Thanks for the memories!

Great Film overall

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

I was just expecting a forgettable action/comedy farce to help me waste an evening. Crikey, was I surprised.True, it begins 100% goofy, and by outward appearances it would seem like a brainless romp. Most of the gags are delightfully predictable. But as things unfold, the story, acting and outcome become increasingly intense, giving you much more than what you bargained for. Plot & character development is excellent, and you find yourself locking in with even the most trivial side characters. The plot itself doesn't fully materialize until the 2nd half, but that's the charm of the movie - that somehow all these seemingly random vignettes will converge on a single climax which it does brilliantly, explaining everything & closing the story in an unexpectedly intelligent way.Some of the camera shots were really artistic, particularly the hotel chase scene through the different rooms (you just have to see it). Some of the gags were riotously funny--but you have to remember that this is a dark comedy, so a lot of these gags revolve around a surreal atmosphere of death & violence. Don't worry, though, the director purposely avoided gratuitous shots of blood & guts, opting instead for a more fairytale type of violence which fits perfectly.THE MUSIC IS AWESOME. Lots of old school swing tunes which are delightfully ironic in a modern-day gangster film like this. Keep your eyes (& ears) out for the suspenseful Sergio-Leone-like showdown at the end where the suspense hinges not on guns or action but instead on what song is about to play on the jukebox! Again, it's hard to describe; you just gotta see it.With its fast-paced yet smooth style, this film reminded me of Francis Veber's outstanding comedies ("Le dîner de cons", "The Valet" or "Les fugitifs" which also starred Gerard Depardieu), and in terms of comedic style it is much like the great gangster comedy "Suicide Kings" with Christopher Walken. Indeed Harvey Keitel's role in this film is much like Walken's in Suicide Kings; in both cases it's pulled off with a dark, menacing charm which will give you both chills and chuckles aplenty.It's the oldest cliché in cinema, but this movie is the very definition of "fun". Stick around for the outtakes during the closing credits, and it's pretty obvious that the cast & crew had as much of a blast making this movie as you'll have watching it.

A most entertaining movie with that greatest gift – humour, to which should be added a gratifyingly complex plot. It's been some time since I came across such an enjoyable film and hence am at a loss why there have been so few votes and a rating of 6.4, I give it a minimum of 8.Our team is a group of pretty incompetent French robbers who are sent to do a job in Chicago, where they are beset by a variety of complications. I say team since a fair number are involved which makes it impossible to draw all the characters in depth, all the more so since there are so many other people involved.Give it a try and enjoy it for what it is instead of trying to draw parallels with other pictures.

An American having lived in France for more than 10 years, I enjoyed the movie for a number of reasons: recognizing the actors from many other films,living almost daily with the comparisons between French and American, knowing Chicago and identifying with the characters reactions on being in the US for the first time. Most of all, though, was the film's excellent script (no loose ends), great interpretation by the actors, and the unique combination of seriousness (violence and loss of life) with the comedy of the situation and this all wrapped up with a fun and unusual ending. I watched the film 3 times in the French version and look forward to seeing it again in English, which I hope will be as good.

If the director of this movie (whose obscurity to me is such that, seeing it two minutes ago, I've already forgotten his name) has ever seen a Guy Ritchie movie, he is trying to mimic it. The problem is that he had neither the budget, nor the quality script, nor the finesse to manage the style that Ritchie indulges in.The technical flaws are evidence of a careless crew; Ritchie's style is so impeccable that there can be no failure of transition, no awkward cuts or slow moments. I can only assume that budgetary constraints were a limit here, because any self-respecting director would re-shoot the flawed scenes if he had the capacity to do so.The characters have no originality or dimension - you have the dumb robber, the dumb hired brute, the cocky (and dumb) American crimelord, and the dumb, loose woman. Redundant, you think? Stupidity is only funny if some hapless character with intelligence is submerged in it, not when a mass of idiots fumbles its idiot way through the plot. The lack of substance to the characters is not only appalling of itself, the dialogue can't begin go any farther than the personalities reciting it.And if this weren't enough, the director himself doesn't know what he's doing. The scene construction is ridiculous: one thing happens, concludes (maybe), then another thing happens, with no purpose of transition or changeover. During the second thing, the world of the first thing (usually in the same room) is put on total standby until the director feels it is time for the next purposeless changeover.I didn't have the stomach for more than forty minutes of "Crime Spree." The ineptitude demonstrated on virtually all levels of production (a talented cast doing what it can with so little is perhaps the only exception) makes this movie a total failure.