Crime Spree

All they needed was Jean Reno. Depardieu, Hallyday, Renaud, Taghmaoui and the lesser known, Freiss and Dray make up a gang of complete screw-ups who are set up to take a fall and wind up robbing Keitel, always great as a mafioso, and get involved in every kind of mess-up imaginable. The ending is charming and remindful of the ending in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Although the film is quite violent, and liberally sparkled with gallows humor, it comes off incredibly well as a dark comedy. Depardieu does well with comedy and his chemistry with the rest of the bunch is superb in all their antics.

If you haven't seen it, do. If you have, rent it again. I had to, in order to pick up on some of the laughs I missed while guffawing the first time around. Even if you don't speak French, the subtitles are cleverly apt and capture most of the witty dialogue among these veteran French actors.

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.

A crew of fairly inept French burglars are given one last chance to impress their boss by pulling off a jewel robbery in Chicago. To help (or hinder) them, they are given the support of a couple of less savoury hoods and an incompetent Algerian. What follows is almost as predictable as the above might indicate - but not, I'm glad to say, without some quality laughs.

Crime Spree is NOT an excellent film. The script is flawed (the stolen car from the latin gang is a woeful subplot); the acting is too laid back at times and, as has been said below (on Jan 6th 2004), the director often can't decide on the cinematic style he prefers. But let's be balanced here - the director of this film is only as inconsistent as his above detractor. I mean - anyone who thinks the saving of the girl in the hallway is stolen from The Untouchables is being majorly tenuous and then to neglect to mention that De Palma actually (and totally) stole his particular scene from a much earlier movie is not really playing the game. By all means love or hate films - but don't force flawed arguments on those who disagree with you. Please.

The muffled phone sex scene is funny; the ariel shot of Marcel blasting his way through the hotel is excellent; the death scene of one of the gang members is poignant and the styles and verities that work serve the film well. It's not excellent cinema but it is amiable and of a welcome, off-beat quality that deserves appreciation and more respect than some might wish it. Then again - that's just my opinion. Each to their own.

I was just expecting a forgettable action/comedy farce to help me waste an evening. Crikey, was I surprised.

True, it begins 100% goofy, and by outward appearances it would seem like a brainless romp. Most of the gags are delightfully predictable. But as things unfold, the story, acting and outcome become increasingly intense, giving you much more than what you bargained for. Plot & character development is excellent, and you find yourself locking in with even the most trivial side characters. The plot itself doesn't fully materialize until the 2nd half, but that's the charm of the movie - that somehow all these seemingly random vignettes will converge on a single climax which it does brilliantly, explaining everything & closing the story in an unexpectedly intelligent way.

Some of the camera shots were really artistic, particularly the hotel chase scene through the different rooms (you just have to see it). Some of the gags were riotously funny--but you have to remember that this is a dark comedy, so a lot of these gags revolve around a surreal atmosphere of death & violence. Don't worry, though, the director purposely avoided gratuitous shots of blood & guts, opting instead for a more fairytale type of violence which fits perfectly.

THE MUSIC IS AWESOME. Lots of old school swing tunes which are delightfully ironic in a modern-day gangster film like this. Keep your eyes (& ears) out for the suspenseful Sergio-Leone-like showdown at the end where the suspense hinges not on guns or action but instead on what song is about to play on the jukebox! Again, it's hard to describe; you just gotta see it.

With its fast-paced yet smooth style, this film reminded me of Francis Veber's outstanding comedies ("Le dîner de cons", "The Valet" or "Les fugitifs" which also starred Gerard Depardieu), and in terms of comedic style it is much like the great gangster comedy "Suicide Kings" with Christopher Walken. Indeed Harvey Keitel's role in this film is much like Walken's in Suicide Kings; in both cases it's pulled off with a dark, menacing charm which will give you both chills and chuckles aplenty.

It's the oldest cliché in cinema, but this movie is the very definition of "fun". Stick around for the outtakes during the closing credits, and it's pretty obvious that the cast & crew had as much of a blast making this movie as you'll have watching it.

Brad Mirman's "Crime Spree" is the perfect example of movies where you could easily tell who saw it and who didn't: either it inspires a "huh?" or a big and sincere smile in the face. The film that features a gang of criminal screw-ups 100% made-in-France in Chicago, the American is so hilarious, with the same level of gentleness than other good-hearted comedies such as "My Cousin Vinny" or "Wayne's World" that the whole Tarantino or Guy Ritchie's rip-off allegations are absolutely meaningless.

To understand the simple but efficient greatness of "Crime Spree", imagine the opening scene, set in the dark. Two thieves are whispering, probably because the house owner is there, Gerard Depardieu as Daniel and Stephane Freiss as Julien, that came to steal a painting, one of them brought the flashlight but forgot about the batteries. Why? Because he brought everything that was on the list: gloves, pen, knives except the batteries because they were not on the list. The absurdity of his argument confined to comical genius … wait, now, as if it was not funny enough, there's the third one, Raymond as the fat well-mannered getaway driver, who joins them because … he felt alone in the car. In one minute, we have an idea of the guys we're dealing with.

Indeed, what is so great about "Crime Spree" is that the movie never cheats the viewer by delivering something else than laughs, even the most unexpected and random gags are inserted, not to mention some priceless one-liners. When Daniel's boss, Bastaldi, remarkably played by Ricahrd Bohringer, wants to point out his crew's incapacity, he throws a plate at his hands to indirectly signify that they were empty. Anyway, he has a mission for them, in the States. "You speak English?", asks Bastaldi in French, to which Depardieu immediately replies "Yes" as if it was the best guarantee that he does. Just imagine the scene in reverse: "You speak French?" "Oui". Each gag catches you totally off-guard.

This attention to little gags redeem the overall B-movie feel, that makes "Crime Spree" inferior to "Pulp Fiction" or "Lock, Stock" in a larger scope, but it's one thing to say that and another to accuse the film of being a cheap imitation when it clearly has no other ambition to be a funny story playing on cultural gaps …if one thing, let's not forget that the screenplay was written in 1996, and maybe if it was made in a time where France was more popular, remember in 2003, French fries were renamed "Freedom Fries", just to give you a certain idea of the context. But seriously, I'd trade any genuine laughs from predictable gags unoriginal than a timid smile from a film that tries too much on the sophistication.

"Crime Spree" is a raw pleasure with a level of naivety that almost confines to tenderness What makes the film less 'cinematically' great is. At one moment, two of the crew join the team, Renaud as the laconic Zero (the name is so neutral that it's hilarious) and Johnny Halliday as Marcel. At one moment, they fight to decide which radio station they'll listen to, they each want to listen to their own song. The joke is funny because it's so damn predictable when you have two of the most popular singers from France. The film doesn't forget to mock French' culinary habits with a beautiful scene in a restaurant conclude by Zero's comment: "no smoking, no drinking, what kind of country is that?" At least, Brad Mirman spared us the cliché with frogs' legs.

There is no need to summarize the plot which is a typical gimmick of the crime genre with the intricate plots that gets everyone gets mixed up, from a corrupt cop, a gang of Mexican hoodlums, black guns dealers and to an obligatory Mafia leader. Predictable, maybe. But it works. And on that department, "Crime Spree" uses two of the most endearing character actors who starred in the most acclaimed gangster films : Abe Vigoda as the venerable Giancarlo aka Mr. G. and his plotting capo Frankie Zemetti, played by Harvey Keitel in a great comedic performance as the no non-sense gangster who takes his business so seriously that he's inevitably hilarious.

As the fitting antagonist, Zemetti has a deal of good lines, to a negotiator who explains that the proceeds will be supernumerary, the stares he gives when he hears the word is priceless and naturally he asks what it means. The funny thing is not that the guy used the word because he's taking courses to enhance his vocabulary, but that Zemetti uses it the next scene with Mr. G, provoking the same "what the …?" reaction. Still, it's nothing compared to his explicit "What the F does that mean?" after Zemetti explained that he broke his own brother's arm because "honor without respect is like a horseless carriage". I can go on and on, if there was a Top 10 of Keitel's greatest roles, I'd put this one. His wisecracking and interactions with his men are absolutely hilarious : "You mean, French guys from France?".

The plot escalates very fluidly, featuring common archetypes of the gangster genre: shootouts, car chases, and even some dramatic moments handled efficiently because we do care for these characters. There's something absolutely endearing in characters that mustn't goof and yet can't help it, that's the quality that makes them irresistibly funny, with a honorable mention to Said Taghmaoui as Sami, the Arab intermediary who's the only one to believe in his toughness and macho attitude. And take it from someone who hate outtakes in ending credits, as they kill the very purpose of a film, this time, it works because the film is so humble it doesn't even ask us to take it seriously…

... yet we do because it's truly one of the funniest films of the last decade ... and deserves to become a cult comedic classic.