Going in Style

Last night I screened Going in Style, starring Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine.

Willie (Freeman) and Al (Alan Arkin) are roommates. Joe (Caine) is their best friend. They are all former colleagues who spent years in blue collar work only to learn that their pension was being taken away from them.

Desperate to save his home, which is going into foreclosure, Joe suggests the three of them rob a bank. He was recently witness to one, and admired the efficiency and skill of the criminals. At first the other two scoff at the thought, but when things get really tight financially and they consider how many years they may or may not have left, they decide to go for it.

From consulting with someone from the other side of the tracks to choosing clever masks for the heist that align to their generation, there is a lot of silly in the film. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. If you go see this and don't expect it to be light, you're not getting the point.

Of course the men are fabulous actors. Of course the situation they find themselves in has you rooting for them (even if what they're doing is morally wrong). Of course things won't go precisely according to plan.

Where the film could be better: the broad strokes it draws of its various supporting cast. Everyone is a caricature from the surly waitress to the deadbeat son-in-law to the '80s-sitcom-style seductress. If those characters hadn't been so blatantly written, it would have been more believable.

But if you just want a fun romp with more cameos than you can keep track of, you could do worse.

~~~

Sunshine Cleaning

Today I screened Sunshine Cleaning, starring Amy Adams and Emily Blunt.

Rose (Adams) is a maid, a single mother and a mistress. Her job is dead-end, her son Oscar (Jason Spevack, a dead wringer for the kid in Love Actually) has issues in school, and her married boyfriend is her former high-school sweetheart.

Her sister Nora (Blunt) is less responsible, less balanced, and also has employment challenges. Her father (Alan Arkin), a loving grandfather with his heart in the right place, is a failing salesman.

Life could be better for this family.

One day after Rose and her boyfriend are finished making love in a seedy motel, he tells her of a thriving business he's observed through his own work as a detective: crime scene cleanup. He figures with her experience cleaning houses, she could easily transition to this higher-paying enterprise, and he'll help provide the connections she needs to get started.

Before long, she's enrolled in bio-hazard sanitation classes and has enlisted the help of her sister to act as her sole employee. Because she has a knack for business and an infinitely positive attitude, Rose soon launches the successful Sunshine Cleaning.

All goes well in the first weeks of business (those who are squeamish like me: beware of the first few crime scenes they clean up), then a plot twist, which is completely believable, changes the game for the whole family.

The ending draws to a satisfying close and leaves you hoping that the path the family is on will continue.

Everyone in this film does a superb job of playing their part (even if Alan Arkin's character is just a reprise of his role in Little Miss Sunshine, minus the porn), and hopefully the vastly underrated Amy Adams will finally step out of her "innocent girl" typecasting with this role.

Sunshine Cleaning is a lighthearted drama brought to life by a competent and complementary cast. It feels, sounds and looks like real life.

Go see it.