Small Time Crooks
Director: Woody Allen
Year Released: 2000
Rating: 2.5
It spent some time on my 'recommended' side, although that may have been a quick reaction to this horrible year of movies. The first hour is inspired and funny - Woody Allen casts his movies well and the bumbling fools that follow him en route to financial success (or oblivion) are fantastic, although movie runs out of steam very quickly when they disappear and Hugh Grant's pearly whites get introduced. The third and fourth acts (the last hour) are laborious and dull - I checked my watch more than once. Elaine May, however, is so fabulous she single-handedly makes an otherwise gratuitous unsophisticated-meet-sophisticated dinner party scene a genuine eye opener. Tracey Ullmann, though interesting in the beginning, becomes annoying quickly.
