Thanks for checking out our Henry’s Crime Review
Genre: Comedy
Directed by: Malcolm Venville
Staring: Keanu Reeves, James Caan, Vera Farmiga, Peter Stormar, Judy Greer.
Released: 2010
THE GENERAL IDEA
Henry is an emotionless man with no desires or life goals. One day after returning home to his wife from working a shift at a toll booth he gets a surprise knock at the door by two of his past high-school classmates. The two guys dressed in baseball uniforms ask to use Henrys washroom so that the one guy can puke up some bad hot dogs he ate from a street vendor. As the one guy occupies the washroom Henry drives his old classmate to the baseball game in which he will substitute for Pukie McPuke Puke. Little does he know he just actually became a substitute getaway driver for a bank robbery that will send him to prison. After going through the prison system he decides that once released he will actually rob the bank since “If you did the time, you might as well do the crime.”
THE GOOD
The dialogue in this film was well scripted and in most parts hilarious. I did enjoy the journey Henry took me on. It’s hard to describe this film as a single genre, for it often flip flops from crime to romance to comedy. This is not a bad thing for it does keep the story moving but at the same time does cause you to look at your watch and wonder when the hell they’re going to rob the bank.
There were two actors in this film that stole the show for me, James Caan and Vera Farmiga. Keanu Reeves also played his character well with some very hilariously awkward moments, but his performance was completely over shadowed by his two co-stars.
Vera Farmiga was absolutely a delight to watch. This wasn’t a surprise for me since this actress is one of my favorites. No matter if it’s Henry’s Crime, The Departed, or even Running Scared this actress time and time again shocks me with her comedic timing and amazing dramatic acting. Every scene she was in kept the audience completely engaged, she just delivers her lines so real you find yourself really listening to her. In this film she plays a struggling theatre actress who dreams of becoming a successful hollywood actress but her lack of ever feeling love damages her performances on stage.
James Caan has always been an actor I’ve enjoyed to watch. Lucky for me after the film finished I snuck out the back door to go for a smoke, James Caan had the exact same Idea. After we both lit our smokes I shook his hand offered a compliment and left him to do his thing, for I did not want to intrude his personal space. James was hilarious in this film, truly a perfect character for him to play. He plays a con man who after sentenced to prison relies he really loves prison and has no intention to leave, so every time the day comes for his parol hearing he botches it by acting like a psycho.
THE BAD
The film drags on, like I said before you’ll catch yourself wondering when the robbery is going to happen. When the robbery does finally happen it is brutal. For me, if you’re going to do a heist flick it has to be smart, there were so many holes in this plan to rob the bank it was completely unbelievable and boring. It also seems like in Buffalo you can run into anyone ask them if they want to join you to rob a bank and they’ll be on board.
When Henry is first arrested for being a getaway driver for a robbery he didn’t know was happening (actually hilarious scene) they go through a quick montage that leads to him being in prison. This montage was cut boring and not creative. If you’ve seen The Departed when Leonardo DiCaprio is first put in prison their is a beautifully cut montage that takes you through his time in prison, it’s not overly long or too short, its cut perfectly to see him making connections in prison and how he chose to live out his sentence. It was a fluid scene with a wonderful music choice to push us through the scene. Henry’s crime was the opposite of that.
The other thing that I really did not enjoy was all the theatre scenes. Henry (Keanu) joins Julie’s (Vera) play as a cover so they can dig a hole from under the theatre to the vault of the bank next door. Now I understand that everything that was going on in the play was subtext for what the characters were going through themselves, I get that. It was still overkill for at one point I forgot I was watching a heist comedy and thought I was watching some crappy play with Keanu Reeves with a funny beard. Almost all the play scenes were too long and boring.
OVERALL
Even though I had a lot of bad things to say about this film do not get me wrong it was still a fun film to watch. It’s more of a rental or a “Hey look what’s on TV” kinda movie not a lets spend 13 bucks to watch it in theaters kind of flick. The thing that hurts this film the most is the fact that it cannot figure out itself what kind of movie it is, don’t put too many eggs in one basket if you cannot tell them apart afterward. Also, the thing that killed this film for me the most was how dumb the plan was to rob the bank, even at one point they were using a jack hammer to dig the tunnel in the basement as the actors were performing on the stage above. If any of you have ever stepped foot into a theatre you’d know how ridiculous that is. The film does have a lot of funny moments, so like I said rent it.
Thank you for reading my review, I give Henry’s Crime 7 out of 10
