Going in Style (2017)
Directed by Zach Braff
No — Going in Style is not especially woke, scoring 22 out of 100 on our wokeness meter.
The 2017 version of Going in Style has a grudge and knows exactly where to file it.
Consciousness Markers
The entire premise is built on predatory banks and corporate buyouts gutting pensions, with the screenwriter explicitly noting 'everyone hates banks now' as the rationale for letting the robbers win.
A multiracial ensemble led by Morgan Freeman alongside Michael Caine and Alan Arkin, with Latino (John Ortiz) and Black (Kenan Thompson) supporting players, though the diversity is unremarked-upon and largely incidental to the heist plot.
The anti-bank sentiment is present but delivered through breezy caper comedy rather than preachy sermonizing, keeping the messaging light.
Women appear only as daughters, granddaughters, and love interests orbiting the three male leads; no feminist themes or agency-driven arcs are present.
The cast is diverse but race is never a subject of commentary, conflict, or thematic interest in the story.
No LGBTQ+ characters, themes, or subtext appear anywhere in the film.
No environmental or climate-related content whatsoever.
No body-positivity themes; the film's humor occasionally trades on old-age physical comedy instead.
Christopher Lloyd's 'senile' lodge buddy is played purely for laughs, not as neurodivergent representation.
No historical revisionism; the film is a contemporary fictional heist comedy.
Why it received this score
The 2017 version of Going in Style has a grudge and knows exactly where to file it. Three Brooklyn retirees, played by Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, and Alan Arkin, watch a corporate buyout swallow their pensions while their bank quietly inflates the mortgage on one of their homes. So they rob the bank. The screenwriter has stated on the record that everyone hates banks now, which is why the caper ends in a sunset instead of a cell. The resentment is genuine and it is legible. It also arrives wearing a Hawaiian shirt, staged as a shaggy comedy about old men casing a grocery store and fumbling through a rehearsal heist with a pet shop owner.
The ensemble is agreeably mixed, with Freeman, Caine, Arkin, John Ortiz, and Kenan Thompson sharing scenes, though race is never a subject of comment or conflict, just a fact of the casting sheet. Women appear as daughters, granddaughters, and love interests, orbiting the three leads without arcs of their own. Christopher Lloyd's senile lodge buddy exists to be laughed at, not understood. Nobody here is on a journey of self-discovery, and nobody delivers a speech. The anti-bank argument is present from the first act, folded into banter and slapstick, which keeps the sermonizing short and the mood light.
As a cultural artifact, the picture is a mild, well-meaning grumble, the sort that wants credit for its sympathies without ever risking discomfort. It is a remake of a 1979 film, it is entirely forgettable, and it is pleasant enough on a Sunday afternoon. The conscience is real. The volume is low. The film takes the side of the pensioner against the shareholder and then hands the whole argument over to a sight gag about a getaway car that will not start. That is not cowardice, exactly. It is a shrug with a budget.
Analysis generated by our Consciousness Algorithm
Synopsis
Desperate to pay the bills and come through for their loved ones, three lifelong pals risk it all by embarking on a daring bid to knock off the very bank that absconded with their money.
Questions about Going in Style
Is Going in Style woke?
No — Going in Style is not especially woke, scoring 22 out of 100 on our wokeness meter. That earns it a verdict of Based.
Does Going in Style have any woke elements?
2 of the 10 markers register at 30 or above, led by Eat the Rich (65) and Representation Casting (32). On Eat the Rich: The entire premise is built on predatory banks and corporate buyouts gutting pensions, with the screenwriter explicitly noting 'everyone hates banks now' as the rationale for letting the robbers win.
How does Going in Style compare to other 2017 movies?
It ranks #83 of the 309 films from 2017 we've scored; their average is 19. The wokest is I Am Not Your Negro (92).
How is the Woke Score calculated?
An AI-assisted process researches the film and its reception, scores it 0–100 on ten markers, then combines those into one 0–100 Woke Score. It measures a specific set of 2020s cultural themes, not film quality.