Review of Small Time Crooks (2000) by Doctor S — 23 May 2013

Starts off with a great premise, takes a befuddling left turn and wanders adrift for half the run time, and then finds its way back into a caper comedy for the conclusion. Woody Allen is Ray, a thief by nature who cannot help but concoct a scheme even when life brings good fortune. He eventually wears down his very reluctant wife Frenchy (Tracey Ullman) into his latest plan for a heist: rent a shop two buildings from a bank and tunnel underground to the vault. They need a front for the shop to avoid attracting suspicion, so after much debate they decide that Frenchy can sell her homemade cookies. To everyone's surprise, Frenchy's cookies are a huge success, drawing huge crowds which become a major inconvenience to the people trying to remain undetected while making a lot of noise in the basement!

This development is brilliant and would make a memorably uproarious conclusion to a movie - but in Small Time Cooks this is only the setup! Ray & Frenchy strike it rich with her cookie business, and the bulk of the movie deals with their relationship and how money causes them to drift apart as Frenchy wants to experience high society while Ray quickly grows tired of gourmet dining and craves a cheeseburger. Hence, the laughs largely disappear until Ray teams with his wife's cousin, the dimwitted May (Elaine May), in order to steal a famous necklace during a cocktail party. Another hindrance is that Woody is playing dumb here. Ray is not nearly the mastermind he thinks he is, and while his shortcomings get some chuckles, Woody's more effective when making wisecracks about the world around him.

In short, a great idea gets suffocated by a less-than-great screenplay decision, resulting in a modest success rather than a return to greatness.