Review of Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) by Matt F — 04 Feb 2008

Crimes and Misdemeanors is Woody Allen's bleakest and most successful dramatic comedy. Focusing on a series of related characters (Allen's original title was "Brothers"), the film explores human vice from its most minor forms (adultry, deceit, pride) to its most extreme (murder, theft) and presents a stark world where consequences for immorality are absent and, as a result, our deepest existential and theological fears are confirmed.