What does the term "stand up guy" really mean? To most, the term describes someone who is reliable, trustworthy, someone to counted on to always do what's right. It's a term of endearment. It means much the same thing in the criminal world, but the way one can prove he's a stand up guy is by doing something terrible for the benefit of another at great personal risk. Stand Up Guys is a an uneven but frequently affecting geriatric road trip comedy about two old mobsters trying to live up to these ideals in their own ways, and finding that it doesn't get any easier with age.
At the top of their game are the spry and vigorous duo of Al Pacino and Christopher Walken, two old horses who when given the right material are still among the best working today. Walken in particular has been on a hot streak, mostly be playing against type in more reserved roles in Seven Psychopaths and A Late Quartet. Here again he is the least flashy of all as Doc, a relic of a mobster whose life has gone from glitz and glamour to quiet reservation. He gets up at the same time, lives alone in a cramped studio, and sports the same old blue jacket he's been wearing for years. His life revolves around his medication, occasional stops at the local diner to chat up a young waitress(Addison Timlin), and a crushing amount of personal guilt.
When his best buddy Val(Pacino) gets out of prison after serving a 28-year bid for the accidental murder of a mob boss's son during a robbery, it's almost like they were never apart. The bond is immediate, and Val wants nothing more than to hit the town like they used to do in the old days. But the world isn't the same as it was back then, and Doc definitely isn't. He's tired of it all, but willing to go along with it for Val's sake...and for other reasons that will haunt him through the course of a wild night full of sex, violence, and high speed car chases. What Val doesn't know is that that Doc has been ordered to kill Val before the night is through, and if he doesn't not only will he be killed but every one else he holds dear.
It casts a sobering pall over the frequently outrageous antics as Val downs numerous massive, chats up the ladies, and in a touch of predictable but still hilarious humor discovers the downside of taking too much Viagra. They repeatedly cross paths with the Madame(Lucy Punch) of a curiously understaffed brothel, rob a convenience store and bust their longtime getaway driver(Alan Arkin) out of a nursing home so he can indulge in the debauchery. The film actually hits a more balanced groove when Arkin enters the picture, the steady character actor working like a bridge between the dizzying Pacino and the restrained Walken. Julianna Margulies makes a "wink wink" appearance as an ER nurse who sees the gang at their best and worst over the course of the night.
Noah Haidle's script has its ups and downs, relishing in The Hangover-esque hijinks of its likable, legendary stars, but also strikes a few emotional notes that don't quite jibe. While he nails the broader humor perfectly, he frequently sentimentalizes some moments that don't quite deserve it, yet inappropriately playing poignancy for laughs. Fisher Stevens lends a steady hand as director, and his willingness to add a darker, grittier touch was surprising. This is never more in display than during the tense coffee shop conversations between Walken and Pacino. Stevens has never been a director with much of a stylistic fingerprint before. For the most part he's content to let his actors do the work, which is probably the best thing when you have a cast as good as this.
We're short-changed a little bit on the "will he or won't he" question, and an opportunity is missed to put an exclamation point on what is a moving and entertaining crime romp. The final message seems to be that men of a certain era and attitude will never be content to simply fade away, but burn out spectacularly.
