Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
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Crimes and Misdemeanors Movie Review
Crimes and Misdemeanors is a 1989 crime comedy film directed by Woody Allen and starring Martin Landau and Mia Farrow among others. It is a pretty good Allen flick.
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“You’ve seen too many movies.
I’m talking about reality.
I mean, if you want a happy ending,
you should go see a Hollywood movie“
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Yes, this is one of the better films when it comes to this director. Certainly far from his greatest works, but still one of his good ones. The overall existential storyline and tone to the film really worked well and the highlights were various discussions about God, morality and crime. I loved each and every conversation here and I wish the film had more of it.
The crime storyline is so well done and the highlight here without a doubt. I loved the ending and the film is a downer, but thus quite realistic as it gives us a statement that sometimes crimes aren’t resolved and the murderers remain on large. That’s great as it’s sadly truthful.
However, the other part of the film doesn’t quite work. I’m talking about the comedy bits. Almost none of the film’s scenes are funny in any way, at least they weren’t to me, and although the dramedy storyline with Woody Allen is very solid overall, it is by far the weaker part of the film. The structure is odd as the two storylines almost have nothing in common.
Martin Landau is certainly one of the standouts when it comes to the acting. Yes, Allen and Mira Farrow are both quite good and all of the others are fine as well, but it is Landau who steals the show with his very strong performance in a demanding role. He was thus deservedly Oscar nominated for his work here.
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Crimes and Misdemeanors is very short and although I like shorter films, here it flew by too quickly and maybe additional ten or so minutes would have been beneficial to the whole film. But still it’s very well directed by Allen, very well paced, well shot and overall very well scripted with particularly strong and thought-provoking dialogue. The conversation about religion is certainly the highlight for me.
Crimes and Misdemeanors is one of the better Woody Allen films with an odd structure as its dramedy part and crime storyline are too different from each other, but the acting is strong across the board with the standout one being deservedly Oscar nominated Martin Landau, the crime storyline is excellent, the ending is terrific and the movie features typically strong, interesting dialogue from the director.
