A friend of mine saw this movie and despised it. This was the only Woody Allen movie he had ever seen. When "Curse of the Jade Scorpion" came out the next year, I asked him if he wanted to see it, and he said, "No, I don't like Woody Allen."
The moral of my story is, if this is your only experience with Woody Allen (or, for that matter, if "Jade Scorpion" is your only Woody experience, which wasn't that great either, but much better than "Small Time Crooks"), see one of his other movies. Sleeper. Zelig. Bananas. Love and Death. Annie Hall. Hannah and Her Sisters. Crimes and Misdemeanors. Take the Money and Run. Even Manhattan, which I personally didn't like too much, but I admit, it is classic Woody, and a great movie whether I liked it or not.
"Small Time Crooks" is just a bad movie. Every performer is entitled to some bombs. "Small Time Crooks" had a nice ending...but it occurred about 30 minutes into the movie. Then the movie took a drastic turn, and by "drastic" I mean "BOOOORRRRING." I wanted to fall asleep at this poorly-written plot and these mediocre performances. This is not one of Woody Allen's greats. This isn't even a good movie. This is crap, and I didn't laugh once. Please. See a few of the aforementioned Woody Allen movies instead, or some of his other classics; the man is a comic genius, after all.
The moral of my story is, if this is your only experience with Woody Allen (or, for that matter, if "Jade Scorpion" is your only Woody experience, which wasn't that great either, but much better than "Small Time Crooks"), see one of his other movies. Sleeper. Zelig. Bananas. Love and Death. Annie Hall. Hannah and Her Sisters. Crimes and Misdemeanors. Take the Money and Run. Even Manhattan, which I personally didn't like too much, but I admit, it is classic Woody, and a great movie whether I liked it or not.
"Small Time Crooks" is just a bad movie. Every performer is entitled to some bombs. "Small Time Crooks" had a nice ending...but it occurred about 30 minutes into the movie. Then the movie took a drastic turn, and by "drastic" I mean "BOOOORRRRING." I wanted to fall asleep at this poorly-written plot and these mediocre performances. This is not one of Woody Allen's greats. This isn't even a good movie. This is crap, and I didn't laugh once. Please. See a few of the aforementioned Woody Allen movies instead, or some of his other classics; the man is a comic genius, after all.