{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox film | name = Small Time Crooks | image = Small time crooks.jpg | caption = Theatrical release poster | alt = <!-- See [[WP:ALT]] --> | director = [[Woody Allen]] | producer = [[Jean Doumanian]] | writer = Woody Allen | starring = {{Plainlist| * Woody Allen * [[Tony Darrow]] * [[Hugh Grant]] * [[George Grizzard]] * [[Jon Lovitz]] * [[Elaine May]] * [[Michael Rapaport]] * [[Elaine Stritch]] * [[Tracey Ullman]] }} | cinematography = [[Zhao Fei]] | editing = [[Alisa Lepselter]] | studio = Sweetland Films | distributor = [[DreamWorks Pictures]] | released = {{Film date|2000|5|19}} | runtime = 95 minutes | country = United States | language = English | budget = $25 million | gross = $29.9 million }} '''''Small Time Crooks''''' is a 2000 American [[crime film|crime]]-[[comedy film]] written and directed by [[Woody Allen]]. It stars Allen, [[Hugh Grant]], [[Elaine May]] and [[Tracey Ullman]]. The picture's plot has some similarities to that of the 1942 comedy ''[[Larceny, Inc.]]''<ref name=TCM>[[Robert Osborne]] of [[Turner Classic Movies]] on June 15, 2006</ref>
''Small Time Crooks'' was the highest-grossing film directed by Allen at the North American box office between 1989's ''[[Crimes and Misdemeanors]]'' and 2005's ''[[Match Point]]''.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Box Office Gross Of Every Woody Allen Movie Adjusted For Inflation |website=[[BuzzFeed]]|date=2 Aug 2013|access-date=8 Dec 2023|url=https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peterlauria/the-box-office-gross-of-every-woody-allen-movie-adjusted-for/}}</ref> The film was released by [[DreamWorks Pictures]] on May 19, 2000 and received positive reviews from critics while grossing $29.9 million against a $25 million budget.
Allen has never said whether the film's similarity to ''Larceny, Inc.'' was deliberate or if his film was in any way inspired by it. The plot also parallels episodes of at least two American TV series: ''[[Gomer Pyle]]'' ("Dynamite Diner")<ref>{{cite web |title=Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. - Season 5, Episode 19: Dynamite Diner - TV.com |url=http://www.tv.com/shows/gomer-pyle-usmc/dynamite-diner-41725/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130325184616/http://www.tv.com/shows/gomer-pyle-usmc/dynamite-diner-41725/ |archive-date=2013-03-25 |access-date=2014-01-03 |work=TV.com |publisher=CBS Interactive}}</ref> and ''[[Car 54, Where Are You?]]'' ("The White Elephant").<ref>{{cite web |title=Car 54, Where Are You? - Season 2, Episode 16: The White Elephant - TV.com |url=http://www.tv.com/shows/car-54-where-are-you/the-white-elephant-92054/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160516085109/http://www.tv.com/shows/car-54-where-are-you/the-white-elephant-92054/ |archive-date=2016-05-16 |access-date=2016-05-07 |work=TV.com |publisher=CBS Interactive}}</ref>
==Plot== Career criminal Ray Winkler and his cronies want to lease a closed pizzeria so they can dig a tunnel from the basement of the restaurant to a nearby bank. Ray's wife Frenchy Fox-Winkler [[Front organization#Organized crime|covers what they are doing]] by selling cookies in the restaurant. The robbery scheme soon proves to be a miserable failure, but the cookie business is a hit. After they franchise the business, selling cookies makes them millionaires.
One day, Frenchy throws a big party and overhears people making fun of their poor decorating taste and lack of culture. She asks an art dealer named David Perrette to train her and Ray so they can fit in with the [[American upper class]]. Ray hates every minute of it, but Frenchy likes their new culture.
What Frenchy does not know is that David is really just using her to finance his art projects. Ray finally gets fed up and leaves Frenchy. David and Frenchy go to Europe for more cultural enlightenment and while there, she gets a call and finds out she has been defrauded by her accountants. She has lost everything, including her cookie company, home, and possessions. David immediately drops her.
Meanwhile, Ray has gone back to being a crook and tries to steal a valuable necklace at a party. He has had a duplicate made and through a series of circumstances gets the duplicate and real one mixed up. At the party, he finds out that Frenchy is broke, so he leaves and goes to see her. He consoles her by saying he stole the valuable necklace and shows it to her. Her new-found cultural enlightenment enables her to tell the necklace is a fake; Ray has gotten the wrong one. But she produces a very expensive cigarette case that she once had given to David as a gift but stole back after he dumped her. It once belonged to the [[Duke of Windsor]]. They reconcile, sell the cigarette case, and retire to Florida.
==Cast== {{Cast listing| * [[Woody Allen]] as Ray Winkler, aka "The Brain" * [[Tony Darrow]] as Tommy Walker * [[Hugh Grant]] as David Perrette * [[George Grizzard]] as George Blint * [[Jon Lovitz]] as Benjamin "Benny" Bukowski * [[Elaine May]] as May Sloane * [[Michael Rapaport]] as Denny Doyle * [[Elaine Stritch]] as Chi Chi Velasquez Potter * [[Tracey Ullman]] as Frances "Frenchy" Fox-Winkler * [[Brian Markinson]] as Officer Ken DeLoach * [[Kristine Nielsen]] as Emily Bailey * [[Larry Pine]] as Charles Bailey }}
==Reception== ===Box office=== ''Small Time Crooks'' opened up on the same day as ''[[Dinosaur (2000 film)|Dinosaur]]'' and ''[[Road Trip (2000 film)|Road Trip]]'' and was the highest-grossing film directed by [[Woody Allen]] at the North American box office between 1989's ''[[Crimes and Misdemeanors]]'' and 2005's ''[[Match Point]]'', with a gross of $17.2 million;<ref>{{cite web|title=The Box Office Gross Of Every Woody Allen Movie Adjusted For Inflation |website=[[BuzzFeed]]|date=2 Aug 2013|access-date=8 Dec 2023|url=https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peterlauria/the-box-office-gross-of-every-woody-allen-movie-adjusted-for/}}</ref> the film became profitable for North American distributor [[DreamWorks Pictures]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=DUKE |first=PAUL F. |title=D'WORKS: WHAT LIES BENEATH? |journal=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |volume=379|issue=9|date=July 24, 2000 |pages=}}</ref> However, the film was also one of the few later Allen films which did less well outside the U.S. and Canada, and its global gross was $29.9 million.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=smalltimecrooks.htm |title=Small Time Crooks (2000) |access-date=2008-02-15 |publisher=[[Box Office Mojo]] |archive-date=2007-10-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071001044437/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=smalltimecrooks.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>
===Critical response=== On [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the film has an approval rating of 66% based on reviews from 100 critics, with an average rating of 6.3/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Woody Allen rises from his recent slump with ''Small Time Crooks''. A simple, funny movie, ''Crooks'' proves Allen still has the touch that made his name synonymous with off-beat comedy."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/small_time_crooks/ |title=Small Time Crooks (2000) |work=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |publisher=[[Fandango Media]] |access-date=2021-03-06 |archive-date=2020-09-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200925041244/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/small_time_crooks |url-status=live }}</ref> On [[Metacritic]], the film has an average score of 69 out of 100, based on reviews from 32 critics, indicating "generally positive reviews".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.metacritic.com/movie/small-time-crooks |title=Small Time Crooks Reviews |publisher=[[CBS Interactive]] |work=[[Metacritic]] |access-date=2021-04-01 |archive-date=2020-10-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029054135/https://www.metacritic.com/movie/small-time-crooks |url-status=live }}</ref> Audiences surveyed by [[CinemaScore]] gave the film a grade "B" on scale of A to F.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.cinemascore.com/publicsearch/index/title/ |title= SMALL TIME CROOKS (2000) B |work= [[CinemaScore]] |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181220122629/https://www.cinemascore.com/publicsearch/index/title/ |archive-date= 2018-12-20 }}</ref>
[[Stephen Holden]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' wrote: "In this sweet, funny wisp of a movie, Mr. Allen shucks off his fabled angst and returns in spirit to those wide-eyed days of yesteryear, before [[Anton Chekhov|Chekhov]], [[Franz Kafka|Kafka]] and [[Ingmar Bergman]] invaded his creative imagination."<ref>{{cite web |date=May 19, 2000 |author=Stephen Holden |author-link=Stephen Holden |title=Just Take the Money and Run? Nah, She Wants Class and Cultcha |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/film/051900crooks-film-review.html |website=[[New York Times]] }}</ref>
[[Todd McCarthy]] of [[Variety (magazine)|''Variety'']] magazine called it a "Breezy, enjoyable romp gratifyingly zigzags in directions that aren't apparent at the outset and features some intriguingly personal subtext for longtime Woody watchers."<ref>{{cite web |date=15 May 2000 |last=McCarthy |first=Todd |title=Small Time Crooks |url=https://variety.com/review/VE1117780945 |website=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] }}</ref>
[[Roger Ebert]] of the ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' gave it 3 out of 4, and wrote: "Dumb as they (allegedly) are, the characters in ''Small Time Crooks'' are smarter, edgier and more original than the dreary crowd in so many new comedies."<ref>{{cite web |date=May 19, 2000 |last=Ebert |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Ebert |title=Small Time Crooks |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/small-time-crooks-2000 |website=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |access-date=April 5, 2021 |archive-date=March 23, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210323152648/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/small-time-crooks-2000 |url-status=live }}</ref>
===Accolades=== [[Tracey Ullman]] was nominated for the [[Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy|Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy]] at the [[58th Golden Globe Awards]], and [[Elaine May]] won the [[National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress]] at the [[2000 National Society of Film Critics Awards]].<ref>{{Citation|title=Small Time Crooks - IMDb|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0196216/awards|access-date=2020-10-02|archive-date=2019-09-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190909220514/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0196216/awards|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Soundtrack== {{div col|colwidth=}} * "With Plenty of Money and You" – Music by [[Harry Warren]] – Performed by [[Hal Kemp]] * "Could It Be" – Written by [[Stephen Lang]] – Performed by [[Stephen Lang]] * "[[Stompin' at the Savoy]]" – Written by [[Edgar Sampson|Edgar M. Sampson]], [[Benny Goodman]] & [[Chick Webb]] – Performed by Benny Goodman and His Orchestra * "Music Makers" – Written by [[Harry James]] & [[Don Raye]] – Performed by Harry James * [[Frühlingsstimmen|Voices of Spring Waltzes Frühlingsstimmen op.11]] – Written by [[Johann Strauss]] – Performed by [[Vienna State Opera Orchestra]] * "[[Cocktails for Two]]" – Music by Arthur Johnston – Performed by [[Carmen Cavallaro]] * "[[Tequila (The Champs song)|Tequila]]" – Written by [[Danny Flores]] – Performed by [[The Champs]] * "The Modern Dance" – Written by Scott Marshall – Performed by Judith Cohn, [[Carol Genetti]] & Scott Marshall * Prelude in B minor opus 32, #10 – Written by [[Sergei Rachmaninoff]] * "[[Fascination (1932 song)|Fascination]]" – Music by [[Fermo Dante Marchetti]] – Performed by Carmen Cavallaro * "[[Mountain Greenery]]" – Music by [[Richard Rodgers]] – Performed by [[Lester Lanin]] * "Zelda's Theme" – Written by [[André Previn]] – Performed by [[Dámaso Pérez Prado]] * Sarabande From the Suite #2 for Solo violoncello In D Minor – Written by [[Johann Sebastian Bach]] * "Lester Lanin Cha-Cha" – Written by Lester Lanin – Performed by Lester Lanin * "[[This Could Be the Start of Something|This Could Be the Start of Something Big]]" – Written by [[Steve Allen]] – Performed by Lester Lanin * "[[Just in Time (song)|Just in Time]]" – Music by [[Jule Styne]] – Performed by Lester Lanin * "[[Old Devil Moon]]" – Music by [[Burton Lane]] – Performed by Lester Lanin * "[[The Hukilau Song]]" – Written by Jack Owens – Performed by Lester Lanin * "Steady, Steady" – Written by [[Ronald Graham]] & Milton Shafer – Performed by Lester Lanin<ref>{{cite book |last= Harvey |first= Adam|date= 2007|title= The Soundtracks of Woody Allen|location= US |publisher= Macfarland & Company, Inc |page=129 |isbn=9780786429684}}</ref> {{div col end}}
==See also== * [[Woody Allen bibliography]] * [[Woody Allen filmography]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Wikiquote}} * {{IMDb title|0196216|Small Time Crooks}} * {{mojo title|smalltimecrooks|Small Time Crooks}}
{{Woody Allen}} {{Authority control}}
[[Category:2000 films]] [[Category:2000 crime comedy films]] [[Category:2000s heist films]] [[Category:American crime comedy films]] [[Category:American heist films]] [[Category:DreamWorks Pictures films]] [[Category:Films about bank robbery]] [[Category:Films about marriage]] [[Category:Films directed by Woody Allen]] [[Category:Films produced by Jean Doumanian]] [[Category:Films set in New York City]] [[Category:Films shot in New Jersey]] [[Category:Films shot in New York City]] [[Category:Films with screenplays by Woody Allen]] [[Category:2000 English-language films]] [[Category:2000 American films]] [[Category:English-language crime comedy films]]