Crimes and Misdemeanors

Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)

  • 92% of critics liked it
    (38 reviews)

  • 90% of users liked it
    (21,705 ratings)

Woody Allen spent most of the 1980s and '90s veering between comedy and drama, and he rarely combined the two with greater success than in Crimes and Misdemeanors, in which he weaved together two stories, one deadly serious, one often funny, both ending in sadness. Martin Landau plays Dr. Judah… More

PG-13, 1 hr. 44 min.
Directed By
Woody Allen
Written By
Woody Allen
Genres
Drama, Comedy
In Theaters
Oct 13, 1989 Wide
On DVD
Jun 5, 2001
Orion Pictures Corporation

Critic Reviews

  • Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

    The overall 'philosophical' thrust -- that good guys finish last and that crime does pay -- is designed to make the audience feel very wise, but none of the characters or ideas is allowed to develop beyond its cardboard profile.

  • Variety Staff, Variety

    The structural and stylistic conceit is that when Landau is onscreen, the film is dead serious, even solemn, while Allen's own appearance onscreen signals hilarious satire and priceless one-liners.

  • Vincent Canby, New York Times

    The movie's secret strength -- its structure, really -- comes from the truth of the dozens and dozens of particular details through which it arrives at its own very hesitant, not especially comforting, very moving generality.

  • Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

    The movie generates the best kind of suspense, because it's not about what will happen to people -- it's about what decisions they will reach.

  • Rita Kempley, Washington Post

    A relative of Hannah and Her Sisters in its duplex structure and of The Purple Rose of Cairo in its bitter theme, Crimes is two movies in one, a blend of Allen's satiric and pretentious dramatic styles.

Read all 17 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • moon r


    "Sleeper" was and has been my favorite Allen film, always light, breezy and fun, but I haven't seen them all and now this dark rumination forces me to alter my original opinion. The acceptance here of dark forces roaming the void is unavoidable and comedy becomes ...… More

  • Alexander D


    Woody Allen has taken the exhausting drama we are used to seeing when we turn on drippy television programs, and used those as a device for satire. We get examples of just what he is poking fun at when his character takes relatives of his to the movies. In such scenes, we see and hear… More

  • Spencer S


    Somehow this Woody Allen film truly surprised me. There wasn't something I could outright point to and use as an exact example, but this film isn't the conventional Allen film and maybe not a conventional film on its own. Though Allen would later try to fuse comedy and drama… More

  • Anthony L


    Crimes and Misdemeanours threw me a little. It's not exactly the laugh out loud comedy I'd been lead to believe it was. That's the thing with Woody Allen films though, they are comedies of sorts but just because he's associated, doesn't always mean you'll… More

  • Dan S


    A fascinating mash-up of two completely different stories, one considering a family man (Martin Landau) trying to literally bury an extramarital affair he had earlier in his life, while another story concerns a film-maker (Woody Allen) who falls in love with a TV producer (Mia Farrow)… More

Read all 20 featured audience ratings

Cast

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