Don’t miss Morgan Freeman’s most underrated crime comedy on Netflix — it’s leaving soon

Got a soft spot for crime capers involving pensioners with nothing to lose? You might want to move fast if you fancy catching Going in Style (the 2017 one, not the original) on Netflix, because it’s about to vanish from the UK platform at the start of July 2026. Netflix is notorious for yanking titles with basically zero notice, so I’d keep it somewhere near the top of your “to watch when I can’t decide” list.

What’s the film about?
Going in Style is an old-school comedy heist, with a bit of unvarnished commentary about the failings of the pension system in the mix. Think loveable old blokes suddenly driven to drastic measures by a system that’s basically stitched them up. Here’s the premise:

• Michael Caine is Joe, Morgan Freeman plays Willie, and Alan Arkin rounds out the trio as Albert. All three are mates facing bleak news: their hard-earned pensions are getting yanked away thanks to some cold-blooded corporate reshuffle.
• At their wits’ end (plus increasingly skint), they reluctantly hatch a fairly ludicrous plan to rob the very bank they blame for their financial mess. The twist? None of them has so much as nicked a chocolate bar before, let alone pulled off a bank job.
• Ann-Margret pops up as Annie (yes, really – and I can’t pretend it isn’t a pleasure watching her and Alan Arkin share the screen), plus you get supporting turns from Peter Serafinowicz doing his reliably oddball thing, John Ortiz as their ‘guy who knows a guy’, and a handful of other recognisable faces doing bits of business.

Zach Braff – yes, the bloke from Scrubs – is behind the camera for this version, with the script penned by Theodore Melfi (who did Hidden Figures). It’s technically a straight remake of the underrated 1979 film with the same title, but Braff has shifted the tone enough that it’s not just a scene-for-scene update.

The reviews, in a nutshell
For a film about pensioners plotting a bank heist, it’s less “madcap chaos” and more “gentle Sunday afternoon viewing” – which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, depending on your taste for cinematic adrenaline.

Not that the critics all bought in. The numbers don’t exactly flatter: 47% on Rotten Tomatoes from the critics (that’s out of 170 reviews, so not a fluke sample), and a still-slightly-cold 58% from audiences. Honestly, could be worse for a remake.

If you’re after a pithy summing-up that’s not just me: Nick Reilly from Metro put it like this, nice and direct –

‘Going In Style is far from the cynical exercise that it could have been and instead proves to be a gentle comedy with an unexpectedly relevant voice.’

Worth noting: for all the lukewarm reception, there’s something faintly comforting about watching Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, and Alan Arkin trying to outwit the system – even if, tonally, it’s closer to putting on a warm jumper than an edge-of-your-seat thriller.

So if that sounds like your thing – or if you just have a particular affection for seeing three legendary old-timers trade wisecracks and commit (mostly harmless) crimes – you’ve got until 1 July, 2026 before Netflix pulls the plug.