Starring Woody Allen, Tracey Ullman, Hugh Grant, Elaine May, Michael Rappaport, Tony, Darrow, Jon Lovitz. Written and Directed by Woody Allen. Ray (Allen) is an ex-con dishwasher who had dreams of making it, but things have never panned out. His ex-exotic dancer wife Frenchy (Ullman) stood by him while he was in the joint for a botched robbery. Ray comes home one day with an idea to rob a bank, move to Miami and live on the beach. In their New York neighbourhood, a pizza place three doors down from the bank went under, so Ray and his doltish friends (Darrow, Rappaport) plan to buy it. But it's bought out first by a former jailmate of Ray's (Lovitz), and Ray persuades him to join their scheme. They plan to tunnel under the bank, while Frenchy runs a cookie making business upstairs. The boys have little success in tunnelling, but Frenchy's business takes off, so much so that she has to hire her not-too-bright cousin May (May) to help out. Soon after, they all strike it rich and they move on up to the rich side. Soon Ray and Frenchy are the gauche nouveau rich, inviting society people to their new extravagant apartment. Frenchy decides she wants to get some culture, so she hires an art dealer (Grant) to help her develop some class. But Ray is not at all interested - his idea of class is drinking a Bud instead of Miller Lite. Despite their wealth, they aren't a whole lot happier, and their marriage begins to deteriorate. Reminiscent of early Woody Allen light, fast-paced, wise-cracking comedies, Small Time Crooks, moves briskly, with several interesting twists and turns. But the writing is not up to Allen's usual standards - he seems to keep the plot moving briskly because there are few things worth dwelling on. Unlike his best work, where there is usually something he's saying about men and women, relationships or even New York culture, there is nothing of substance here. It is just played for laughs. And it is not overly satisfying. Still there are quite a few decent lines, and most of them have been given to Ullman and May. The cast is solid. Allen plays a pretty unsympathetic character, whose incompetence and idosyncrancies are more annoying than endearing. Ullman is excellent, beautifully capturing the working class inferiority complex in the presence of social "superiors", smart only in comparison with her husband. May is also quite good as the seemingly brainless, but actually perceptive innocent who sees more than she lets on. It's not as if Small Time Crooks is a bad film, it's just that (Celebrity aside) we've come to expect work from Allen with more creativity and depth, and here's hoping his next film returns to previous form. If you would like to respond, please click the E-Mail Press Here To Go To The Review List Page