Going in Style

Three retirees who’ve lost their pensions (Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Alan Arkin) decide to turn outlaw and rob the bank that brokered the dissolution of their retirement fund. Writer Theodore Melfi and director Zach Braff remake the 1979 caper comedy that starred George Burns, Lee Strasberg and Art Carney; it starts out as just another shambling vehicle for over-the-hill stars (think Last Vegas or Grumpy Old Men), then gets better as it goes along. There are traces of substance under the formulaic surface, and the formula itself perks up considerably, keeping us amused and guessing right up to the climactic Big Reveal. A couple of bonuses: Ann-Margret as a love interest for Arkin, and a young actress named Annabelle Chow, who steals the show with a five-minute cameo that ought to make her a star. J.L.