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 Comedy If you have something the public wants...everything else falls into place. |
THE MASTER PLAN Ray (Woody Allen) and his wife Francis also know as Frenchie (Tracey Ullmann) enlist some friends to rob a bank. They rent a store where Frenchie bakes cookies and sells them as a front while the boys dig a tunnel in the basement to get under the bank. Some really funny stuff happens while they dig. Of course the drilling through a water supply is mandatory in situations like this and I must say it was funny. While these stumble bums are digging away Frenchie's cookies are becoming increasing popular especially with the neighbourhood beat cop. The press find out about how popular her cookies have become and the next thing you know the store is plastered all over the news. They become so busy that Frenchie hires their hairbrained friend Mae Elaine May to help in the store. Her biggest problem is that she has loose lips and is not exactly the brightest candle in the room. Well as could be expected the inept crooks do not read the mao correctly and do not exactly dig into the bank but they do have someone who caught on to their scheme and now has a proposition. The neighbourhood cop makes a deal with them. Give up the life of thieves and start a cookie business. He just wants to be involved in it. Within a short period of time they have a baking empire called SUNSET FARMS. It has become an overnight success story and all of them become very wealthy. Mae is the vice president of imaging, the cop is the vp of distribution et cetra. With success comes a new life filled with snobbish friends and lifestyle. Frenchie now called by her real name Francine wants to become cultured and live and act like her name friends. Ray on the other hand wants his life the way it was. He wants to eat pizza and burgers and Chinese food. She wants escargot and quails. Into their lives comes Hugh Grant playing a rich entrepreneur called David. His job is to turn "Two slugs like us into clasy items" He teaches her the ways of the rich and famous and slowly begins to fall in love with...her money. This of course cause complications between Ray and Francis that threaten their marriage. There are so many funny situations in this film that you just have to laugh out loud. There was only one time where I had a good laugh but no one joined me. Woody Allen makes a reference to him looking young because he has a portrait of himself in the closet. Okay now that surprised me that know one caught the Picture of Dorian Gray gag. Go to the site of Dorian Gray and read up on it before seeing the movie that way you can laugh at the gag when no one else does. The main thing here is that Ray likes himself and likes the simple things and he can just feel that Francis is making a mistake. Lots of funny thngs still happen and the story takes many interesting twists. SMALL TIME CROOKS is a film well worth you money and it is the perfect Woody Allen film for those who wished he made more films like his early one. "Sweetheart you are the greatest!". |
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RATING CANADA... Rated AA for drugs, sexuality and language |
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vjm@metrocity.com
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