Small Time Crooks

Small Time Crooks (2000) is Woody Allen's crime comedy, available to watch online on iFILM. Ex-con and hopeless petty thief Ray cooks up the heist of a lifetime: dig a tunnel from a rented storefront straight into the vault of the bank next door.

As cover, Ray and his wife Frenchy open a tiny cookie shop on the same block. While he and his crew of so-called pros spend weeks clawing through dirt below the floor, the cookies start flying off the shelves. The tunnel goes nowhere, but the bakery turns into a gold mine, and the would-be burglars wake up rich — along with all the social agony that brings. Allen plays Ray, Tracey Ullman is Frenchy, and Hugh Grant shows up in the back half as a silky operator hired to give the new millionaires some class.

Allen flips the gangster setup on its head: forget the robbery, this is a satire of the nouveau riche and a longing for the plain life, where the heroes' deadliest weapon is a cookie recipe. A light, charming trifle for anyone who loves Allen at his most farcical rather than his most philosophical. Stream Small Time Crooks (2000) online on iFILM.