6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Dark Comedy Tweeked by Hollywood., November 3, 2002
Sam Raimi is the man. SPIDER-MAN surpassed just about everyone's predictions and is the biggest hit of the year (2002) so far (HARRY POTTER and THE TWO TOWERS may knock Spidey off, though). However, Raimi always was the man. He, Rob Tapert, and Bruce Campbell parlayed their little independent film (EVIL DEAD) into a great franchise and used it to start their careers.
CRIMEWAVE was the first major feature for all involved after EVIL DEAD. The film was written by Raimi and two other quirky directors, the Coen Brothers. The movie was largely filmed in Detroit and the lead character was originally written specifically for Bruce Campbell (you can just picture how much better the movie would have been with Campbell in the lead role instead of the no name they cast instead). However, that was before Tinsletown took over. Campbell was scrapped as the lead, but Raimi kept him on in a supporting role. A new beginning and ending was filmed because "audiences just won't get it otherwise" and Raimi and company lost some editing control over the final product. The film was also plagued by all sorts of conflicts and from what I've gathered wasn't the most pleasant of shoots.
The end result is CRIMEWAVE, a quirky little dark comedy that if left alone would have been much better. The movie itself is full of humor on a variety of levels. The direction is intriguing and the acting is campy. The film would probably be PG by todays standards and only contains a handful of "foul" language and largely "cartoon" violence.
If you are a fan of Raimi, the Coens, or Campbell, this film is a must see. Also, if you like dark comedies full of slapstick humor you will probably enjoy it.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Crimewave Fun!!, August 22, 2004
I LOVE this movie! I have had it on vhs since it first came out.
Reed Birney is adoribly innocent & dorky playing Vic in the lead role. But Brion James & Paul Smith stole the show playing the pest patrol baddies...getting rid of pesty people too. The cast is sweet, but the comedy is a silly dark crazy adventure. This movie is a classic funny movie. If you haven't seen it, give it a try...it'll be a dorky zanie ride! Even my 78 year old dad loved it for laughs, and he's got every new movie released!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Now That's Comedy!, June 14, 2002
This is one of my all-time favorite comedies. Louise Lasser and Sam Raimi have gone out of their way to make this film look as much like a cardboard box-propped B movie as you could get. So it's cheap! Hurray for this kind of cheap! What is the era? It has the feel of a mid-60's film, but with a splash of early 80's and mid-40's hair styles, huge clunky 70's tuna boat cars in close up scenes and 50's style automobiles packed in a few outside scenes, with big band swing music from the early 20th century. This movie capitalizes on sheer stupidity and pulls it off rather well. Don't expect an "Airplane" or "Naked Gun" brand of foolishness. This is in a class all it's own. I wish there were other films like this. My heart was broken to find that the only DVD it is available on is a region 2 coded European disc with no English option. Watch this film only if you enjoy lame comedy and don't mind laughing at things that make other people think you're not playing with a full deck.
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