Woody Allen pairs with fellow comedian-actor Tracey Ullman – wife Frenchy to his Ray – in “Small Time Crooks” (2000), an endearing rags-to-riches trifle. I don’t believe they are husband and wife any more than I believe most other occasions where Allen is paired with a much younger actress – and Ray weirdly threatens violence a distracting number of times — but the screenplay is funny enough that it doesn’t matter much.
Hilarious premise
I got a kick out of the overall premise and specific moments. It’s amusing that Ray and his small-time crook buddies (Michael Rapaport, Tony Darrow and Jon Lovitz) use a cookie store as a front while digging a hole in the basement to the neighboring bank, but the store itself ends up making them rich. We also get funny “hapless criminals” moments; my favorite is when Ray is distracted amid breaking into a safe and he can’t remember which gem-studded necklace is the original and which is the fake.
“Small Time Crooks’ ” secret weapon is Elaine May, who surprisingly hasn’t acted a lot. May’s character, named May, becomes Ray’s lookout after a mid-film split with Frenchy. May takes instructions literally – giving a full weather report to people at a party when Ray tells her to “talk about the weather” – but ends up delighting other party-goers.
“Small Time Crooks” (2000)
Director: Woody Allen
Writer: Woody Allen
Stars: Woody Allen, Tracey Ullman, Hugh Grant
Allen is generous with sharing the funny lines here, as Frenchy gets in jabs against Ray whereas he is more apt to threaten to beat her (even though he’s a foot shorter, which might be part of the joke). Frenchy’s thick New York accent would be too much in another half-hour, but I liked her during the film’s run time.
3 distinct acts
Allen distinctly separates “Small Time Crooks” into three acts. In the first, he and his buddies pathetically fail to rob the bank but accidentally create the uber-successful Sunset Farms cookie chain, as deliciously chronicled by Steve Kroft (as himself) in a “60 Minutes”-style report.
Then the film recharges by showing Frenchy and Ray as nouveau riche – their big yet overstuffed apartment might as well be made of gold, and they dress gaudily. Hugh Grant is a fun addition as an art dealer whom Frenchy hires to teach her how to fit in. When she studies the dictionary in alphabetical order to improve her vocabulary, the film’s broadest humor is gleaned from her overuse of “A” words. It’s OK, but luckily most of “Small Time Crooks” isn’t so goofy.
Keeping this from being an elite Allen entry, it loses some momentum in part three. Even though May’s emergence in the plot is welcome, I can feel the energy winding down until our central couple is knocked back to square one.
Every other character is bumped to the side when not needed for interacting with Frenchy or Ray, a signal that this is a comedy rather than a statement movie. Allen stitches three funny premises together into a movie that’s always smile-worthy, with occasional big laughs. “Small Time Crooks” is consistently fun, but it’s missing that something extra that would make it a big-time comedy.
