Small Time Crooks (DVD)

Small Time Crooks is a 2000 comedy written and directed by Woody Allen. The film starts around a group of inept criminals led by Ray Winkler (Allen) and his gang Denny, Tommy, and Benny - played by Michael Rapaport, Tony Darrow, and Jon Lovitz, respectively. "Remember," says the deluded Ray. "What they used to call me in the joint?...the brain!" "That was sarcastic!" comes the reply from his gang. Ray, working as a dishwasher and feeling himself to be in a rut, plots to steal $2 million from a nearby bank by leasing a shop and using it as a front from which to tunnel into the vault. While Ray and his equally incompetent gang inevitably make ...  Read the complete review

As usual Woody Allen's latest film 'Small Time Crooks' is set in his beloved New York. Allen is Ray Winkler who has been married to barbed tongued Frenchy (Tracey Ullman) for 25 years. Winkler who's previous conviction for robbery got him a 2 year stretch is forever on the lookout for the heist that will allow him to retire to a life of swimming in Florida. While in prison Winkler was sarcastically dubbed the 'brain' by the other inmates. To his 2 other dollard friends Denny and Tommy he remains a modern day Einstein. When he notices a pizza parlour 2 doors down from a bank is up for rent, the 'brain' sees a fresh opportunity. He ...  Read the complete review

It's taken me a week to get over the banality of 2 Fast 2 Furious, I needed to cleanse myself with some films that I knew would be a whole lot better just by looking at the cover. If I had to gamble on a film being any good then Woody Allen would alway be at the top of my list along with the Coens. Even Woody running at 50% is still a darn sight better than most of the crap out there in movieland. Small Time Crooks is an Allen film from 2000 and was modestly recieved on it's release. Sure it may not be among his best but this is still entertaining, funny and worth watching more than once. Allen plays Ray Winkler, an ex-con with big dreams. The ...  Read the complete review

Woody Allen (also writer and director) plays the part of Ray Winkler who is a no-class New Jerseyite ex-con, working as a dishwasher and living in the upper West Side of Manhattan. His wife, Frenchy (Francis Fox) Winkler played by Tracy Ullman (who was nominated for Best Actress (Musical/Comedy) at the 2001 Golden Globe Awards) is a manicurist with a “grating” New Jersey accent. Ray and Frenchy have been married for twenty-five years and have fallen into a rut, which they are finding hard to escape from. Although Frenchy appears to have spent her married life trying to keep Allen on the straight and narrow, he still has big dreams of getting rich ...  Read the complete review

I was lucky enough to be present at the charity preview of Woody Allen’s latest comedy ‘Small Time Crooks’ at The Screen at Winchester, 15th November. After last years drama ‘Sweet and Lowdown’ Woody Allen returns to all out comedy in this brilliant satire on the class system and how much crime really pays! Set in contemporary New York, Allen’s character is an ex-con living with his wife played by English star Tracy Ullman. When Allen comes up with an idea to rob a bank by drilling underneath it all hell breaks loose with perfect comic timing. Ullman puts in a great performance as the working class ...  Read the complete review