Sunday, September 29, 2013

Henry's Crime Movie Review

Henry's Crime (2010) Poster

Henry's Crime 2010 Crime Dramedy Starring:  (Upcoming 47 Ronin & The Lake House), Oscar nominee  (Up in the Air), O.N.  (The Godfather),  (the upcoming Carrie remake & "Royal Pains") Director:  (44 Inch Chest). Writers: Indie SPirit Winner  (Anvil: The Story of Anvil) &  (Ninja: Shadow of a Tear). Plot: Released from prison for a crime he didn't commit, an ex-con (Reeves) targets the same bank he was sent away for robbing. Trailer Review: Henry's (Keanu's) crime was making this terrible movie. What seems like a fun, albeit straightforward heist film becomes a convoluted & sugar coated after school special lesson about following your dreams. The pacing was painful. This 1hr 47min film seemed like it went on forever. This was in order to establish characters that you end up not really caring about and setting up the love story between Varmiga & Reeves who weren't believable at all until they were on stage. That's when Caan is left as a supporting character when he was the most fun to watch, and instead we are left with a convoluted con involving Henry scheming his way into Julie's (Farmiga's) play in a playhouse that just so happens to be right behind the bank that he really didn't rob with a secret way that leads straight into the bank vault. How convenient. This is when they kind of leave the whole caper aspect of this film as a subplot & allow the love story to take over. He does this play while he's planning this bank robbery, and in that time Henry & Julie fall in love while the audience has to suffer through Reeves trying to act out Chekhov. Uggh. My entire advanced scene study class in college was about Chekhov. I did scenes from all his plays including the one in this film called The Cherry Orchard. Will the robbery succeed? Will he & Julie end up together? Don't waste your time finding out. This muddled mess of a film isn't a good caper film, isn't a good love story, & is an even worse exploration of Chekhov. Every time the stage aspect of the film would get interesting the camera would cut to the next scene. It's as if the editor didn't want Farmiga to outshine Reeves so he had to cut out her best scenes. I also really don't get the "lesson" in this film. The tagline in the trailer says the worst crime are dreams unfulfilled. Henry has no dreams at the end unless you mean him falling in love. Julie has dreams about being a great actress. They really put her character's dreams on the back burner and reduced a complex character into a mere love interest that never actually achieves her dreams of really being a great actress. This film could've been somewhat saved if the ending hadn't been so abrupt, so cheesy, and hadn't butchered the hell out of Chekhov. But it did all 3 which is a shame cuz I love Farmiga. She was too good for this movie. She should go on Broadway, do Chekhov for real, and grab herself a Tony while I try to forget Reeves in a fake stage goatee. Rating: Rather Stab a Pen in My Eye Than Ever Watch This Again. Watch instead: Ocean's 11 for a better heist film, The Sisters for better Chekhov (not The Cherry Orchard. It's an adaptation of 3 Sisters, but still great.- I played Masha in my advanced scene study class), If I Were You for a better play within a movie movie (The play in this one being King Lear), and lastly "Bates Motel" for Farmiga's Emmy nominated performance or Orphan.  

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