Crime Story

Goodness! I've always had a soft spot for Richard Dreyfuss all the way back to Close Encounters of the Third Kind. He just had this charm in him, his characters almost always give out a snickering smile even when the situation's serious. It's there in Jaws, Nuts, Goodbye Girl etc. And when I saw Dreyfuss' name headline this revenge actioner, I told myself, "this, I wanna see." I didn't doubt he could pull it off.

And truth be told, his Ben Myers does carry some weight of conviction. But that's about where the good stuff ends. Well, Mira Sorvino & Pruit Taylor Vince do throw in whatever character-acting chops they have into their scenes, but everything else falls into the category of Bruce Willis' latest cinematic hobby - straight to dvd territory. Bad lighting, patchy camera work, & sloppy editing. I could hardly believe that two Oscar winners in Dreyfuss & Sorvino landed into this mess. Taylor Vince included. What were they thinking? Or do they need to find new agents? Throw in other amateur actors whose screen demeanour quickly reveals that much, and you wonder, just what path did Dreyfuss take to come to this place at this stage in his career? I sure hope he doesn't tread the Bruce Willis path.

I can't believe what I saw made the final cut-to-market. This film by Adam Lipsius should be a film school example of what NOT to do.

Firstly, this is the perfect example of how a score can make or break a film, and this has to be one of the worst. I'm used to the typical annoyingly loud, overbearing, non-stop and unfitting score in B-grade films, but this was a whole new level of annoying. At the start, I kept yelling at Dreyfuss to "answer the damn door!". But it was the score - a constant knocking sound. Throughout, you'll hear clanging, ringing, banging etc... was there even a composer in this production, or just some random tools in a garage being slammed around?

Then you have Lipsius' incoherent and convoluted story, with dialogue and scenes that will make you shake your head. Why did he shoot the bathroom door where Nan was if he loved and cared about her so much? Don't even get me started on the plot and technical issues, that made what was supposed to be a criminal underworld story, feel inept, unconvincing and boring as it gets. And that's a real shame, when this is supposed to be "based on true events", and you end up scratching your head and yawning by the end.

Next, you have the barely legible muddled dialogue of Dreyfuss, that when combined with his slow and poorly postured demeanor, I thought he was constipated throughout the entire film. Add in Pruitt Taylor Vince's character Tommy, and you have two geriatric actors trying to get through filming. Aside from their snail-paced movements (I'm sure blame falls on Lipsius' failure to direct his cast properly), the entire film's slow pacing, made the normally comfortable 98 min runtime feel endless. Even Mira Sorvino's performance seemed like it was her first ever acting gig (again, due to Lipsius' failure to direct his cast properly).

His (twitchy) camerawork and cinematography were just awful, and this film needed some serious editing. I really can't find anything redeeming about Crime Story. It's a very generous 3/10 from me (much better than the current 0% on Rotten Tomatoes), all going to the Oscar winners out of pity they'll have this mess on their resumes.

Greetings again from the darkness. Thanks to (or maybe because of) Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, and Liam Neeson, we are rarely without a senior citizen action film. However, it's a bit surprising for most of us to see Oscar winner Richard Dreyfuss (THE GOODBYE GIRL, 1977) load up his gun and take to the streets for revenge. Writer-director Adam Lipsius scored a double Oscar coup by also casting Mira Sorvino (MIGHTY APHRODITE, 1995) as Dreyfuss' detective-daughter.

"Based on actual events", Mr. Lipsius bookends the film with the elderly Ben Myers (Dreyfuss) riding in the back of a limousine. He's barely coherent, but in the opening we can make out, "If I wake up, I'll choose different." We then flashback 12 hours to re-live what is likely Ben Myers' worst day ever. He's been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and though he's a former mobster, he says he went "legit" 12 years ago, and runs a local bar with his loyal-to-a-fault sidekick Tommy (the always interesting Pruitt Taylor Vince). Ben's estranged daughter (Sorvino) hits him up for money she says is for the daughter and grandkids that Ben has never acknowledged. Next thing we know, Ben's house has been robbed of all his cash (a quite substantial amount) and trashed by 3 men who take advantage of Ben's beloved dementia-stricken wife Nan (Megan McFarland).

This kicks off Ben's mission of revenge. Gun by Glock, body by Devito. His daughter is concerned he's taking this on by himself, and there is the added complication of her working for a politician that Ben once helped out of what would have been a career-ending jam. In fact, there are so many sub-plots, sub-sub-plots and characters who come and go, that much of this makes little sense. It works best when focusing on an aging (former) mobster trying to even the score, and gets a bit shaky when it reverts to dysfunctional family stuff. I believe there are five crying scenes, which is entirely too many for any movie not named SOPHIE'S CHOICE.

For those of us who recall Dreyfuss from his early TV days, a brief appearance in THE GRADUATE (1967), and of course in AMERICAN GRAFFITI (1973) and JAWS (1975), there is some enjoyment to be had in watching 'Mr. Holland' take a violent approach to revenge ... though he's certainly no AARP reincarnation of John Wick. Overall, it's a pretty generic take on geriatric anger, with bonus points for a spot on description of what it feels like when one's spouse succumbs to dementia.

Arrives August 13, 2021 in select theaters, On Demand, and on Digital.

Two talented actors wasted in a poorly written and poorly directed film that is too long by a factor of three. Not a likeable character in it. Just bad. Trim your nails it will be time better spent.

I read all the horrible reviews - and they were right!

You can have a magnificent portrait of a very messed up family, such as this! But ......

Just goes ta show ya that you can have great actors (they were having off days here) and what could have been a great story - and who knows why everything went topsy tervey - but it most certainly did.

Obviously the music budget was low. It was AWFUL. Hurt my ears it was so very bad. They tried to recover at the end (during the credits), but that piece swung too far in the other direction of what they assaulted our ears with during the movie.

All in all, a most unpleasant experience. And not so bad that it was at all fun. The sin of it is, it had great potential. Oh well.

I would suggest passing it up as have several other reviewers, but you know your gonna wanna watch it because how can it really be THAT bad!!??

Your mistake, not ours. Oh, wait!!! It was! PS - after "sleeping on it", I had to take it down a star. Yep. THAT bad.