The Crew (2000) from Johnny Web (Uncle Scoopy; Greg Wroblewski)
Maybe the date is wrong on this film. Maybe is was 1975 - old fashioned comedy, stars Dreyfuss and Burt Reynolds ..... No, they look really, really old. The date must be correct

The Robbins Recipe - Goodfellas meets The Over The Hill Gang.
It isn't a bad movie actually, just old-fashioned and contrived, probably designed to appeal to people who wonder why they don't make this kind of movie any more.

Dreyfuss, Reynolds, Seymour Cassell and Dan hedaya play four childhood friends who grew up to become low-level mobsters working on the same crew, then grew old to become poor ex-mobsters living on Miami Beach, without any families, pretty much waiting to die as they watch their former neighborhood turn into gentrified yuppieland, thanks to "that broad Madonna". Their only pleasure is to go to their favorite buffet restaurant on Friday evening.

NUDITY REPORT
Jennifer Tilly's cleavage is one of the running sight gags of the film, but her nipples are never seen.

Two anonymous sunbathers are seen briefly topless.
Dreyfuss is especially despondent, because he has a daughter that was lost to him because of his reckless youth, and he would really like to see her again. In fact, the fact that she's reputed to live in Miami is the only reason our boys moved there.

Each of the four wiseoldguys has some identifiable characteristic which is grist for the comic mill. Perhaps the most interesting, and the most important to the plot, was Hedaya as a dumb but loveable guy who sends out Christmas Cards to all his former friends and enemies, and is a walking encyclopedia of the whereabouts and status of every former wiseguy in the world.

Well sir, it seems that the boys have to come up with a scheme to keep from being tossed out of their retirement hotel, which is about to be fully converted to condos. The sceme turns out to get them back into the world, when they accidentally "kill" an already-dead corpse in the lobby of their hotel, in order to scare yuppies from the place. Turns out that this corpse belonged to the father of the #1 Colombian druglord (being related in some way to a druglord is a fairly good bet for any corpse in Miami), and Mr Drugoso is not happy at all, so he puts out a mammoth reward for the "killers".

This leads a hooker to our boys. She knows the facts through some pillow talk, but she will protect them if they ice her stepmother. Well, the comedy starts to get really silly here. They can't bear to kill anybody any more, especially some old lady, so they kidnap her, place a skeleton in her bed, and burn down her house.

Unfortunately, they also burn down the house next door, and guess who owns it? You got it if you guessed Mr Drugoso, and he is now really pissed.

DVD info from Amazon.

  • If it is your kind of film, the film looks good. Widescreen anamorphic 1.85. No great features.
Now when they remove the old lady's gag, guess who she is? You got it if you guessed she's the old gal who runs their favorite restaurant.

Now there's also an FBI agent who's investigating the arsons and the lobby incident, and guess who she is? Oops, I gave too big a hint with the feminine pronoun. You're up for the movie cliche Oscar if you guessed Dreyfuss' long-lost daughter, and also got the other two right.

Well, since you got all those right, I'm not going to tell you any more about how it gets resolved, because I already told you that Hedaya knows the whereabouts of every ex-wiseguy in the world, and I think you've already figured it all out, smarty pants.

The Critics Vote

The People Vote ...

  • With their votes ... IMDB summary: IMDb voters score it 5.1. I would have guessed it somewhere closer to 6.0., but that score is reasonable. Apollo users 76/100. These scores are consistent with the critical consensus.
  • With their dollars ... like the wiseguys in the cast, it was a small-time loser. $13 million gross on a $23 million budget. Has a chance to break even from other revenue sources, but will not be a profit maker.
IMDb guideline: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence, about like three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, about like two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, about like two stars from the critics. Films under five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film, equivalent to about one and a half stars from the critics or less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

My own guideline: A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. C means it will only appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover appeal. D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre. F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well.

Based on this description, this film is a C-. Slick, but old-fashioned and contrived one-liner comedy. Watchable, but uninspired and predictable, for genre fans only. Most popular with viewers over 45.

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