Stand Up Guys - 1 smile

You should be able to enjoy any movie that claims Al Pacino, Christopher Walken and Alan Arkin as its stars. Unfortunately, that’s not true for “Stand Up Guys.” For much of the time, the guys seem to be wandering around, trying to figure out what to do. And the problem is with first-time feature writer Noah Haidle’s script, which has a solid premise, but no actual story. The movie is basically two friends wasting time until morning comes. A lot of it is silliness. And there’s never a point when any of the actions or characters seem real.

Doc (Walken) picks up his best friend Val (Pacino) outside the prison where Val has just spent more than a quarter of a century. In between Val haphazardly snorting drugs and romancing prostitutes, the truth comes out. A mob boss wants Val dead by morning and Doc has been assigned to do it. While in the hospital for a drug overdoes, Val meets a nurse (Julianna Marguiles) who’s the daughter of their old wheel man Hirsch (Arkin). So they spring Hirsch from a retirement home and go joy riding. “Stand Up Guys” should have gone straight to cable.  2/1/13