SMALL TIME CROOKS
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Capsule: Woody Allen's best film of the
last few years is still little more than a
mediocre effort which from anyone else would be
only a minor comedy. It is, in fact, little
more than a glorified Honeymooners episode. A
small time criminal and his wife come into a
great deal of money and see high society from
both sides. Not even as intelligent and
insightful as it sounds. Rating: 5 (0 to 10),
low +1 (-4 to +4)
Woody Allen has been riding on his reputation for several of his most recent films. After several good films in the 1980s, crowned by CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS, his 1990s film crop seemed one disappointment after another. At least in my opinion, BULLETS OVER BROADWAY was his only above average film in that time. SMALL TIME CROOKS is the best film he has done since BULLETS OVER BROADWAY. It still is a lackluster situation comedy that leaves one feeling one has seen a Honeymooners comedy.
Ray Winkler (played by Woody Allen) is just what the title calls him, a small time crook. He constantly bickers with his wife Frenchy (Tracy Ullman), a former exotic dancer, who verbally bests him at every turn. Currently Ray has a plan for how to get big money. He knows of a bank that has an abandoned pizzeria just two door down. The pizzeria is for rent and he and some of his friends intend to rent the building and to use the basement as a start point to tunnel into the bank. Frenchy tells him that he and his henchmen are just too stupid to pull the plan off. But she finally agrees to provide a front for the gang. She will run a cookie store out of the building above the building where they are digging. Things go from bad to worse for the boys since none of them knows how to dig a tunnel or to follow the map that tells them where to dig. The bumblers seem to make every possible mistake. Causing even more problems is the cookie-baking operation which is rapidly becoming more effort than digging the tunnel. The team brings in May (Elaine May), a half-witted cousin of Frenchy, to help with the cookie operation. This makes things only worse. Still an odd turn of events leaves the Winklers with a great deal of money. Suddenly they are thrust into high society, but Frenchy is afraid that her low origins have left her, well, vulgar. She decides she and Ray must learn about culture. Ray feels more at home playing poker. The issue will eventually drive a wedge between the two.
Indeed, any plot which juxtaposes the nouveau riche with older money will invite some interpretation as social criticism. Allen, however, is no F. Scott Fitzgerald and a 96-minute film is not the best medium for such comparisons in any case. We see a very small spectrum of the old money people and their reactions to the Winklers. However most of the points made are subtle or blunted. Whatever insights are gained are small payoff for even so short a story. The writing is at its best, and still not so very good, when the Winklers are bickering. This writing is not really funny, but it is occasionally smart and the lines come fast.
Tracy Ullman is probably Allen's best acting partner in quite a while. As the harpy-turned-social-climber she is the best thing about this film. Second best is not even Allen but Elaine May. The character May plays is by now a familiar one for her, but it is still a pleasure to see her acting. There are those who say that the writing of SMALL TIME CROOKS is like the old Woody Allen. It does not strike me that way, but there is one reminder of the older Allen films. Once again Allen is playing a loser and that is really what he does best. It may not be the real Woody Allen, but he is at his funniest as nebbish, not as a winner. The film is full of distinguished-looking people playing the denizens of high society whom I feel I should have recognized. I didn't.
It is hard to walk out of SMALL TIME CROOKS believing I had seen a film I will remember in another month. For one afternoon there was some amusement. I rate it a 5 on the 0 to 10 scale and a low +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@lucent.com
Copyright 2000 Mark R. Leeper
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