'The Crew' Should Stay Locked Up
Geezer Mob Story Eventually Loses Steam
My anticipation was low when I went to see "The Crew." Mob movies are almost beginning to become a parody of themselves, and "The Crew" quickly falls into this clich?d trap.
The previews did not leave much to the imagination: Old mobsters living out their final years in a retirement area of South Beach, Miami, trying to relive their old glory; The main asset to the film being a assemblage of solid players.
The story focuses on four men -- Bobby Bartellemeo (Richard Dreyfuss), Joey "Bats" Pistella (Burt Reynolds), Mike "The Brick" Donatelli (Dan Hedaya) and Tony "Mouth" Donato (Seymour Cassel). They all live in senior-dominated hotel that is outgrowing each of them.
As all the old residents of the hotel pass on, young people are grabbing the real estate and increasing the building's property value. The hotel owners, who want the less-profitable older residents out of the building, use stiff rent increases to vacate the tenants.
Using their acquired mob skills, the pack devises a plan to devalue the property, thus reducing their rent. The scheme works, but leads to other repercussions that were not expected.
The films starts out on a good beat, but quickly meshes into a somewhat predictable story of "Gumpy Old Men" meets "Goodfellas." This includes passing gas jokes, retired gaudy Bronx queens and the young sleezy girlfriend all wrapped up with the usual rough male dialogue.
The slapstick humor gets tired after a few jokes. But the cast does a good job with what they have.
Jennifer Tilly does well as a devious stripper. Reynolds has fun with his part, but it does not save the picture.
While I only laughed at couple of the film's jokes, people around me were roaring. My rating for "The Crew" was going to be one-and-a-half popcorns, but a good part of the audience appeared to be enjoying the film, so I'll bump it up one-half a rating.
By the time the film comes toward a conclusion, the subplot is of no interest. The audience's desire to find out what happens to the characters also deteriorates.
Diehard fans of the movie's stars should think twice about spending their hard-earned money on this half-baked package.
