Lionsgate
94 min., dir. by Fisher Stevens, with Christopher Walken, Al Pacino, and Alan Arkin

Historically as a genre, the gangster film is the most lauded style out there, and while the aging gangster is not a new idea, a group of geriatric tough guys is a rarity. Unfortunately, while resting heavily on the power of its leading men, Stand Up Guys does a poor job of coming together.

For the past 28 years, Val (Al Pacino) has been imprisoned after a botched robbery. On the day of his release, Val’s only friend in the world, Doc (Christopher Walken) is there for his old friend, waiting at the prison gates to pick him up. Both men were on the same job, but Val was the only one caught, so Doc is willing to let his friend stay in his tiny apartment. Doc seems uneasy though, and it isn’t long before it becomes obvious that Doc has been tasked with an unfortunate job — and Val knows it. However, Doc tries to make what could be Val’s final moments of life memorable before his seemingly inevitable death to pay for the botched heist.

Stand Up Guys is a pretty transparent story, you can tell where it’s going before every turn; the film’s success relies solely on the pull of its magnetic leading men. Unfortunately, the film mainly revolves around Pacino and Walken, and they are just miserable. Both — in both their characters and in their performances — seem lost and uninspired. For the first half of the film, Walken’s performance felt like it literally had no direction — and by that I mean the director wasn’t present. We’re all used to and in love with Christopher’s famous form of dialogue delivery, but his out-of-the-box silliness seemed unchecked at first. Luckily, he was wrangled in halfway though the movie, but the damage was already done. Pacino, on the other hand, is a little tamer than is usual. Still, though, he calls in his performance here.

Alan Arkin is the only shining point of the film. A celebrated talent who’s as in demand now as much as he was early in his career, his appeal as a treasure of acting greatness is under-appreciated by the mainstream. At 79, Arkin isn’t nearly as physically or mentally challenged as his recent characters seem to illustrate. This is a spry, energetic man, and that trait comes through in his most decrepit characters. He’s a breath of fresh air to the stale farts being passed by his now over-appreciated counterparts.

The film was directed by Fisher Stevens, and for those of you who don’t recognize the name, you definitely know the man. Most people will know Fisher as the Indian robotics genius Ben Jahrvi, who helped create the iconic Johnny 5 in both Short Circuit movies. A very important figure in Hollywood, Stevens has been a producer/director of some very important documentaries and stage productions in the past few years, including the film that placed a light on the shocking horrors of dolphin murder with The Cove. He’s a talented guy, and I wouldn’t take my disappointment in Stand Up Guys as a sign of continuous failure on his part in the future; however, he is missing something in terms of how he directs other actors. I can see it being easy to just hand over the reigns when you’re given Pacino, Walken, and Arkin to work with, but he obviously needs to be more stout and steel-fisted to encourage better performances.

The simple answer is, Stand Up Guys just doesn’t have a leg to stand on. The combined power of its aging stars does more to sink the film than save it. Too much was left hoping their added celebrity status would make the movie and instant gem, but unfortunately, Stand Up Guys is neither entertaining nor thought-provoking.

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Matthew Schuchman is the founder and film critic of Movie Reviews From Gene Shalit’s Moustache and a contributor to Den of Geek.