Now, I was personally really impressed with the trailers for Stand Up Guys. Not only did it have an interesting premise, it had three amazing actors in Al Pacino, Christohper Walkan, and Alan Arkin, which to me you really can't go wrong with. Expect for maybe Al Pacino because let's us face it he really hasn't had a good movie in over a decade, starring in films like Jack & Jill probably one of the worst films I've ever seen, and a disappointing film in Righteous Kill. So I thought this film could definitely be a step in the right direction for him, I liked the style trailers had to it, and overall I thought it could be a great blend of the Comedy and Crime genres. So it's definitely safe to say, I was really looking forward to the movie even with some of the really early negative reviews it received. But, unfortunately while Stand Up Guys certainly has its moments and some really strong performances, it's just another really forgettable sometimes dull movie that just doesn't live up to its full potential.
Stand Up Guys follows former gang member, Valentine (Al Pacino) who at the beginning of the movie is released from prison after 28 years. His friend/former gang member, Doc (Christopher Walkan) has been hired or assigned to by mob leader, Claphands (Mark Margolis) to kill Valentine by 10:00 AM the following day Valentine is released. So Doc and Valentine reunite after Doc picks him up from prison, but for a while Valentine is aware of what Doc has been assigned to do. They soon meet up with another former gang member, Richard (Alan Arkin), and from there on they try to spend the whole entire doing a bunch of crazy things before Doc has to kill Valentine the following morning. I know that was probably a confusing way to sum this film's plot, it's just the best way I can come up with.
The best thing about Stand Up Guys is without a doubt the performances unsurprisingly. Without the performances in this movie you basically have nothing here. Al Pacino has always been one of my favorite actors, but like I wrote earlier he really hasn't had anything good in the last many years, but I'm glad to say that he delivers a really good performance in this movie and even with the weak material he's given, he's definitely fun to watch and still proves that he definitely still has some charisma and screen presence. Christopher Walkan is Christohper Walkan, and I definitely have no problems with that, he still has all the charisma that he always does, and just the way he delivers all his dialogue in any movie he's in still kills me. And Al Pacino and Christohper Walkan have some really sharp chemistry, and definitely play off each other well. Alan Arkin however was extremely underused in this film which really disappointed me because I love Alan Arkin, and when he's there he's really good, and probably steals the scenes he does have, but he's really in the movie for like ten minutes and that's it. So if you want to see this movie just for Alan Arkin, my suggestion is don't bother, because you'll be disappointed. Now are these performances oscar worthy and will be known as some of these actors best performances in their careers? Definitely not, but it works for the movie. And everyone else in the cast is fine, but really the movie is just about Pacino, Walkan, and Arkin for when he's actually on screen.
Another thing I did really like about this movie was the score by composer Lyle Workman, I actually thought it was pretty awesome, sounded nice, and really fit well with the movie. And like I already wrote, the chemistry between the actors is sharp and they all play off each other well. And there's also a pretty cool shootout scene at the end that sadly only lasts for like 30 seconds which kind of pissed me off to be honest. But, unfortunately that's kind of it for the positives.
The biggest problem with this movie is pretty much the same extact problem that any movie I've seen this year so far have had: the script. The script for this movie just feels so dull, at times forced, and just doesn't put these three amazing actors into great use. Other than a few chuckles here and there, the comedy in this movie falls completely flat, and unlike the audience I saw it with, I hardly ever laughed. The jokes just felt forced, and cheap espeically when you're dealing with three of probably some of the best actors of all-time and you can't even give them some solid comedy to work with. The attempt at comedy in this movie is so dull that I got way more laughs out of much gritter mobster movies like Goodfellas and The Departed. And that's another problem with this movie, it's a very dialogue filled movie, which I'm find with, but the problem is the dialogue isn't all that interesting, and not even very sharp. And at times the script just feels really repetitive, with the characters just repeating the same extact thing the entire night, and doing the same thing over and over again. I know that's probably the joke of the movie, and it's not a huge nit-pick, it just got on my nerves a few times. There are some attempts at character moments thankfully, but again they feel pretty forced, and while I did like these three characters, due to the weak material I just didn't care about what was going on. And a lot of that is just due to the fact that this story just isn't all that interesting, and it just feels very dull and at times almost lifeless.
The director of the movie is Fisher Stevens, and this is basically I think like the first feature film he's directed. And overall, I definitely don't think he did a bad job directing the movie, I just thought the direction was pretty standard and nothing much to it. But, if I had to really complain there is one particular scene that involves Pacino, Walkan, and Arkin in one single car, and that scene drove me nuts because the camera was basically shaking the entire time for no reason really. And I thought the pacing for this movie was just sloppy, and even with a length of 94 minutes, it felt like about two hours. And most of that is due to the movie having its share of entertaining moments, but then many moments that were just downright boring, and I even doze off for a few mintues in one scene. And finally, right when the film was about to set itself for a potentially solid ending after a cool setup to it, the film just ends really abruptly, and I just asked myself "what was the point of that?".
Overall, I know it sounds like I'm really hating on this movie, but I really don't hate it at all, I just thought it was a bit of a letdown, and could have been so much better than it actually was. It definitely has it's good moments and the performances by the three lead performances are nothing short of solid, but the film itself is letdown by a dull script, comedy that just falls flat most of the time, lack of character development, poor pacing, an interesting plot that is poorly executed, and some really boring moments. It's definitely not a BAD movie, but it's not really a good one either even with some really good moments. Unfortunately all of those flaws leave me to just giving this movie a recommendation of a solid rental. It's somewhat enjoyable while watching it, but by the next day you'll just forget about the movie. Really not a great start to the year of 2013 movies, luckily we still have many months to go. I'll give this 2.5/5!
FINAL LETTER GRADE: C+ (and the more I think about this film the grade can very well change)
