of very positive 4 and 5 star reviews, so what do I know?

And acting like wild cowboys despite their advancing age. A misguided yarn that merely shows how low Al Pacino and Christopher Walken have sunk. I don't think there was even a script. I think they ad-libbed it all. Not hard to do for seasoned actors. After a few minutes, you realize it's not a serious movie, so you just let it play in the background while doing housework.Three old-timers who can no longer get it up without Viagra engage in juvenile antics, including stealing a car, engaging in a high-speed chase, visiting an escort service, and shooting up the place, while reminiscing about the past. The shooting only works because most of their targets stayed still enough for their arthritic fingers to slowly pull out their guns. Predictably, one of them croaks while at it. It is billed as a comedy, but if you crack a smile, it's not because the movie is even remotely believable. It is because of the incredulity of it all. It will appeal to you if you are now on social security and once dreamed of being a hot-shot in your youth but the only action you got was playing cops and robbers in the backyard with your kid brother, and in adulthood, you spent your entire career as a mailman. Just remember it was all a dream.