Small Time Crooks

A would-be bank robber (Woody Allen) tunnels into the wrong shop while the cookie-store front run by his wife (Tracey Ullman) makes them millionaires. Allen returns to his comic roots with a virtual sequel to Take the Money and Run, and it’s his funniest, most light-hearted movie in years. The story switches gears halfway through, as Ullman hungers for social status, and a new team of guest stars (Hugh Grant, Elaine Stritch, George Grizzard) takes over for the first (Jon Lovitz, Michael Rapaport, Tony Darrow). Still, the laughs are rapid fire—you can miss a joke while laughing at the one before it—with a master’s mix of verbal and physical comedy (a scene with a burst water main is priceless). As Ullman’s bubble-headed cousin, Elaine May steals the film with hilarious, invincible aplomb.