Review of Stand Up Guys (2012) by Ryan M — 02 Feb 2013

Stand up Guys could've worked out well. I think the movie had the right directors and some of the greatest actors of our time in the twilight of their careers (Christopher Walken, Alan Arkin and Al Pacino). But I think the films execution of what could've been a fantastic movie is bland and forgettable at best.

An old member of a mob (played by Al Pacino) gets out of prison after 28 years and his old friend (played by Christopher Walken) is contacted to kill him. He finds out what is friend has to do and he decides to have the night of his life before they do it. With the actors they got and the story they had, this movie could be a very clever movie that could be a lot of fun and have a bit of heart. This movie does the bare minimum. I think this movie did have some talented writers but I think that they all decided that the three leads would be good enough to carry the movie. However, they forgot that an actor is only as good as his dialogue. This movie never takes any chances with its storyline and I was never surprised by what happened. I would've been fine if this movie was just a first class rip off of the writing of Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino or The Coen brothers but it's as if this movie only copied the really uncomfortable dialogue that some of the actors said at the start of Reservoir Dogs and decided to make an entire movie out of that dialogue...but with old men which arguably makes it more awkward to listen to. This movie can be pretty fun when it wants to but it wastes its screenplay on really awkward atmospheric dialogue. When it's not doing that it's very predictable and forgettable.

The directing is actually pretty decent. I like the style for the movie pat that the direction took even if at times it was mediocre. I like how many of the sequences were film and it really is filmed in an offbeat independent fashion while still having some of that Hollywood style. I think the cinematography was fantastic especially at night. I think the soundtrack is fantastic as well for the most part due to the fact that the music is made up heavily of some old 60's jazz music. Bon Jovi also recorded a slow moving song for the movie and it's decent enough. I think this director did go out of his way to try to make this film very good but I think that the writing was poor enough as to where it did not make a difference. Even though the director did a mostly good job I do have some criticisms. A fairly big part of the movie takes place in the daytime and while the ending to the movie has a very cool gunfight. I think that the movie would have benefited even more from having the entirety of the movie (with the gunfight included) take place at night not to mess up the bluesy style the film went for. Also, I think that for every good blues song that plays in the movie I think there is a bad stock theme that goes with it. The movie takes you away from the style sometimes when there is some really corny music that took five minutes to make on Rockband. Other than that, I think that the directing is quite stylish and feels like one of the only things that had serious work put into it.

Ok, the directing was set up so that this movie would be a stylish hybrid for them and the writing was made so that the actors would be good enough to make the writing not seem uncomfortable and forced, the acting in this movie has to be superb for this movie to work. So does the acting hold the film together? Well, it's not terrible but it's not outstanding. I think the acting in this movie is just ok. Christopher Walken has been in some terrible movies but this feels like the one movie where he is trying his least. He obviously didn't put much thought into the movie which is a shame because he is the one actor who I expected to give the best performance in the film. Al Pacino felt awkward and uncomfortable in the movie and everything he said felt forced. This film may not have felt as uncomfortable as when Kirk Douglas giving an Oscar at the 2011 Academy Awards or the previous New Year's Eve countdowns with the late and great Dick Clark but poor Al is starting to get dangerously close to that territory. He doesn't seem to know why he's here and I felt uncomfortable watching every slow moving scene that he's in with Christopher Walken. And this just adds on to the already awkward dialogue that's been placed with the character. Alan Arkin also doesn't try that hard but he gives hands down the best performance of all three. He isn't in the film for as much as is advertised but he steals every scene he is in as there older mob friend who they break out of the hospital. He has the best dialogue and he goes one step beyond Christopher's performance by having fun even though he doesn't care about the flick. All the other performances in the movie are pretty much decent but not very noticeable on a critical standpoint.

I think that this movie does have some stylish direction, a mostly great soundtrack and a fun performance by Christopher Walken as well as some fairly entertaining scenes, but the film suffers from an awkward and a for the most part uninteresting screenplay, some daytime sequences that take away from the all-around style, a phoned in performance by Christopher Walken and uncomfortable performance by Al Pacino. I think this movies biggest flaw is that almost everyone didn't try for a movie that could only have been great if everyone behind the movie look at the movie as a slick crime drama and less as a direct to DVD hybrid for three older drama stars to be in.