The Greatest Film of Small Time

After a couple of forays into more serious territory, Woody Allen is back to fluff. _Small Time Crooks_ has that comfortable _Manhattan Murder Mystery_ feel - a plot that's more of a concept than a real, unfolding story; characters that thrive on invention rather than reality. I can't quite figure out why, but these goofy movies - the ones that have no other purpose than to carve out a realm of fantasy in the corners of New York drudgery - are my favorite Woody Allen movies.

Giving away too much of the plot would spoil the pic's comedic surprises, so I'll give you a barebones outline. Woody Allen plays Ray Winkler, a lowlife, an impractical dreamer, who has to put up with the constant nags of his wife Frenchy (Tracy Ullman). Ray spends his days conjuring schemes - usually illegal ones (he's done some hard time - yes, yes, imagining Woody Allen surviving time in a jail cell is part of the humor, I'm sure). This time, Ray notices that a store next to a bank is up for rent and convinces his friends and Frenchy that they could tunnel into the bank's vault from behind the store. They buy the store under the cover of a cookie bakery, Frenchy churns out the dough, the boys tunnel in the back. Where they end up, of course, is entirely different than any of them planned...

The great thing about Woody Allen comedies is that they move almost frantically - that wispy plot summary I just gave you covers about 10 minutes of the film. Allen begins with a concept and then uses his 90-minute movies to explore every possible angle of it. In this case, the Winklers ride the wave of Allen's fantasies - extremely random circumstances of fate throw their lives into disarray constantly, but we get the feeling that it's Woody playfully throwing ideas around as to actually crafting character arcs. The script seems to pose questions: What happens if the Winklers struck it rich? What happens to people when they achieve their dreams? Because the comedy is broad and fast, the answers to these questions aren't particularly profound. But then again, the Winklers never really have a design on _being_ profound - both Ray and Frenchy are recklessly impatient. Both of them imagine happiness as a state that can be achieved instantly - Ray wants money, Frenchy wants to be cultured.

Another benefit of such fast pacing is that Allen can also use more characters than the average comedy and develop them equally - even though it's frothy, this is still situational comedy, far more sophisticated than virtually any other comedy that hits the big screens nowadays. Allen always manages to avoid carboard characters - even when they actually are one note jokes. Mira Sorvino in Mighty Aphrodite, Jennifer Tilly in Bullets Over Broadway, and now Elaine May as Frenchy's cousin in Small Time Crooks - the bumbling, doltish female in these films does little more than spout inane observations, but they manage to be endearing, sympathetic, _almost_ knowable. In this case, the comedy is more obvious, but all of Woody's characters in Small Time Crooks are lovable even when they're pathetic, even when they're predictable.

Because Allen can basically secure any actor he wants for a part, he virtually writes characters with those actors in mind. That's why his ensemble casts consistently produce the best performances every year. In _Small Time Crooks_, Allen actually gives up most of the screen time to Tracy Ullman who easily might score an Oscar nomination (in the slot usually held for one of Woody's actors) next March; Ullman's Frenchy has the unenviable task of eliciting the audience's empathy even though we know exactly where the character is headed. But Ullman never lets her characer degenerate into parody - she forces the audience to consistently question whether Frenchy is _changing_. Part of Ullman's charm is that she doesn't fall into Woody Allen's typical neurotic rhythms - her dialogue with Ray never comes off as "too cute." Allen, meanwhile, plays lowlife Ray Winkler like he does a neurotic Jew and it's effortlessly endearing as usual. His comedy is so singular, so impossibly unique that there's really no way for him to demonstrate range. Woody Allen plays Woody Allen in every movie - and that's why we hate it when he doesn't star in his yearly picture.

Woody comes to the Harvard Film Archive this Tuesday and if you can score a ticket, it'll be the place to be. He'll be screening Small Time Crooks and you can ask him questions afterwards. If you're a Woody fan, you'll probably adore Small Time Crooks - it's 100%, unabashedly indulgent Woody Allen. If you're new to the Allen canon, Small Time Crooks is actually a good place to start. From the first frame you'll realize how much you've been missing - and how banal every other type of comedy seems in comparison.

Grade: A-