Verdict:
Crime Spree is a dark crime comedy about a group of French thieves getting into trouble in the US after a job goes sour and this movie is f-ing awesome! It is so unfortunate that this film flew under the radar and almost faded into obscurity.
Let us start with two notable participants: Harvey Keitel and Gérard Depardieu. These two people are a treat to watch and the comedy genre suits them both, but it is also nice that they do not overstay their welcome and that there is a large supporting cast who also do a good job (though some better than others). One of the protagonists is Albert Dray, who is not well known outside of France, but he gets a fair share of screen time and his appearance as a short nice guy really adds personality to this crime group. Another notable appearance is Abe Vigoda as a crime boss. He is not on screen for long but for long enough to be awesome. There is a Hispanic gang member that wasn’t even part of any jokes but made me laugh with just his facial expressions and hand gestures.
The only problem is that the main protagonists are not very fleshed out. There are quite a few of them and you do not learn much about their background. One of the thieves dies mid-movie and I wasn’t even sure who it was and at what point he entered the movie.
The dialogue is smart and flows well. The jokes are subtle but effective. Sometimes they hit you 30 seconds after the fact. Sadly, sometimes they only work if you understand a little bit about the movie’s background or the cultural differences between US and France. This is unfortunate, as it will cause a lot of the humour to go over people’s heads. The comedy would work if all the people involved were famous and the cultural nuances were all well-known stereotypes, but the movie is too subtle and obscure for its own good.
The fact that this film has so much French in it is probably one of the main reasons why it wasn’t more popular. Half of the movie is in French with English subtitles. If this fact makes you hesitate about watching this movie, then it is probably not for you. It is that kind of movie, with a foreign flavour and peculiarity.
Camera work is notably interesting. There is for example a continuous shot of a group of guys moving from room to room as the camera follows them from above going over the walls. No cuts. There are smart shots like panning over into the sky of one city and then panning back down to another city.
In general, you can sense the effort and skill behind the film. But most importantly, it is off colour enough to provide a breath of fresh air to the stale Hollywood logic. There is a scene at one point in which one of the thieves needs to steal a wallet from a stranger. The thief bumps into that guy on the street. Now, how would this end in your typical American crime comedy? The camera would cut to a new scene, in which the thief hands the stolen wallet to his colleagues. In this movie however, the thief f*cks up, gets the wallet, but the victim notices and naturally starts running after the thief. This short chase scene did not need to be added. It takes more effort to add it. However, it does feel more natural, realistic and in line with the movie’s premise that the thieving protagonists are bad or just unlucky at their craft.
There is a strong similarity to Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels in terms of style and even some of the plot, prompting accusations from the critics, but I watched both movies, and I like Crime Spree better. I did not laugh once during Lock Stock, but I did during this movie. Not to mention that there are so many movies in that style now that is has become its own genre, and Crime Spree is one of those, but with more style.
Crime Spree failed spectacularly at the box office, getting back less than a quarter of its budget. It didn’t help that the marketing for this flick was meagre. All the French acting didn’t help either. On top of that, the critics (all 6 that reviewed this movie) hated it. I think these people wouldn’t know a great movie if it hit them in the face, if it didn’t have that Hollywood vanilla artificial flavouring. I must admit that the movie doesn’t help itself by having a very local feel with very little impact.
Still, Crime Spree is a smart movie, perhaps a little too smart for its own good. It does not bring any revolutionary changes to the crime comedy formula, but it is funny, well-made and therefore recommended.