Stand Up Guys - "They say that we die twice, once when the breath leaves our body and once when the last person we know says our name"
Stand Up Guys is about men of a certain age and at that age life starts to take more than it gives. Val played by Al Pacino and Doc played by Christopher Walken share a very sweet friendship that recommences after Val get's released from prison after a 28 year stint for taking the fall for a job back in their hay-day that went awry. Their old boss "Claphands" tells Doc that he has 24 hours to kill Val because for 28 years he's held a grudge for Val accidentally shooting his son. This creates a great conflict for Doc as he is a lonely old retired painter without many friends left. Val deduces the situation and tries to make the best of the time he has left.
Pacino and Walken have a very comical bromance as they share their struggles of getting older and all the medication that comes along with it. "When we were growing up our doctors said don't do drugs, now they tell me I need em' to live!". It's a non-stop 24 hour ride where Pacino breaks his parole in every way imaginable from stealing a car, getting high on a cocktail of drugs and breaking his old friend "Hirsch" played by Alan Arkin out of a retirement home. Alan Arkin has a brief but memorable performance as the old getaway driver of their crew, his comical timing is impeccable but it's short lived. Julianna Margulies has a brief appearance as Hirsch's daughter that's quaint but really only there to move the story along. There are some really touching scenes between our protagonist's at a diner that creates an unexpected story arch and plot twist which really elevates the films tone, gives it a sense of importance. It makes us empathize with Doc's choice and his lonely life in general. Imagine having to shoot your best friend for something that happened a quarter of a century ago?
It's hard to describe it as anything BUT a guy's movie. The dialogue is very male orientated, the trouble they get up to is very boyish and shows that these old timers are still a couple of kids at heart. It's probably not meant for everyone but if you think you can enjoy these thespians for for 2 hours getting up to all sorts of trouble and just delivering really rich dialogue that sounds grounded in reality then you'll have as much fun as I did. Jon Bon Jovi supplied pretty much all the music to this film and it's just so fitting, none of it's pop music it's subtle acoustics, it's almost as if Bon Jovi is present in the film using his music as a character to really tell this story.
This is a low budget independent film that deserves an audience and it's easy to see why some of the greatest actors in the world signed on, it's a story rarely told that finds its foundation in a great script. It does have it's flaws with some unnecessary vulgarity here and there that fell flat instead of its intended purpose of shocking the audience. The ending to the film could have been cut short in my humble opinion, it didn't necessarily have to go out with a bang and it seemed a little over the top, but no film is perfect. Highly recommended 4/5
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