Movies
Small Time Crooks (1999, Woody Allen, Hugh Grant)
In modern day New Jersey, ex-con Ray Winkler (Woody Allen) plans to rob a bank by leasing a property nearby and tunnelling through to the vault. Letting fellow low-rent felons, including Tommy (Tony Darrow) and Benny (Jon Lovitz), into the secret, the plan begins, with Ray’s wife Frenchy (Tracey Ullman) opening a cookie store upstairs, as a front.
The digging turns out to be slow and wayward, and Ray ends up taking a wrong turn. Giving up, he decides to focus on a legit career in the biscuit business, which has now become a roaring success. Within a year the gang are all multi-millionaires, and Frenchy, anxious to leave her working class roots behind, decides to become a patron of the arts. They hire English art dealer David (Hugh Grant) to teach them culture, unaware that he has other plans for Frenchy which will secure his own future…
Returning to the bank robbery theme of his breakthrough movie Take the Money and Run, Allen’s back on form and there’s not a hint of a homage in sight. He’s having fun again and it’s infectious, using two great British talents as his foil. Sporting lime green spandex and a falsetto, Ullman is in her element. Cast as compensation for seeing her role in Everyone Says I Love You left on the cutting room floor, she makes Frenchy ambitious, hilarious and wholly lovable. Grant is equally at ease, playing against type as the smooth Henry Higgins-style etiquette teacher. His comic timing is masterful, and the role helped moved him away from the stereotypical fops of his early career. Not that Allen was of any visible assistance in playing the part. ‘People keep telling you it’s great if he doesn’t say anything,’ the actor recalls of his director. ‘You have to comfort yourself with that one.’
production details
USA | 94 minutes | 1999
Writer and Director: Woody Allen
cast
Woody Allen as Ray
Carolyn Saxon as Candy Salesperson
Tracey Ullman as Frenchy
Michael Rapaport as Denny
Tony Darrow as Tommy
Jon Lovitz as Benny
Bill Gerber as Cookie Store Customer
Sam Josepher as Real Estate Agent
Diane Bradley as Cookie Store Customer
Lawrence Howard Levy as Dynamite Dealer
Crystal Field as Cookie Store Customer
Cindy Carver as Cookie Store Customer
Laurine Towler as Cookie Store Customer
Olivia Hayman as Cookie Store Customer
Brian Markinson as Cop
Fanda Nikic as Cookie Store Customer
Elaine May as May
Dana Tyler as TV News Reporter
Steve Kroft as Himself
Hugh Grant as David
Ray Garvey as Cookie Store Customer
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