The setting for the new comedy/drama Stand Up Guys is a little complicated but it goes something like this.

 Twenty-eight years ago there was a botched robbery where the over zealous, gun-happy son of a vindictive mobster was accidentally killed.  The person who killed him was fellow thief Val (Al Pacino).  Val is caught by the law but refuses to name any of his partners-in-crime, so he
spends the next twenty-eight years in prison.  He’s the real stand-up guy of the title.  Val’s best friend, Doc (Christopher Walken) is given the task by the vindictive mobster to kill Val as soon as he’s released from prison as revenge for the death of the mobster’s son.  For all those years, Doc carries the guilt of what he must do to his best friend on the day Val is released.  

That’s the backstory.  What happens once Val is finally released from prison takes up the rest
of the film.  Doc and Val reunite, spring their best friend (Alar Arkin) out of a retirement home, and the three old buddies spend the night looking for trouble for old times sake, with Doc all the while knowing that by ten the next morning he has to kill his best friend or face some terrible consequences.

Watching Pacino, Walken and Arkin stumble around together reminded me of the same feeling when watching John Paul Jones, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin reunite for just a few moments at last year’s Kennedy Center Honors; you like them, they’re still fun to watch, but there’s no mistaking the years on their faces.

The interesting part behind the story is that Al Pacino’s character instinctively knows that he’ll be the target of the old mobster’s revenge, a role he reluctantly accepts with a shrug, so with a what-the-heck attitude, he and Walken break into a pharmacy, steal Viagra in order to  perform well for a short while at a local brothel, hi-jack a powerful car that belongs to some very dangerous guys – “These are the kind of guys who take your kidneys and don’t even sell them,” warns Walken – and indulge in a car chase with the police.  As Pacino states, “I’m on parole, we’re in a stolen car, and you’re carrying a weapon.  Let’s rumble!”

There’s a lot to enjoy in Stand Up Guys.  There’s no denying the fun to be had watching these three veteran actors play geriatric gangsters.  “It’s like the old days,” Pacino’s Val insists, “Only better because now I can appreciate it.”  But the film suffers from its pacing more than anything.  It has all the ingredients – a terrific cast, a good setup and some interesting female characters that come and go out of their lives throughout the night’s activities – but there’s something missing.  It's the energy.

In the recent Anthony Hopkins film, Hitchcock, the famous director laments that the first cut of his film Psycho doesn’t work.  At a screening, he said that the movie sat there, lifeless, like a stillborn.  With inspiration from his wife, Alma, the two set to work re-cutting the film, making it sharper, giving the whole thing a fresh edge.  Watching Stand Up Guys I had the same feeling that something like that was needed here.  Everything’s there on the screen, but it’s lifeless.  It’s as if director Fisher Stevens should have taken a lesson from Hitchcock; re-cut the film and made it sharper.  Stand Up Guys is entertaining enough, but by the fade out you’re left with the feeling that it could have been so much better.

MPAA Rating:  R     Length:  94 Minutes     Overall Rating: 6 (out of 10)