Wanted

"Crime Spree" is a good movie. It's not a great one, but it's certainly very funny and quite entertaining. Its major problem is, though, that it's almost completely ripped off from either "Snatch" or "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels." Now, don't get me wrong: I enjoyed "Crime Spree" immensely and I do recommend it. However, don't go into it expecting to see something original or revolutionary, especially if you're a Guy Ritchie fan.

Writer/director Brad Mirman crafts a cute, international comedy with the requisite murder/theft/convoluted plot that has dragged Ritchie to the spotlight while bringing nothing new to the table. One disappointing aspect of "Crime Spree," though, is that it neither has Ritchie's blitheness nor his gravity in serious matters. When, in either "Snatch" or "Lock, Stock," the characters find out that they're screwed, we can feel just how screwed they are. In "Crime Spree," we don't know them well enough to comprehend the level of crap they're in. This is probably because Mirman doesn't take the time to establish the characters well enough to make us feel anything for them. We see that they're a likable group of guys who happen to be hapless thieves, and that's where the character development ends.

I think Mirman's biggest problem is that he underwrote the script. The scene that catapults the story is too unexpected and weird, because it involves a character too peripheral. It takes a huge leap of faith to think that something so minor could result in an onset of problems that big, because said peripheral character lacks the motivation to be involved in the plot in the first place.

Now, speaking of the plot. The plot has Ritchie's signature written all over it, only whereas Ritchie begins at the beginning, so to speak, when he introduces his characters, Mirman gets lazy and does expository dialogue instead. This is probably a mistake, since he has neither the style nor the substance to fill the holes well enough and make me ignore the sloth of his writing.

Lastly, Mirman's work suffers from a lot of side ordership. There are only two important groups in the forefront, but Mirman stuffs the movie with side characters that seem to distract from the development of the main characters. Whereas Ritchie somehow incorporates these side assemblies into the main plot, Mirman doesn't have the skill to do this, so I wind up feeling annoyed at the fact that some totally arbitrary people are stealing the screen time. I wish to Christ that, in the cases of both Ritchie and Mirman, or any of the numerous on-the-rise directors who want to follow in that vein, people learn that simplicity isn't always a bad thing. A movie doesn't have to have thirty protagonists to be good. Both "Snatch" and "Lock, Stock" had this problem, but in those movies, the side characters were at least somewhat amusing.

Despite these rather grave errors, "Crime Spree," as I said before, is a good film. It's light (though not light enough) with dark moments (that are, alas, not dark enough), but it works in its own odd, plagiarist way. Mirman has style in terms of shooting the thing and a couple of moments in the film work better than anything Ritchie has ever spawned. Also on the plus side in the Mirman column, he has assembled an excellent cast that can at least act.

Do I recommend it? As I said, absolutely. But if you're looking for something to blow your mind and you've not been living in a Luddite compound in terms of the Ritchie Revolution, "Crime Spree" just won't do it for you.

If you are familiar with both American and French culture, this movie is hilarious. If you are not familiar with the frog culture, you won't get all the jokes, but there should be enough jokes left to enjoy yourself seriously. This is one very well-made crime-comedy. The movie does not suffer from overacting and the jokes are not laid on heavily. The actors are superb and seem to have had a great time making this movie. The script is intelligent and funny.

Let me explain one joke for those who are not familiar with French culture: during the bar scene in Paris, the Johnny Halliday and Renaud characters (they are popular singers in real life) repeatedly switch off the other guy's music to play their own recording. And I was impressed by the way they played tough criminals. Good acting !

On a personal note, this movie was a very nice surprise for me, who have lived in France for many years and speak French fluently. I had picked up the DVD in the video store only because I saw Harvey Keitel's name on the cover. The title did not mean anything to me and I did not bother to read anything else on the cover. Harvey Keitel was enough assurance the movie would at least be OK. Then the movie starts in total darkness, with some people whispering. At first I did not understand what was said, as I was expecting to hear English, but no, they spoke French. And for the next 10 to 15 minutes, it was a French movie set in Paris. I was sure they had put the wrong DVD in the box, but I did not mind so much as I found the movie entertaining. Then of course the action moved to the USA...

That's not THE film of the year, that's not a very good action movie, but it's really amazing ! The humour of the actors is great, and the english speaking of Renaud, Depardieu is really funny. It refers to french culture, so there may be a few jokes hard to understand for americans, but, it's an american movie, so I suppose it will be appreciated there too. Harvey Keitel in his known maffia role, playing with his own image is something to see too !

This movie is a "must see".

I have to say I've been a frequent visitor of the IMDb and I cannot believe some of the comments said about this movie. Rather than judging this movie by how funny it was, they try and find little problems that they can come and complain about. I honestly feel this was a good movie. There was many bad movies made in Canada, but this is not one of them. Maybe it was because I didn't expect much, but I laughed really hard and have been talking about this movie for quite some time now. It far exceeded my expectations, therefore, for those who want to watch a good and funny movie, I definitely recommend it. I gave it an 8 out of 10. And for those who gave this movie a below 6 rating, I think you should alter your way of rating a movie.

This is the funniest movie I've seen in a long while. Who knew murder could be hilarious? From the opening scenes with the older gentlemen to the last scenes, I laughed my head off. Which wasn't easy because it was 4 a.m. when I watched it. Each scene was extremely clever and held my attention because I knew something wise and funny was about to happen.

I'd have to say that my favorite character was Harvey Keitel's character because he had some really funny lines and funny scenes. But, honestly, every single one of the characters had something that brought this movie together and made it comical. Whether that was the writer's intention, I don't know. But it worked amazingly well. See this movie and enjoy because you will laugh.