Has it come to this? The funniest moment in Woody Allen's new movie, "Small Time Crooks", comes when a water main bursts. While never completely ignoring physical comedy -- or, for that matter, low-brow humor -- Woody Allen movies are celebrated by aficionados for their Groucho Marx-like wit, metaphysical jokes, fondness for parody, cultural literacy and psychoanalytic introspection. An Allen comedy deriving from mentally challenged characters, their vulgar tastes and faux pas is just not his forte.
Not that any film artist should not explore different worlds and new characters. But Allen's universe is insular, prescribed by a few blocks of Manhattan and populated by urbane, hypersensitive, uptown types. Allen runs the risk of alienating his fans with these white-trash creatures. Despite energetic and highly amusing performances by Tracey Ullman and Elaine May, "Crooks" will disappoint his loyal following.
The film feels like a piece Allen might have written for the New Yorker, a whimsical short story that takes a basic truism -- in this case, be careful what you wish for -- and wrings as much humor as possible out of it.
That water main breaks when Allen Ray's Winkler drills into a basement wall as part of his harebrained scheme to tunnel into a nearby bank. Ray has apparently spent a lifetime chasing harebrained criminal schemes, all of which have ended in failure or jail time.
Yet he is not without luck. Ray Still adores his wife, Frenchy, a former exotic dancer turned manicurist who has remained loyal to her loser husband. One reason, of course, is that Ullman's Frenchy reminds you of another Allen -- Gracie.
The film's conceit is that all of the bumbling crooks in Ray's "gang" -- including May, Jon Lovitz, Michael Rapaport and Tony Darrow -- are not only small-time but pea-brained. Then they all become rich by accident.
The front for their tunneling operation is a cookie store. But Frenchy's cookie recipes prove so popular that in no time at all the group is sitting atop a huge cookie franchise with money rolling in at an unbelievable rate.
The Winklers move uptown to a penthouse decorated in the worst possible nouveau riche taste. They also fall prey to such predators as Hugh Grant's art dealer, who woos Frenchy with dollar signs in his eyes. The plot's trajectory from this point on is more than obvious, and the jokes along the way are too minor to register.
Allen's best movies examine human longings and foibles as his characters get in and out of emotionally messy relationships. In his frivolous ones -- which, unfortunately, includes "Crooks" -- he is coy about his characters and suffocates them with artificial jokes.
Allen doesn't mock these stereotypical characters. (The movie may have been better if he had.) Rather, he treats a mundane theme -- that the Winklers were happier when they were poor but together than rich and apart -- as a profound revelation.
Ullman appears to have had the most fun making this movie, adding another portrait to her gallery of memorably scruffy characters.
SMALL TIME CROOKS
DreamWorks
Sweetland Films
Producer: Jean Doumanian
Screenwriter-director: Woody Allen
Executive producers: J.E. Beaucaire,
Jack Rollins, Charles H. Joffe, Letty Aronson
Director of photography: Zhao Fei
Production designer: Santo Loquasto
Co-producer: Helen Robin
Costume designer: Suzanne McCabe
Editor: Alisa Lepselter
Color/stereo
Cast:
Ray: Woody Allen
Frenchy: Tracey Ullman
May: Elaine May
David: Hugh Grant
Denny: Michael Rapaport
Benny: Jon Lovitz
Chi Chi Potter: Elaine Stritch
George Blint: George Grizzard
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
Not that any film artist should not explore different worlds and new characters. But Allen's universe is insular, prescribed by a few blocks of Manhattan and populated by urbane, hypersensitive, uptown types. Allen runs the risk of alienating his fans with these white-trash creatures. Despite energetic and highly amusing performances by Tracey Ullman and Elaine May, "Crooks" will disappoint his loyal following.
The film feels like a piece Allen might have written for the New Yorker, a whimsical short story that takes a basic truism -- in this case, be careful what you wish for -- and wrings as much humor as possible out of it.
That water main breaks when Allen Ray's Winkler drills into a basement wall as part of his harebrained scheme to tunnel into a nearby bank. Ray has apparently spent a lifetime chasing harebrained criminal schemes, all of which have ended in failure or jail time.
Yet he is not without luck. Ray Still adores his wife, Frenchy, a former exotic dancer turned manicurist who has remained loyal to her loser husband. One reason, of course, is that Ullman's Frenchy reminds you of another Allen -- Gracie.
The film's conceit is that all of the bumbling crooks in Ray's "gang" -- including May, Jon Lovitz, Michael Rapaport and Tony Darrow -- are not only small-time but pea-brained. Then they all become rich by accident.
The front for their tunneling operation is a cookie store. But Frenchy's cookie recipes prove so popular that in no time at all the group is sitting atop a huge cookie franchise with money rolling in at an unbelievable rate.
The Winklers move uptown to a penthouse decorated in the worst possible nouveau riche taste. They also fall prey to such predators as Hugh Grant's art dealer, who woos Frenchy with dollar signs in his eyes. The plot's trajectory from this point on is more than obvious, and the jokes along the way are too minor to register.
Allen's best movies examine human longings and foibles as his characters get in and out of emotionally messy relationships. In his frivolous ones -- which, unfortunately, includes "Crooks" -- he is coy about his characters and suffocates them with artificial jokes.
Allen doesn't mock these stereotypical characters. (The movie may have been better if he had.) Rather, he treats a mundane theme -- that the Winklers were happier when they were poor but together than rich and apart -- as a profound revelation.
Ullman appears to have had the most fun making this movie, adding another portrait to her gallery of memorably scruffy characters.
SMALL TIME CROOKS
DreamWorks
Sweetland Films
Producer: Jean Doumanian
Screenwriter-director: Woody Allen
Executive producers: J.E. Beaucaire,
Jack Rollins, Charles H. Joffe, Letty Aronson
Director of photography: Zhao Fei
Production designer: Santo Loquasto
Co-producer: Helen Robin
Costume designer: Suzanne McCabe
Editor: Alisa Lepselter
Color/stereo
Cast:
Ray: Woody Allen
Frenchy: Tracey Ullman
May: Elaine May
David: Hugh Grant
Denny: Michael Rapaport
Benny: Jon Lovitz
Chi Chi Potter: Elaine Stritch
George Blint: George Grizzard
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
- 5/15/2000
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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