Crew [DVD] [2000] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

An action film in which old timers, ex baby boomers and other senior citizens who are more or less trying to live in various varicose-infected institutions can project themselves and identify with the main heroes who are just the same as them, old timers who are more or less trying to survive and have some fun in a fun-less varicose-cursed institution in Florida. A touch of Jewish-ness, a dose of sexual fascination, a couple of pairs of boobs, a lot of denuded breasts and chests, but no more than that, a little star of a dumb drug lord who is trying to shine in a world where all the sunshine has retired, and you have it. A funny film for an afternoon of enjoyment at the old people's home as an alternative to checkers or bridge. It is true there are some funny elements, like the arsonist rat or the real true skeleton of the lady next door burned in the arson of her house and that carries the dog tag of her little identity, made in Taiwan. Enjoy it and don't expect to remember it one hour later, except if you already have Parkinson's or Alzheimer's. Then the recollection would come from the back of your brain.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines

You'll find The Crew sitting outside of a rundown beachfront hotel, complaining about all of the young folks increasingly taking over their new territory. Old age has not been kind to Joey "Bats" Pistella (Burt Reynolds), Mike "The Brick" Donatelli (Dan Hedaya), Tony "Mouth" Donato (Seymour Cassel), and Bobby Bartellemeo (Richard Dreyfuss), especially Bats, who has a habit of getting so upset that his pacemaker starts having conniptions. He has his best ideas when he's unconscious, though - which is how the guys come up with their plan to scare off some of the younger folks who are threatening to displace them. There's nothing like an old dude with his head blown off in a hotel lobby to keep the old rent down. The guys don't kill anybody, though - they just abscond with a dead body and use it for their purposes. Unfortunately, the stiff turns out to be the old man of local druglord Raul Ventana (Miguel Sandoval), who vows revenge on the perpetrators. Even more unfortunately, Mouth (who never says anything) talks like Joan Rivers on a caffeine high after spending some quality time with his favorite stripper (Jennifer Tilly). She, in turn, threatens to blab on the guys unless they kill her step-mother (Lainie Kazan), and that's when things really start to tumble out of control. Did I mention that the detective investigating the case turns out to be Bobby's long-lost daughter?

Lest you wonder, The Crew is pure comedy which viewers of most ages can enjoy (parents may not want little Johnny to see Jennifer Tilly threatening to burst out of her skimpy outfits at any given time). Don't make the mistake of looking at this as a true gangster film, as the limited violence is of the 3 Stooges variety, there's a minimum of cursing, and Joe Pesci is nowhere to be seen (although he does perform one of the songs accompanying the end credits). The plot's somewhat circuitous yet pretty easy to follow - although you have to jump a number of plot holes along the way and the ending is quite implausible. None of that really matters, though, because this is all about enjoying the ride as these seemingly washed-up old guys rediscover the bravado and swagger that made them big shots back in the day. By the time all is said and done, The Crew is a veritable celebration of the elderly fighting back against the youthful society threatening to marginalize them. This is one crew I would gladly ride with any day of the week (as long as the car hasn't been hotwired by the Brick).