Small Time Crooks
rated PG 94 minutes Dreamworks SKG starring Woody Allen, Tracey Ullman, Elaine May, Hugh Grant, and Elaine Strich written and directed by Woody Allen
A Review by Frankie Paiva
Ray (Woody Allen) is a hapless criminal who hatches the idea to rob a bank with a couple of his buddies. His brilliant idea involves buying a run-down pizza joint next to the bank, and turning it into a cookie selling business. Ray's wife Frenchy (Tracey Ullman, playing one person, and one person only) would watch, sell, and bake the merchandise. At the same time, the men would work downstairs on digging a tunnel that should eventually pop up into the bank vault. Ray's very surprised when the plan fails, but is even more shocked when the cookies become a major success. People line up for hours just to taste them. Soon they have a multi-million dollar corporation on their hands.
Their company, Sunset Cookies, becomes a household name and an American cookie favorite. As we learn from a very funny mock episode of 60 Minutes featuring Steve Croft, each player in the bank robbery now has a part in the company. One man is in charge of transportation, and another head of safety. It appears Ray and Frenchy have the life and wealth they always dreamed of, but Frenchy wants more. To her, being rich isn't about the money, but about having class. It's things like books, food, wine, and a good vocabulary that matter to her. So she hires a scholar named David (Hugh Grant) to teach her the finer things in life. The couple begins to grow apart. Ray starts spending time with Frenchy's dimwitted sister May (Elaine May) doing things that echo their old life, and Frenchy thinks it's time to re-evaluate their marriage.
This film's packed full of wit and humor. The wisecracking Frenchy has some great lines and is a good match for Allen's style of deadpan comedy. One of my favorite scenes is a dinner party that Frenchy attends. She believes that memorizing the dictionary one letter section at a time is the best way to increase her vocabulary. During the party, she attempts to impress people with her sophisticated terminology using phrases like, "Her ambidextrous acrobatics were deserving of applause." She also insists on being called Frances instead of Frenchy. Woody Allen does a great job in his role. I truly believe that his best movies include him playing a character, and not himself. Woody gets to wear shorts in the movie, perhaps giving us more of his scraggly self then we wanted to see. Shorts notwithstanding, the guy stills makes great movies at 64 after writing forty films, and directing over thirty. He is a comic genius of our time. Another character I loved was May. Elaine May makes her dense role as Frenchy's slow cousin the hit of the movie. May never quite catches onto things, but is easy to love. She definitely steals the show. Also making good use of their small roles are Hugh Grant, who does his usual posh English gentleman thing while Elaine Strich recovers marvelously from the recent Screwed. The trailers prominently display Michael Rapaport and Jon Lovitz in key roles, but in actuality they are only bit characters. Regardless of how much screen time they get, all of the actors have staggering chemistry while on screen.
Woody Allen has created a movie that is sharp, smart, and clever. This amiable comedy succeeds in making the audience laugh. Adults will rejoice with the material presented. Kids may not fully understand the humor, but Small Time Crooks is perfectly appropriate for them too. Crooks becomes slightly contrived near its ending, but never to the point where it becomes too predictable. Small Time Crooks is a comedy about finding our place in society topped off with the traditional old jazz tunes that only Woody could select. This movie manages to be risible without being raunchy or disgusting. The film is a treat, and the perfect summer comedy alternative for adults.
A
Frankie Paiva SwpStke@aol.com http://www.homestead.com/cinemaparadise/mainpage.html
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