By EWAN McDONALD
(Herald rating: * * * )
Ray Winkler is an ex-con and dish-washer planning to rob a bank. His scheme, he tells wife Frenchy (Tracey Ullman), is to rent an empty shop and tunnel into the vault next door.
Ray and Frenchy open a cookie shop as a front.
But the cookies take off, the job is bungled, and Frenchy's cousin, May (Elaine May), tells a cop what's going on in the basement.
Here's the missing link: Ray is played by Woody Allen and this isn't a simple slapstick comedy. This is an offbeat comedy with Allenistic twists and turns.
The botched robbery leads to a business opportunity and within a year Ray and Frenchy are rich. Frenchy spends a fortune on their new apartment; Ray rattles around unhappily (he refuses to look at one abstract painting because it depresses him).
Then David (Hugh Grant) enters their lives: a suave British art expert whom Frenchy wants to train them in culture. He squires her to galleries, opening nights, charity benefits and chic restaurants while Ray watches basketball, eats junk food and enjoys the company of Frenchy's cousin May.
Won't give any more away. It ain't vintage Woody (that was the last one, Sweet And Lowdown), but compared with mainstream movies it ain't half bad.
Running time: 95 mins
Rental: Today
