- Actors: Woody Allen, Tracey Ullman, Hugh Grant, Carolyn Saxon, Michael Rapaport
- Directors: Woody Allen
- Writers: Woody Allen
- Producers: Charles H. Joffe, Helen Robin, J.E. Beaucaire, Jack Rollins, Jean Doumanian
- Language English
- Classification: PG
- Studio: Cinema Club
- VHS Release Date: 3 Jun 2002
- Run Time: 94 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B00005BGDG
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 7,546 in Video (See Top 100 in Video)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
In Small Time Crooks, Woody Allen plays someone radically distinct from himself and his standard film persona--Ray, a failed safe-cracker who believes that his nickname "The Brain" is other than sarcastic. Increasingly, Allen is at his best when least present in his films, either by playing someone else or by having someone else play him. Good and funny as he is here, though, the film belongs to the two women stars: Tracey Ullmann is a force of nature as Frenchy, Ray's wife, who turns their cookie shop cover story for a bank job into a multi-million dollar enterprise and then decides that she wants to smarten up their image; Elaine May, meanwhile, is adorable as Frenchie's dim cousin May, one of the film's principal voices of good sense. Hugh Grant is a splendidly despicable gigolo and a large cast do impressive comic turns. Another of the film's stars, though, is the decor of Frenchie's apartment--there's a guilty pleasure in seeing just what vast wealth and bad taste can do. Small Time Crooks is lightweight Allen, but it is attractively good-humoured and intelligently plotted and not above the pleasures of pure slapstick--the sight gags when Ray and his gang are trying to tunnel into the bank are predictable but still funny.
On the DVD: The DVD has Dolby sound, which brings out attractively a score made up of forgotten pop songs from the late-Swing Era; the anamorphic widescreen picture gives surprising crispness to what is, most of the time, a chamber piece.--Roz Kaveney
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I'd purchased this DVD years ago - partly because it was so cheap at the time - and partly because it starred Hugh Grant whom I recall being quite into back then. However, though not a fan of Woody Allen, this is really a very funny film - but then most of the comedy in this movie is down to the great and multi-talented Tracey Ullman. (and I ain't just saying that because she is of British Stock)
This is an hilarious movie about a small time crook (Allen) getting a great idea of renting a Pizza store so he and some of his old cell mates can drill a tunnel underneath the shop into the nearest Bank to rob! The Pizza store becomes a 'cookie' store and is 'fronted' by 'Frenchy' (Ullman) and is an unexpected success!
I hadn't seen this for years and had only seen it the once when my Partner chose it out of our collection to watch this evening - he'd never seen it, and I'd forgotten whether it was any good or not. We both couldn't stop laughing! It just goes to prove once again that you don't need big budgets or sophisticated scripts in order to create a real fun, entertaining and feel-good movie!
FIVE STARS!
This is an hilarious movie about a small time crook (Allen) getting a great idea of renting a Pizza store so he and some of his old cell mates can drill a tunnel underneath the shop into the nearest Bank to rob! The Pizza store becomes a 'cookie' store and is 'fronted' by 'Frenchy' (Ullman) and is an unexpected success!
I hadn't seen this for years and had only seen it the once when my Partner chose it out of our collection to watch this evening - he'd never seen it, and I'd forgotten whether it was any good or not. We both couldn't stop laughing! It just goes to prove once again that you don't need big budgets or sophisticated scripts in order to create a real fun, entertaining and feel-good movie!
FIVE STARS!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Not in woodys top 5 best films but it has its moments. This seems to be a film of two halfs the first half sees to have all the laughs and the second half is more serious. But then I would still recommend this film but I would try and get it as cheap as posible.
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
When you learn that Woody Allen made a film with Tracy Ullman as his leading lady, then you say to yourself that you would like to see that movie. But when you are finished watching "Small Time Crooks" the two people you are probably going to be talking about the most are Elaine May and Elaine Stritch, who pretty much steal every single scene in which they appear in this film. However, this makes sense, because "Small Town Crooks" is a film where about five minutes in your figure out what the twist is going to be, but then you discover that is going to be the first of several twists that keep you spinning around from start to finish in this film. Allen's nebish this time around is Ray Winkler, a former crook who conceives of a self-admittedly "brilliant" plan for robbing a bank, which requires his wife, the former exotic dancer "Frenchy" Fox, to open up a cookie store as a front while Ray and his bumbling buddies attempt to execute his master plan so he and Frenchy can go to Florida and live the good life that has so long elluded them.
"Small Town Crooks" is certainly a break from Woody Allen's usual fare in recent years, but it ends up being a second tier comedy for the writer-director (operationally define as a film you watch once and determine that is enough). I also came to the conclusion, given Allen's tendency to work improvisationally, that all of the great lines spouted by Elaine Mae came from her own fertile comedic mind. This does not take away from the disappointment of not seeing Ullman finally go long on the big screen, but it is certainly a source of solace. I also would not have minded seeing more of Allen's version of the gang that couldn't do nuttin' right, made up of actors Michael Rapaport, Tony Darrow, and John Lovitz. Still, "Small Time Crooks" does provide another example of Allen in an optimistic mood, albeit on a minor level.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Some good jokes keep this one's head above water
You wouldn't wave this one under the nose of a Woody neophyte, but it's worth remembering that even at the turn of the new millennium Woody hadn't completely exhausted his fund of... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Philoctetes
Woody At His Best
Backed by a great cast including Tracy Ulman, comedy legend and genius Woody Allen gives us one of his funniest and most sparkling comedies in years. Read more
Published on 28 Sep 2001
Lightweight latest from legendary auteur
Considering Woody's forays into darker drama in the nineties and late eighties, Small Time Crooks is a surprisngly lighter affair. Read more
Published on 15 May 2001 by Mr. D. Woods
cute sunday entertainment for Allen fans
I saw this one on a sunday and I think thats the right day to see this movie.
"The story is very feelgood with some silly gags", from review about. Read more
Published on 23 April 2001
Woody Allen in a return to his earlier comic turns
Small Time Crooks is played purely for laughs. The film is low budget and only has a small number of characters. Read more
Published on 20 Mar 2001
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