Going in Style is simplicity itself, charting an unlikely but far from ridiculous concept to its logical end. The three elderly actors - two comedians and one famous acting teacher - eschew the idea of playing cute or upstaging one another and instead create real characters for their doddering old coots. The story respects them and doesn't go for cheap humor. It's serious but it also doesn't make them pay for their crime in any cruel way. Al, Joe and Willie have nothing to lose, a situation that frees them to do whatever they want. They discover that robbing a bank isn't as hard as they thought it might be. Not that they can seriously expect to get away scot-free ...

Martin Brest's screenplay keeps the robbery tense but light. In a parody of traditional caper movies, the trio collect their necessary props and fumble foolishly while trying to get the right-caliber ammunition into the guns they're going to use.

There is, it seems, a bit of cheating during the heist itself. The old men wave their loaded pistols in the faces of the bank customers. They're such decent guys, you'd think they'd be too rational to risk harming innocent victims with an accidental shooting. And too smart not to wonder what they'd do if some cops showed up and blasted them down before they had a chance to surrender.

But the story really turns intelligent after the robbery, with a number of pleasant adventures and surprises that pay off the characters as well as does Al and Joe's luck in Las Vegas. Each old man is given a showcase moment. Lee Strasberg does a soliloquy about a painful memory of beating his beloved child, a boy that he has survived by many years. Art Carney is a handful of years younger than the other two, and does a little dance in Manhattan with a sidewalk steel band. Showbiz icon George Burns pulls out an old album and slowly breaks down in tears at photos from 50 and 60 years ago. One of the women with him in a photo appears to be Gracie Allen, and we feel like crying too. The moment is not overplayed. Although Burns kept acting for about fourteen more years, this is his best late-career performance.

There's a little bit of confusion in the last part of the picture. Somebody gets arrested and we never find out exactly how the cops closed in. We also wonder why certain relatives aren't investigated to see if they've been spending large amounts of money. George Burns holds the finale together with his warm stoicism. We admire men in the movies who show us how to die with dignity, even when they're ineffectual little men like Burns' Joe.

Warners' DVD of Going in Style (an apt title that prepares us for worse things than what happens) is almost perfect. The restrained and simple cinematography is nicely rendered and the detail of 16:9 enhancement makes the picture look teriffic on a large monitor. The two extras are a clever trailer and a 1979 segment from The Dinah Shore Show with Art Carney and George Burns plugging their picture. Carney mugs and then Burns comes on as a closer. Burns has his cigar, and we realize suddenly that he was able to drop his TV and radio persona for the movie simply by not smoking. Burns wisely knows that the years let a person get away with anything, just like the bank-robbing septigenarians in the film - he pulls off a sly dirty joke on afternoon television.

On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor, Going in Style rates:
Movie: Excellent
Video: Excellent
Sound: Excellent
Supplements: trailer, excerpt from Dinah Shore Show
Packaging: Snapper case
Reviewed: March 21, 2004