Crimes and Misdemeanors

Pros: Martin Landau, Sam Waterson and Jerry Orbach.
Cons: Woody Allen plays the same sort of character he always does.

Every now and then, a film pops out of the Hollywood mill that sparks interest and critical acclaim. ...

Pros: Intriguing look into human character.
Cons: none.

This Woody Allen film (from 1989) has got to be one of his best. I admit that I hadn't seen one of his films since the old Annie Hall days. For some reason I had skipped Crimes and Misdemeanors when it first came out. Well, just lately I watched ...

Pros: highly intelligent humor, compelling story, inventive premise
Cons: too literate for its own good

"God is a luxury I cannot afford." --Judah Rosenthal, Ophthalmologist "Comedy is tragedy plus time." --Lester, successful comedian "Honey, you're the one who stopped sleeping with me, ok. It'll be a year come April 20th. I remember the date ...

Pros: A near perfect blending of drama and comedy; one of Allen's most accomplished films.
Cons: none to be found.

Woody Allen is always able to get great performances from his cast, but perhaps the best performance ever given by a male lead is the one turned in by Martin Landau in 1989's Crimes and Misdemeanors (the worst being, hands down, Kenneth...

Pros: Allen's Script, Direction, Look, Premise, Music, Locations, & Cast.
Cons: None.

The name Woody Allen definitely conjures a definitive image. A neurotic, nerdy, Jewish man with a lot of anxieties and ramblings. Despite those things, Allen remains one of cinema's most beloved directors. While early 1970s films like Love & ...

Pros: Smart, Meaningful, Cynical, Often Hilarious
Cons: None. This is Woody Allen's best film!

Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors is a film with a message: God is blind to our sins, and to our virtues as well. The righteous often go unrewarded, and the wicked often go unpunished.

Judah Rosenthal (Martin Landau) is an...

Pros: A tapestry of flawless performances woven against an ambitious, and intelligent screenplay
Cons: Merely that it ends

Crimes and Misdemeanors is, by far, Woody Allen's most ambitious film. It is at once, moving and chilling.

The film tells two parallel stories. In one Woody Allen plays a small time documentary film maker trapped in a loveless marriage....

Pros: thought provoking, brilliantly acted by all, funny, intriguing
Cons: heady - not a light comedy

If you could kill somebody that was threatening your happiness and get away with it, would you do it? Or, would your conscience finally catch up to you?

I have often thought that the reason that someone tells you when they have done something...

Pros: Two equally fascinating plots intersect in a thoughtful, existential movie
Cons: None

In the vein of his earlier Hannah and Her Sisters, Woody Allen’s Crimes and Misdemeanors covers the familiar territories of adultery and integrity and the spectrum of compromise between the two. The film centers around a doctor (Martin Landau) who has...

Pros: Screenplay, acting, great mix of comedy and drama.
Cons: None.

A masterful hybrid of comedy and drama, this film is one of the few on record that can use verbal humor while simultaneously probing the nature of morality and faith. In addition, the very nature of success, both of the romantic and artistic variety, is...

Pros: Excellent plot; great acting; extremely funny; poignant
Cons: None

"Crimes and Misdemeanors" is a very deep, moving, and often funny look at the decisions we make that shape our lives.

There are two parallel stories that intertwine, and that each impart their own lessons about life. The first story...

Pros: Great, entertaining movie which presents many interesting ideas about life
Cons: none

The movie “Crimes and Misdemeanors” displays the irony behind living one’s life by a strict set of moral standards. Its characters prove, in essence, that one who lives a moral life benefits everyone but himself. It does, however, raise the question of...

Pros: Fantastic film. Nearly flawless.
Cons: none

Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors is one of the greatest films of all time. It showcases an incredible performance from Martin Landau. Had Denzel Washington not emerged as an acting superpower in "Glory", Landau would have easily brought home the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. As he has done in many of his serious films when dealing with harrowing issues, Allen provides dazzling scenes of comic relief. In particular, Alan Alda is laugh-out-loud funny as Woody's egotistical and aloof producer brother-in-law. For any real film buff this complex and bittersweet comedy/drama/thriller is essential viewing material.