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Directed
By: Woody Allen Starring: Woody Allen, Tracey Ullman,Hugh
Grant, Jon Lovitz, Michael Rapaport, Tony Darrow, George Grizzard,
Elaine May, Elaine Stritch Rated: PG (Language) Running Time:
95 Min.
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Woody
Allen's new film, Small Time Crooks, takes place in New York
City (surprise!), and begins as an inspired screwball comedy
about a planned bank heist. However, 20 minutes in it does
an about-face, and gives us a rather uninspired rags to riches
story instead. It seems as though Woody had a couple of good
story ideas, the better of the two being the bank heist, and
combined them into one movie.
To
my dismay, Small Time Crooks leaves the heist idea all too
soon, never to return. After a while, even the supporting
characters from the heist idea become reduced to little more
than glorified extras, as the rags to riches plotline takes
over. Fortunately, Tracey Ullman, who plays Woody's wife,
Frenchy, becomes the central character in this new story.
Ullman
is fantastic, and its worth seeing the film just for her performance.
Woody is, as always, Woody, and the chemistry between the
two is almost enough to keep the story alive.
Another
good performance in the film is given by Elaine May, who plays
her character at about the same intellectual level as Gracie
Allen would. (For those who have no idea who Gracie Allen
is, substitute Pheobe from "Friends" instead... then go learn
about Gracie Allen!) Elaine's character has many amusing one-liners
based mostly on the idea that she misunderstands nearly anything
said to her.
One
thing I really like about Woody Allen's work is that he never
fails to give his supporting cast most of the best lines.
He also likes to throw opposites together, just to see what
happens - the rich with the poor, the smart with the ignorant,
the cultured with the classless - and Small Time Crooks has
a lot of fun pitting those opposites against each other.
This is not Woody Allen at his best, but it's not his worst
either. There are plenty of great comic moments and some good
diologue as well. If you are a die hard Woody Allen fan, or
a fan of Tracey Ullman, then Small Time Crooks is worth seeing.
If you're not, then give Small Time Crooks a pass, and go
rent Woody's crime classic Take The Money and Run instead.
Allen
J. Vestal
A.J.'s
Place: Movies & More
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