A film starring Al Pacino (Val), Christopher Walken, (Doc), and Alan Arkin (Hirsch), has a lot to live up to. "Stand Up Guys" gets most of the way there.
Valentine, call him Val, was part of a three man stick-up man. He spent 28-years in prison for killing a mobster's son.
The film starts with Val checking out of the gray bar hotel. His oldest and best friend, Doc, is there to pick him up.
The geriatric duo waste no time getting back to their old stomping ground, which includes a house of ill repute. Things aren't exactly looking up for Val. Doc helps out by breaking into a pharmacy and getting some little blue pills and some of this, some of that. Vic takes a few too many of the little blue pills.
Val and Doc decide to connect with the third man in their mob, Hirsch. They find out from his daughter, played by Julianna Marguiles, that he is in a rest home. Hirsch was their getaway guy. After busting him out, he proves that a great getaway guy does very well with a great getaway car. The new Charger the guys stole is just perfect for the elderly criminal.
All the fun has to come to an end at 10 a.m. the next morning. The evil 'Claphands' (Mark Margolis), the mobster whose son was shot is forcing Doc to kill Val. The deadline is 10 a.m.
It's a no win situation for the former tough guys. If he kills Val, Claphands will leave him alone. If he doesn't Claphands will kill them both. The truth is Claphands will probably kill him either way.
Walken plays an excellent straight man to Pacino's jumpy, funny guy.
The jokes come fast and furious and include, an overdose of Viagra, a baseball bat to the testicles of a guy who really did deserve it and a stop at the hospital to repair a penis.
With such a cast of tough guys, the mind is set for drama, not comedy. The drama that does come into the story here and there gives way to comedy a bit too quick.
Pacino fans will be satisfied as will Walkens'.
"Stand Up Guys" opens this Friday, February 1 at a theater near you.
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