Small Time Crooks (2000)

Strictly average movie

Lack of good storyline.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Woody Allen has had an award-winning career in comedy – as a writer, actor and film director. But, his frequent roles as a whiny character on film soon become grating to me and wear out much of the comedy of the script. This film is an exception. Although other projects have received the honors, "Small Time Crooks" is one of the funniest of his films. It has more witty dialog and funny situations than most. And the script is loaded with enough hilarious dialog that it overrides the few occasions when Allen's character reduces to whining about something. The plot for this film is superb and very funny with its several diversions. The acting is tops by the entire cast. Allan is very good as Ray, and Tracey Ullman is a riot as his wife, Frenchy. Jon Lovitz is Benny, Tony Darrow is Tommy and Michael Rapaport is Denny. All have very funny scenes and lines. Hugh Grant does a fine job as a straight man. But Elaine May as May has the best lines by far and steals the scenes in which she appears. I rate this one of the funniest and best of Allen's movies, especially for the screenplay and the excellent cast. It's a very good caper comedy. Here are some of my favorite lines from the film.Ray, "What would you say if I told you you were married to a genius?" Frenchy, "I'd say I must be a bigamist."Benny, "Where do you get four fourths and a third?" Denny, "Look, I don't do fractions, right?"TV reporter, "Or, as we in television say, there's no accounting for the public's taste."May, "I'm a hemophiliac." Edgar's wife, "Oh dear, are you bleeding?" May, "Why would I be bleeding?"May, "They diagnosed it as Parkinson's. But they think it could be the Ebola virus or Mad Cow Disease."

Nobody likes to see Woody Allen complain for 90 minutes more than I do, but "Small Time Crooks" sorta phones it in. It's basically three movies in one, but none of the three really brings much new. It starts of as a comedy about goofy criminals, then it has a (too) lengthy fish-out-of-water act, then finally it goes back to square one and puts in some more love story lines. The characters are never particularly engaging, and Allen himself is surprisingly annoying in this one. There are a couple of bright spots though, and they can come from where you least expect it. For instance: Hugh Grant is really good in this movie. He may not be in it much, but it was refreshing to see him play something slightly different for once. Slightly. The best part of the movie is Elaine May's character though. The idiot character is probably the easiest part to write, but some of her lines are really quite inventive. "Small Time Crooks" is clearly one of the lesser works, but that doesn't really make it bad.

I consider this movie to be real art. It is very proactive since it is about people who are not special in any way. They don't really have a lot of "bad" habits and attributes, but nevertheless could be considered as paragons. It really puts a mirror to this society, but not in a dry way like in what many of us would consider an art movie. It is very humorous and the characters, especially, but not only the minor roles are very exaggerated. However this is intended. It is needed to describe something that you can't just express in a few words.I haven't seen any movie unifying a cozy small, humorous movie with such a huge load of provocative social criticism. Such a balancing act has been tried over and over and many have failed. Not so this movie. Woody Allen created a masterpiece.

Sometimes a comedy can get so over planned, or ambitious that it forgets what its sole purpose is...to make people laugh. Even though Small Time Crooks did on occasion have me laughing, and almost always smiling, it left me wanting more. The real problem with the film however, is that it really does not amount to as much as Woody Allen probably thinks it does. He makes the whole thing seem more elaborate than necessary. The end result is contrived, rather pointless, and is accompanied by a rushed ending.Ray and Frenchy are a 'not so charming' New York couple living in a tiny apartment, but Ray has some big plans for getting dough. A pizza place across from a nearby bank has just closed. He wants to buy the store, turn it into a cookie shop (his wife makes cookies). She will then be the front man (or woman) while Ray in the basement tunnels across the street to the bank. It all goes wrong. While Ray fails in his task, his wife meets astonishing success in hers. Overnight, the shop becomes one of the hottest places in town. Jump forward a year, and the couple now run a big national cookie company, and are living the American dream. What could possibly go wrong.From here, Small Time Crooks becomes a completely different movie, which ends up going nowhere. All the big laughs come in the first act. The rest of the movie, provokes chuckles at best. Woody Allen does however successfully maintain an active screen presence. Even at sixty, he still has a performer left in him. Actually having seen Scoop, it's easy to argue that he still has it in him in age seventy.Scoop may actually be a better film to see if you wanna get a peek at the older Woody Allen. This one has its moments, but the whole thing is just bogged down by too much plot, and not enough direction. Could have been worse I suppose. At least I laughed.