Small Time Crooks (2000)

A loser of a crook and his wife strike it rich when a botched bank job's cover business becomes a spectacular success.

Director:

Woody Allen

Writer:

Woody Allen

Stars:

Woody Allen, Tracey Ullman, Hugh Grant

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 1 win & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Woody Allen	...	Ray
Carolyn Saxon	...	Candy Salesperson
Tracey Ullman	...	Frenchy
Michael Rapaport	...	Denny
Tony Darrow	...	Tommy
Sam Josepher	...	Real Estate Agent
Jon Lovitz	...	Benny
Lawrence Howard Levy	...	Dynamite Dealer (as Lawrence Levy)
Diane Bradley	...	Cookie Store Customer
Crystal Field	...	Cookie Store Customer
Cindy Carver	...	Cookie Store Customer
Ray Garvey	...	Cookie Store Customer
Bill Gerber	...	Cookie Store Customer
Olivia Hayman	...	Cookie Store Customer
Laurine Towler	...	Cookie Store Customer

Storyline

Dishwasher and small-fry criminal Ray hits on a plan with his partners in crime to re-open a local pizza place and dig through to the bank down the street. As his wife can't cook pizza but does great cookies, that's what they sell. While the no-hope tunnellers get lost underground, the cookie operation really takes off and the team find themselves rich business people. But the other local money isn't quite ready to accept them.

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Plot Keywords:

criminal | planning a robbery | neo screwball comedy | heist | new york city | 

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Taglines:

They took a bite out of crime.

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 May 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

Woody Allen Spring Project 1999

Filming Locations:

Doyers Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$3,880,723, 21 May 2000, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$17,071,230, 6 August 2000

Company Credits

Production Co:

DreamWorks, Sweetland Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

DTS (Mono) Dolby Digital (Mono)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Woody Allen places a large gumball machine in one of the opening scenes to create a link between his character, Winkler, and fellow inept criminal Virgil Starkwell from his other film Take the Money and Run (1969).

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Goofs

Shown the house where writer Henry James(whom her husband confuses with band leader Harry James) once lived, the culturally challenged Frenchy announces that James was author of "The Heiress" (which she mispronounces as "hair-ess"). In reality, "The Heiress" was the title shared by a movie and a stage play, each inspired by James's novel "Washington Square"; James never wrote anything called "The Heiress".

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Quotes

Frenchy's Lawyer: You've lost it all, Frenchy. Or should I say, you've been swindled out of it all.
Frenchy: You mean I got...?
Frenchy's Lawyer: Nothing, Mrs. Winkler. You have nothing. No... no house, no bank account, just a couple of large, outstanding loans which we feel you can best deal with by filing for bankruptcy.
Frenchy: Bankruptcy? Bankruptcy? I'm not up to the B-words yet!

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Connections

Referenced in Skins: Sketch (2008)

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Soundtracks

Zelda's Theme
Written by André Previn
Performed by Dámaso Pérez Prado (as Perez Prado)
Courtesy of Capitol Records under license from EMI-Capitol Music Special Markets

User Reviews

A film of three thirds

We'll get this out of the way first - I'm a huge Woody fan, and will fight anyone who disses...

HOWEVER,

This is one of his minor works (see also - Manhattan Murder Mystery, Everyone Says I Love You), and as such comes as a bit of a disappointment if you are intimate with such masterpieces of cinema as Annie Hall, Manhattan and Hannah and her Sisters.

Woody seems to have faxed in his performance (a little hazy like Robin Williams in Deconstructing Harry, perhaps?) and the character is totally wrong for him. Tracey Ullman, however, is just just perfect.

Oddly, the film changes styles every half hour - the first starts like a golden-age caper comedy, then switches to a comedy of manners (very french) and ends up with a traditional Woody 'love lives falling to pieces' plot. Of course, the final third is the most satisfying.

So, a must for Woody fans to stick to the end with, but the question has to be asked -

Is he not too old for this now?