'Quartet' & 'Stand Up Guys' Reviews

Subtitle: Old People Movies

Quartet is a film about a musicians retirement home. Maggie Smith is a recent arrival that upsets the balance of the home because of her past romantic involvement with Tom Courtenay. Every year the home puts on a recital to raise money for the home and after some convincing Maggie Smith agrees to perform the quartet which made her Courtenay, Billy Connolly, and Pauline Collins famous. 

The film is quiet and sweet. The performances are great and the music throughout is a lovely back drop. It's a simple film that doesn't pack a lot of punch but is still engaging. After watching it I was not worried about getting old.

Rent It.

Stand Up Guys is a hodge-podge of every crime movie cliche sprinkled with some Viagra jokes. The script is terrible, the plot is a scatter shot of trite nonsense regurgitated from Scent Of A Woman, and the actors are visibly the worse for their years. Pacino is obviously past his prime, Arkin dies shortly after his introduction into the movie, and Walken's character is almost non-existent. You'd think that at least putting these three in a movie together would be enjoyable to watch but it just comes off sad.

The movie can't decide if its a comedy or a crime drama. The jokes are tired and corny and the action is played with little to no reality. A thorough depressing waste of time.

Don't See It.