Diagonaldi Very well executed

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Aspen Orson There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

bkoganbing Woody Allen and Tracey Ullman play a husband and wife team in Small Time Crooks who hit the big time, but purely by accident. Allen who is as the title says, a small time crook who has done small time in the joint and has collected a gang of misfits just like him. Probably he saw the famous Edward G. Robinson classic Larceny, Inc. where Robinson and his associates buy a luggage store because of its location next to a bank where the plan is to tunnel from the store basement into the bank and rob it. Naturally Allen claims this as his original scheme.But to do that Allen has to have a business and that's where his bimbo of a wife Tracey Ullman comes in. She has one talent, she bakes some really out of this world cookies, cookies that Famous Amos would envy. They catch on and even when a cop catches Allen and his crew breaking into the bank he wants in on the business, the cookie business.But these rather unsophisticated Small Time Crooks who are all of a sudden fabulously wealthy find that it doesn't wear well on them. Both Allen and Ullman become targets of all kinds of big time crooks. Ullman has this lizard of an art dealer/gigolo played by Hugh Grant putting the moves on her. As she is the one with the recipe for the cookies, the money is all in her name. Woody in the meantime finds a sympathetic ear in Elaine May.As Small Time Crooks was getting started I thought I was watching a remake of Larceny, Inc. I thought I was watching a remake. But Woody Allen took it way beyond what Warner Brothers had in mind for that 1942 film. He and Ullman are a perfectly matched pair and in a weird way they show that money might buy happiness, but happiness means different things to different people.It's not Allen's best effort, but Small Time Crooks will definitely find an audience. It sure did with me.

LeonLouisRicci The great Writer/Director/Star seems a little tired in his new attempt at a more accessible mode of slapstick ala his early movies. The cerebral comedy takes a vacation and this romp is indicative of whimsical rather than witty Woody.It somewhat works and the creative ability of the cast, as well as a half-awake Allen, deliver an easy essay on wealth and want. There are a number of laughs and it all is a rather unusual piece of fluff from a talent that more times than not stimulates the head-bone as much as the funny-bone.Compared to his other gems this one is not made of glass, but admittedly, while not a fugazi, is far from the precious piece of treasure that one normally expects from the "prophet of the misanthropes".

Christian_Dimartino Woody Allen,Tracey Ullman,and Hugh Grant star in Small time crooks. Small time crooks is strictly a comedy. You know that from the opening scene. It's a funny and fun film that goes in directions that you don't expect.Allen plays a crook. Him and his wife(Tracey Ullman) live in New York. When him and his gang of crooks(Michael Rappaport,Jon Lovitz and others) try to break into a bank by crawling through a ditch underneath a cookie shop, they are mistaken for trying to expand a cookie company. so instead of robbing a bank,everyone gets money from the cookie business.A year goes by. Everyone is rich. Ullman's character tries to get into the arts in stuff when she meets a wealthy man(Hugh Grant) and sort of falls for him. But it turns out that he has no interest in her,he just wants her money.Small time crooks is funny. You know that it's going to be from the beginning. It's not as good as some of Allen's other works. Such as Match point, Manhattan,Vicky Cristina Barcelona,and others. No I didn't mention Annie Hall not because I haven't seen it but because i'm not that crazy about it. It's not his best but it's not his worst. I've seen over ten of his films. I can judge.Overall, Small time crooks is funny and fun and mischievous and I enjoyed it like I enjoy all of his films. Simply, it's not his best,but not his worst. I think we can leave it that, and call it a day.Thumbs up.B+

Samiam3 Sometimes a comedy can get so over planned, or ambitious that it forgets what its sole purpose is...to make people laugh. Even though Small Time Crooks did on occasion have me laughing, and almost always smiling, it left me wanting more. The real problem with the film however, is that it really does not amount to as much as Woody Allen probably thinks it does. He makes the whole thing seem more elaborate than necessary. The end result is contrived, rather pointless, and is accompanied by a rushed ending.Ray and Frenchy are a 'not so charming' New York couple living in a tiny apartment, but Ray has some big plans for getting dough. A pizza place across from a nearby bank has just closed. He wants to buy the store, turn it into a cookie shop (his wife makes cookies). She will then be the front man (or woman) while Ray in the basement tunnels across the street to the bank. It all goes wrong. While Ray fails in his task, his wife meets astonishing success in hers. Overnight, the shop becomes one of the hottest places in town. Jump forward a year, and the couple now run a big national cookie company, and are living the American dream. What could possibly go wrong.From here, Small Time Crooks becomes a completely different movie, which ends up going nowhere. All the big laughs come in the first act. The rest of the movie, provokes chuckles at best. Woody Allen does however successfully maintain an active screen presence. Even at sixty, he still has a performer left in him. Actually having seen Scoop, it's easy to argue that he still has it in him in age seventy.Scoop may actually be a better film to see if you wanna get a peek at the older Woody Allen. This one has its moments, but the whole thing is just bogged down by too much plot, and not enough direction. Could have been worse I suppose. At least I laughed.