Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Thanks for the memories!

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Woody Allen was back in his 2000 film, Small Time Crooks. After being sadly absent from his 1999 film, Sweet and Lowdown, I was thrilled to see the director make the return to starring in another one of his films. The beautiful thing about Woody Allen putting out a film a year is that if one doesn't suit someone, you can try again next year with a pretty good chance at success. Another positive aspect of putting out so many films is the hope that I haven't seen Woody starring in one of his films for the last time. I hold my breath a little after watching one of the maestro's films and noticing his absence that I haven't enjoyed his last starring role. Small Time Crooks stars Allen and Tracey Ullman as a down-and-out couple always looking for a way to strike it rich, despite having a limited skill set. When they get the chance to join with a group of associates in hopes of finally obtaining the riches they've spent their lives chasing, they leap at the chance to become big time crooks.Ray Winkler (Woody Allen) and Frenchie Winkler (Tracey Ullman) have been with each other through thick and thin. Their 25-year marriage has withstood prison sentences and probations and it seems stronger than many relationships that have survived less. Ray Winkler has spent his life as a thief. A safe-busting bank robber hasn't looked too good on many resumes, so he mostly spends his time trying to come up with new ideas for getting he and his wife money. Frenchie has worked as a nail technician for years and single-handedly amassed the couple's current fortune of $6,000. Ray and some of his crook cronies have devised a plan to rob a bank through the wall of the bank's newly vacant neighbor. The only problem with their plot is, that each participant in the plan has to come up with their share-$6,000. Frenchie, despite spending her days dreaming of a glamorous life in which she has infinite funds and nothing is out of her price range, initially refuses to put up the money, as she has grown accustomed to the predictable legal existence she and her husband currently live. The plan won't go forward without Frenchie and she is eventually swayed with the promise of using the storefront as a means to sell the cookies she spends so much time perfecting. As the rest of the crew struggles with exacting a means to gain entry into the bank, Frenchie's cookie business explodes and after franchising takes off to be a lucrative money source for the group. Once the money starts rolling in, Frenchie wants to leave her old life behind and become a "cultured woman" quickly absorbing as much fine cuisine and art that she possibly can. Ray, on the other hand, wants his life, and his wife, to return to some semblance of the life they used to share. Ray begins to realize that he was more truly happy before with a loving wife and happy home even without the riches they currently enjoy. If Frenchie and Ray can't come together on their lives after fortune, they may soon find their marriage burnt to a crisp.As soon as I heard Woody Allen's voice, I was hooked. Woody could read the phone book (if those are even made anymore) to me and I would be euphoric. That quintessential New York voice is the only one I want to hear reading his perfect scripts to me. It doesn't hurt that actually seeing him in some of the wardrobes of the film may be enough to keep me entertained for life. I mean, Woody Allen in yellow pants and a gold collared jacket is hilarious in its own right. It was also a treat to see Woody Allen playing a bad comic. One of Ray's idiosyncrasies in the film was that he told horrible jokes that no one ever offered even so much as a courtesy laugh for. One has to do something quite well to convince an audience they're doing it poorly, and that is exactly what Woody Allen did. I can only imagine him sitting at his typewriter penning horrid jokes in the mindset of a bad comic, as only a good comic could. Small TIme Crooks is a lot of fun and has its hard-hitting moments as a couple evaluates their marriage and what their change in status does to it. Here I am, again, to warn against anyone being dismissive of "lower tier" Woody Allen.

To me, Woody Allen is at his best when he makes us laugh and cry at the same time. When I first saw this film in the movie theatre, I found it thoroughly entertaining, but more in the same vein as his "early funny ones" than his later, deeper work (Crimes & Misdemeanors, Husbands & Wives and the like). Upon repeated viewing, though, I realised I had been wrong. It is light-hearted and funny on the surface, but much much deeper than it first seems. It has really grown on me since and has become one of my favourites. The cast are all superb, from Tracey Ullman to Hugh Grant, even Woody gives one of his best performances of his career. Highly recommended for both fans of Woody's funny ones and of his more serious dramas.

As someone who has loved or really liked(although from about 5 or 6 disappointments) most of what they've seen so far of Woody Allen's filmography(28 as of now), there was a lot to like about Small Time Crooks. But compared to a lot of Allen's other films, it was also uneven and disappointing. Getting onto the many good stuff, Small Time Crooks is beautifully photographed and there is a great use of locations, which look similarly great. Most of the acting is great, especially from Tracy Ullman who is splendid and Elaine May who is ditsy, charming and her comic timing is priceless. Woody Allen- whose directing I don't have a problem with here- gives a good performance too that does remind you of some of his earlier work. Jon Lovitz and Michael Rappaport are a lot of fun in the little screen time we see them in. The first half is great as well, with very witty and sharp writing that feels like a throwback to Allen's earlier wisecrack comedies and that was part of the appeal. In typical Allen fashion as well there is a lot to say on issues and relationships and it's done insightfully. The three main characters are compellingly drawn. Sadly, the second half doesn't match up, the pace sags, the writing is not as witty and sometimes take a patronising approach and the characters that made the first half entertaining disappear and are forgotten about seemingly. And while as said the acting is fine, Lovitz and Rappaport did deserve more to do, Elaine Stritch is pretty wasted and I wasn't enamoured by Hugh Grant here either, his character was underwritten and the performance felt too much of a self-parody. The story is not as interesting in this half either with some plot strands underdeveloped and clumsily resolved. In conclusion, enjoyable, well made and performed but lesser and uneven Woody Allen. 6/10 Bethany Cox

If you can hold on through some lame one-liners and weak slapstick in the first half-an-hour of 'Small Time Crooks' you'll be amply rewarded with some much better comedy in the second half.There's oodles of comic talent on show (Tracey Ullman and Elaine May playing the dumb and dumber broads are wonderful) and there are enough gems in the dialogue to keep the brisk, frothy plot bouncing merrily along for a thoroughly enjoyable 90 minutes.Comic highlights? Without giving too much away look out for the Sunset Farms documentary at about half way and Elaine May's (she seems to have all the best lines) reference to her first husband Otto. In fact Elaine May, in a rare appearance, is an absolute treat.