Crime Story (2021) User Reviews

This was just horribly written and directed.

[Top_Dawg_Critic · 3/10 · 13 August 2021]

I can't believe what I saw made the final cut-to-market. This film by Adam Lipsius should be a film school example of what NOT to do.

Firstly, this is the perfect example of how a score can make or break a film, and this has to be one of the worst. I'm used to the typical annoyingly loud, overbearing, non-stop and unfitting score in B-grade films, but this was a whole new level of annoying. At the start, I kept yelling at Dreyfuss to "answer the damn door!". But it was the score - a constant knocking sound. Throughout, you'll hear clanging, ringing, banging etc... was there even a composer in this production, or just some random tools in a garage being slammed around?

Then you have Lipsius' incoherent and convoluted story, with dialogue and scenes that will make you shake your head. Why did he shoot the bathroom door where Nan was if he loved and cared about her so much? Don't even get me started on the plot and technical issues, that made what was supposed to be a criminal underworld story, feel inept, unconvincing and boring as it gets. And that's a real shame, when this is supposed to be "based on true events", and you end up scratching your head and yawning by the end.

Next, you have the barely legible muddled dialogue of Dreyfuss, that when combined with his slow and poorly postured demeanor, I thought he was constipated throughout the entire film. Add in Pruitt Taylor Vince's character Tommy, and you have two geriatric actors trying to get through filming. Aside from their snail-paced movements (I'm sure blame falls on Lipsius' failure to direct his cast properly), the entire film's slow pacing, made the normally comfortable 98 min runtime feel endless. Even Mira Sorvino's performance seemed like it was her first ever acting gig (again, due to Lipsius' failure to direct his cast properly).

His (twitchy) camerawork and cinematography were just awful, and this film needed some serious editing. I really can't find anything redeeming about Crime Story. It's a very generous 3/10 from me (much better than the current 0% on Rotten Tomatoes), all going to the Oscar winners out of pity they'll have this mess on their resumes.

Lousy

[Draysan-Jennings · 4/10 · 14 August 2021]

That was definitely one of the worst endings I've ever seen. It felt like the director just gave up and stitched together whatever he could. And what the hell happened to Mira Sorvino? She was awful in this. It was cool to see Richard Dreyfuss in the movies again but he couldn't save whatever I just watched. I was set on rating this film a 5 but that ending was terrible. 4 stars.

I just don't get it.

[matt-154-675638 · 3/10 · 22 August 2021]

I'm no movie writer but this movie makes really no sense. Horribly put together. Halfway through I was like why am I still watching this movie. Waste of time.

Complete waste

[rchevalier-37303 · 2/10 · 3 September 2021]

Two talented actors wasted in a poorly written and poorly directed film that is too long by a factor of three. Not a likeable character in it. Just bad. Trim your nails it will be time better spent.

A loss of 1 hour and 38 minutes

[tylardavidgiles · 2/10 · 14 August 2021]

That was 1 hour and 38 minutes I will never get back. Don't waste your movie watching time on this dud. I watched it thinking how bad can it be with Richard Dreyfuss starring in it. But what is this, his name is listed as just one of the cast, way down on the list. I guess I don't blame him for not wanting top credit for this waste of digital bytes saved desperately to this digital movie cloud only to become rain and evaporate.

We got "Jaws" "easy money" "what about Bob"

[pmcorso · 2/10 · 18 September 2021]

Extremely disappointed!!

Richard Dreyfus, Mira Sorvino top actors and horrible directing!! This movie was all over the place!!

I love any movies that have to do with mob bosses retired mob bosses anything that has to do with the mafia and watching this was nothing what I expected!

Waste of a rental but most importantly waste of 1hr 40min.

grey revenge

[ferguson-6 · 4/10 · 13 August 2021]

Greetings again from the darkness. Thanks to (or maybe because of) Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, and Liam Neeson, we are rarely without a senior citizen action film. However, it's a bit surprising for most of us to see Oscar winner Richard Dreyfuss (THE GOODBYE GIRL, 1977) load up his gun and take to the streets for revenge. Writer-director Adam Lipsius scored a double Oscar coup by also casting Mira Sorvino (MIGHTY APHRODITE, 1995) as Dreyfuss' detective-daughter.

"Based on actual events", Mr. Lipsius bookends the film with the elderly Ben Myers (Dreyfuss) riding in the back of a limousine. He's barely coherent, but in the opening we can make out, "If I wake up, I'll choose different." We then flashback 12 hours to re-live what is likely Ben Myers' worst day ever. He's been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and though he's a former mobster, he says he went "legit" 12 years ago, and runs a local bar with his loyal-to-a-fault sidekick Tommy (the always interesting Pruitt Taylor Vince). Ben's estranged daughter (Sorvino) hits him up for money she says is for the daughter and grandkids that Ben has never acknowledged. Next thing we know, Ben's house has been robbed of all his cash (a quite substantial amount) and trashed by 3 men who take advantage of Ben's beloved dementia-stricken wife Nan (Megan McFarland).

This kicks off Ben's mission of revenge. Gun by Glock, body by Devito. His daughter is concerned he's taking this on by himself, and there is the added complication of her working for a politician that Ben once helped out of what would have been a career-ending jam. In fact, there are so many sub-plots, sub-sub-plots and characters who come and go, that much of this makes little sense. It works best when focusing on an aging (former) mobster trying to even the score, and gets a bit shaky when it reverts to dysfunctional family stuff. I believe there are five crying scenes, which is entirely too many for any movie not named SOPHIE'S CHOICE.

For those of us who recall Dreyfuss from his early TV days, a brief appearance in THE GRADUATE (1967), and of course in AMERICAN GRAFFITI (1973) and JAWS (1975), there is some enjoyment to be had in watching 'Mr. Holland' take a violent approach to revenge ... though he's certainly no AARP reincarnation of John Wick. Overall, it's a pretty generic take on geriatric anger, with bonus points for a spot on description of what it feels like when one's spouse succumbs to dementia.

Arrives August 13, 2021 in select theaters, On Demand, and on Digital.

Mr Holland's Opus this ain't

[jayenjr · 2/10 · 16 August 2021]

Goodness! I've always had a soft spot for Richard Dreyfuss all the way back to Close Encounters of the Third Kind. He just had this charm in him, his characters almost always give out a snickering smile even when the situation's serious. It's there in Jaws, Nuts, Goodbye Girl etc. And when I saw Dreyfuss' name headline this revenge actioner, I told myself, "this, I wanna see." I didn't doubt he could pull it off.

And truth be told, his Ben Myers does carry some weight of conviction. But that's about where the good stuff ends. Well, Mira Sorvino & Pruit Taylor Vince do throw in whatever character-acting chops they have into their scenes, but everything else falls into the category of Bruce Willis' latest cinematic hobby - straight to dvd territory. Bad lighting, patchy camera work, & sloppy editing. I could hardly believe that two Oscar winners in Dreyfuss & Sorvino landed into this mess. Taylor Vince included. What were they thinking? Or do they need to find new agents? Throw in other amateur actors whose screen demeanour quickly reveals that much, and you wonder, just what path did Dreyfuss take to come to this place at this stage in his career? I sure hope he doesn't tread the Bruce Willis path.

Great Life Message - not a great crime thriller

[cjstanford-65097 · 6/10 · 21 January 2022]

I decided to watch as a film in the revenge/crime genre. I could see by 1/3 through that from that perspective, the movie was a loser. But as a meaningful drama, I'd give it a 7 easily. But I think for the viewer to appreciate that perspective, they need a lot of years behind them. The three core characters gave strong performances. There's something amiss in the total delivery, some of it. Can't put my finger on it though. I think the ending was perfect unlike many of the reviewers.

Save yourselves

[andreaclaire-06482 · 1/10 · 4 September 2021]

Just can't get the time back.

I really want to say something nice about this. I'd rather roll in honey and lie on an ant hill.

Crime Story

[kmwilliams-25997 · 10/10 · 14 August 2021]

While parts of the film were not as developed as they could be. The supporting cast really shined and added much needed character and variation to the sometime monotonous performance of the leads. The fact that it was based on a true story intrigues me even more.

Richard Dreyfuss gives an Excellent Performance in this Little Crime Drama.

[lukem-52760 · 6/10 · 8 September 2021]

Here in England this film is called "The Last Job" but i actually prefer the American title of "Crime Story" because that's what it really is. The film is a little Crime Story about an old man who was once a feared gangster & hitman but now in his 70's everything is slipping away from him including his health.

The legendary Richard Dreyfuss (Jaws, Close Encounters, What About Bob?, Stakeout) gives an truly excellent & thoughtful performance as the ageing ex-mob boss Ben Myers who goes on a rampage when his home is robbed & his ill wife is left terrified & the mystery deepens as he searches for answers & doesn't expect where it ends.

Dreyfuss really is great in this role & really gives it his all & should be praised for his performance & how he pulled it off at his age!!!

This is also a melodrama with some Thriller bits thrown in but mainly it's a little drama about facing up to your lifelong mistakes & trying to put some things right before it's all too late. There's a theme of redemption here & regret that haunts our main character Myers.

Another excellent performance goes to Myers emotional & suffering daughter Nick Wallace, played fantastically by Mira Sorvino, a great actress i haven't seen for a long time. She's great here as the troubled & bitter daughter that is a Cop & there's alot of strained drama between father & daughter.

Infact all the acting is fine & the music score is great & stands out. My only complaint is the whole tangled storyline does feel abit muddled by the end but that doesn't ruin anything but it's noticeable. Also of course there's a few scenes in here that are not very believable especially since Dreyfuss is very breathless & sluggish & I'm not being nasty because his character is actually dying so his breathless & exhausted performance is actually spot-on but what he has to do often is not. Dreyfuss has to threaten & beat-up thugs half his age & twice his height!!! But hey it's a film & it's an entertaining one too. We get alot of Family drama & a mystery plot of who dared rob Myers & why?

The movie does look good for it's low-budget.

"The Last Job" is obviously low-budget & straight-to-dvd but what is put on screen is really good & too get the great Dreyfuss to put in this great work is just a joy. Dreyfuss is a legend of Cinema.

It was nice to see Dreyfuss play a very different type of character here & he's a Bad-Ass when he needs to be & is always interesting.

Definitely worth a watch & for a little Crime film it actually packs an emotional & realistic punch by it's end.

A very poor effort

[latinfineart · 2/10 · 16 August 2021]

This could have been a good movie had they hired a halfway competent director and had they had a halfway decent script, but the writing was so poor, it was so choppy and the direction was so badly handled that it was very difficult to create a good film.

It was a decent story, Richard Dreyfuss did a decent job, for some reason Mira Sorvino was not the actress that she normally is, she really botched this performance, but perhaps it had a lot to do with the writing. It really turned out to be a piece of crap.

Richard Dreyfuss joins Bruce Willis, Liam Neeson and others

[kuner-59029 · 2/10 · 17 August 2021]

For some reason (easy money), many former A list stars now appear in these no budget revenge thriller crap.

Why someone who appeared in classics like Jaws, Schindler's List or Die Hard would ruin their reputation with dreck like this is beyond me. These are seasoned pros. Surely at some point during pre-production they must have realized this would not be another John Wick.

This particular outing has it all. Shaky handheld cam in almost every scene, LSD trip color grading that looks absolutely atrocious. I can get better looking footage with my Canon EOS DSLR. Bad score, bad acting, terrible script....

Just why? There's no way this will turn a profit. Is it a gamble, is it a tax writeoff? I don't get it.

Jumbled Mess

[stevendbeard · 3/10 · 15 August 2021]

I saw "Crime Story", starring Richard Dreyfuss-Book Club, Piranha 3D; Mira Sorvino-Stuber, The Replacement Killers; D. W. Moffett-How to Get Away With Murder_tv, Friday Night Lights_tv and Cress Williams-Black Lightning_tv, Friday Night Lights_tv.

A movie with Richard Dreyfuss & Mira Sorvino, and you would think you were in for a good time. Wrong. It's a jumbled mess. And....it's based on a true story-it was also originally called, 'The Last Job'. Anyway, Richard plays a retired mob guy-he worked clean up duty for them-that has cancer. He also owns a bar and has quite a bit of cash stashed at his house and is estranged from his daughters-he remarried and they had issues. Mira is one of his daughters that is a police detective assigned protection duty to D. W., a congressman-the other daughter is in the hospital, dying. Cress plays one of the thieves that breaks into Richard's house to rob him. Richard goes hunting for them but discovers that there is more to the robbery than he first knew. There is also a sub plot about D. W. having a child out of wedlock. Like I said, a jumbled mess.

It's rated "R" for violence, language and sexual content-no nudity-and has a running time of 1 hour & 38 minutes.

I wouldn't buy this on DVD. I wouldn't rent it, either. I'm not even sure if it's worth watching on cable but if you want to, then go for it.

This Fiasco IS as Bad as they Say

[arfdawg-1 · 1/10 · 15 August 2021]

Wow. Bad.

It's almost as if the actors were handed the script and did a first seen cold reading and that's what the director used.

Too bad. Sorvino and Dreyfuss are good actors.

This is a really bad movie.

Terrible!

[cssellis · 1/10 · 15 August 2021]

This is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. It's boring with terrible acting and just as bad visuals. Do not watch this!!!!

just horrible

[shmailmail · 1/10 · 15 August 2021]

Just unbearably boring. Even if you look at double speed, it is an outstanding example of how having a good idea and a talented leading actor can destroy a lot of money spent on this film. Terribly boring, completely unprofessional. Some people just need to change their profession, maybe they would make good waiters, But the directors do not work out. A separate wish not to be so disgusting for the author of the music. An attempt to escalate a situation where it is not escalated is simply annoying. Terribly stupid, while 99% of viewers probably know how to make an excellent movie on this idea, if the director is depressed, then there is no need to be ashamed of it - there are quite a lot of good psychotropic drugs of the last generation, it is necessary to be treated and not to make a movie.

A silly set of daily headline stigmas in desperate hopes of gaining attention but failed.

Solid crime thriller

[radhrh · 7/10 · 14 August 2021]

I don't know why this movie gets such poor reviews because it's really not bad at all. It's nice to see Richard Dreyfuss again and he puts in a good performance as do the supporting cast. It's not reinventing the wheel but it's a solid enough crime thriller although it does get bogged down in places as it drifts towards a family melodrama. There is an intermittent voice over by Dreyfuss's character which is sometimes present and other times not which is a bit distracting but not a deal breaker.

One Redeeming Feature of This Film

[lavatch · 2/10 · 21 March 2022]

From start to finish, "Crime Story" was an overly violent and depressing film. There was nothing redeeming about the antics of a terminally ill mob boss who lost "respect" and works to the bitter end in an attempt to wield power.

The dialogue in this film was so bad that it appeared as though the actors were improvising their lines. It was also difficult to believe that Ben (Richard Dreyfuss) and Nick (Mira Sorvina) were father and daughter.

The major "twist" in the film was that the daughter tried to pull off a heist of her own father by recruiting a team to clean out his safe. Her motivation was apparently to assist with the raising her nephews who had special needs and a mother dying after a long period of drug addiction.

Another nefarious character is a congressman who once got a Guatemalan maid pregnant. Ben was enlisted to make that problem go away. Now, the hypocritical politician admits that he is the father after the boy is hit by a bus and is fighting for his life in the hospital.

There were moments when the filmmakers apparently attempted to work some humor into the film. But the moments were clumsy and not funny. The real crime was in the amateur production values with hand-held cameras and the implausibility of the actions of a pitiful over-the-hill mobster and his dysfunctional family.

The one redeeming feature of this film was the character of Tommy, who was nicely played by actor Pruitt Taylor Vance. For a reason not disclosed in the film, Tommy was loyal to Ben, who had saved his life. Tommy offers the wisest counsel to Ben to live out what remains of his life without engaging in more vendettas. It was unfortunate that Ben did not take his friend's advice.

Good directing & cinematography

[hghiran · 10/10 · 31 August 2021]

Whilst we see lots of movies boring & bad directed/edited , this one shines. Tommy remind me of Sam in the Lord of the ring , so loyal . Mira was great , saying beside I'm poor & a woman .... that really moved me. Richard is so convincing . I remember just a shot in the Polar , so fearless and determined. The story was real life everyday happening.

What the hell did I just watch?

[bac-64544 · 2/10 · 22 October 2021]

What an absolute abomination of a movie. Dreyfuss and Sorvino must either both be broke or were blackmailed into appearing in this movie and even then, they mailed in two of the worst performances you're seen on film (and by mailed it in, it's the the pandemic version of the post office, not the god version where they actually deliver your stuff intact within a month of it being sent. This is the covid version post office that loses the parcel for six months, then sends it to Allakete Alaska for winter, returns it to Newark post Christmas to sit in lost mail for ten more months and then finally delivers your moms ashes to the next door neighbour in an urn broken into twenty-nine pieces).

This is worse than any Bruce Willis/Randall Emmet direct to VOD piece of crap you can imagine. And if you've seen one of those, you can imagine some pretty bad crap.

I was going to give it one star, but they kept the running time short so bonus star for not subjecting us to a single minute longer than necessary. If Dreyfus makes something else as bad as this, I'm campaigning for Jaws 5 to be made (Jaws 5 The Climate Change Shark in 4-D) and demanding Dreyfus gets a cameo just so he can be eaten in the opening sequence as pennance.

Yep. It's as bad as they say

[thejdrage · 3/10 · 8 April 2022]

I read all the horrible reviews - and they were right!

You can have a magnificent portrait of a very messed up family, such as this! But ......

Just goes ta show ya that you can have great actors (they were having off days here) and what could have been a great story - and who knows why everything went topsy tervey - but it most certainly did.

Obviously the music budget was low. It was AWFUL. Hurt my ears it was so very bad. They tried to recover at the end (during the credits), but that piece swung too far in the other direction of what they assaulted our ears with during the movie.

All in all, a most unpleasant experience. And not so bad that it was at all fun. The sin of it is, it had great potential. Oh well.

I would suggest passing it up as have several other reviewers, but you know your gonna wanna watch it because how can it really be THAT bad!!??

Your mistake, not ours. Oh, wait!!! It was! PS - after "sleeping on it", I had to take it down a star. Yep. THAT bad.

This was bad

[Gringoen · 2/10 · 18 August 2021]

Turned it off after 15minutes. Sloppy camerawork and poor actin. Even with great actors this did not work.

Worst movie ever!

[gabni · 1/10 · 3 September 2021]

This movie is bad. The people responsible for everything kiss and make up at the end, but the black and brown people are left for dead... racist script, Uncle Tom's making bad movies.