Stand Up Guys
Directed by Fisher Stevens
- thriller
- comedy
- action
- crime
The story
After serving 28 years in prison for accidentally killing the son of a crime boss, newly paroled gangster Val reunites with his former partners in crime, Doc and Hirsch, for a night on the town. As the three men revisit old haunts, reflect on their glory days and try to make up for lost time, one wrestles with a terrible quandary: Doc has orders to kill Val, and time is running out for him to figure out a way out of his dilemma.
What it’s like
Warm, shabby-glamour night-city photography: sodium streetlamps, tungsten bar interiors, and wet asphalt catching neon, with a few pale dawn exteriors that feel like the morning after a long bender. The camera stays mostly unhurried, lingering on faces and rooms, with a loose, handheld looseness during the car rides and fights. The score leans on jazzy, slightly melancholy piano and brushed percussion that drifts in and out of scenes, while the dialogue carries most of the texture, full of gruff rambling and old-timer bickering. Its vibe is wistful and grizzled, a bittersweet buddy comedy with a gallows humor edge, well suited to a late-night watch with a drink in hand or a relaxed weekend viewing. The pace is easygoing, with long stretches of talk and wandering through the city broken by sudden, sharp bursts of violence; the crime-thriller tension stays in the background, and the emotional register is affectionate and elegiac. Its three men are aging figures reconnecting with their shared past and slowly reckoning with what they have lost. Violence is present and occasionally brutal, with gunfire and a few sudden, bloody deaths, but no gore-heavy excess, and sexual content is mild and mostly played for laughs. It suits viewers who enjoy veteran actors, character-driven crime stories and a melancholy, sardonic tone.
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