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Keanu Reeves and
James Caan star in a
film from Malcolm
Venville about a
normal guy who goes
to jail for a crime
he didn’t commit,
only when he gets
out of jail… he
decides to do the
crime. It’s not a
terrible movie,
James Caan is
terrific here. Keanu
is well… just Keanu.
And the rest of the
cast is decent
enough. A great
premise and Caan
push this one
through to the end,
but it’s hard to
swallow the finish
of the movie and
just how long it
takes for everything
to set up.
Henry
Torne (Keanu Reves)
is a good enough
guy. He works at a
toll booth and he
pays his taxes. He’s
married and he’s in
a good enough
relationship with
his wife too. After
working a late
night, he’s eating
breakfast with his
wife in the morning
when a lifelong
friend Eddie Vibes
(Fisher Stevens),
comes to his house
and needs him to
play in a softball
game. At least
that’s what Henry
thinks, turns out
Eddie is robbing a
bank and he needs
Henry to be his
getaway man. The
security guard was
out of the bank at
the time grabbing a
coffee and it set up
Henry to get
arrested for a crime
he didn’t commit
while Eddie and his
accomplices get away
scot-free.
Henry
never rats out Eddie
or the others and he
goes to jail for a
few years. In jail,
he meets the
old-time crook and
conman Max Saltzman.
The two form a good
bond as cellmates
and when they get
out of jail they
decide to rob the
bank that Henry
never robbed. To do
this they have to
become a part of the
Buffalo theatre club
and an elaborate
scheme is set.
Henry’s Crime
starts out well
enough. The first
forty five minutes
are fun and
entertaining to
watch even though
they run a tad slow
in the pacing
department. Keanu
Reeves isn’t a great
actor, that’s been
said by everyone
throughout the
years. But when he
doesn’t have to say
anything, he’s got a
presence to him that
makes him easy to
root for. That’s the
case and point for
Keanu in
Henry’s Crime.
He’s not great of
course, but he’s
still easy to root
for. Opposite of
Henry is Vera
Farmiga as his
romantic interest
after he and his
wife split and she’s
great here as the
struggling actress.
Her and Keanu have
some great chemistry
and in those
romantic moments and
lovers tiffs it’s
Farmiga carrying
those scenes so
Keanu doesn’t have
to. The real star of
this movie though is
James Caan, he’s
dazzling here as he
always is and as
much as I missed
seeing Keanu Reeves
in a movie, watching
Caan work made me
realize that I
missed his work
more. He’s always
been terrific and
here when the script
flows like molasses
at its end its Caan
making that crawl
somewhat enjoyable.
The
main beef that you
can have with
Henry’s Crime
is the last ten
minutes of this
movie. We’ve
invested a ton of
time with Henry,
Max, Eddie and the
other characters in
the movie by the
time the climax
comes about. And
instead of ending
this movie they did
a cheap cliffhanger
ending, there’s no
final romantic
climax, there’s
nothing of note,
just a hanging
ending. I’m sure
they thought they
were being smart and
dramatic with the
ending. It doesn’t
work and it makes
Henry’s Crime
a bad movie. If it
weren’t for the
ending this movie
would have been
average to good.
Instead it’s average
to terrible. You’d
think that there
would be an
alternate ending
with an ending like
Henry’s Crime
has, but there are
no extras or deleted
scenes whatsoever on
this release.
Henry’s Crime
is a bummer with its
ending, but if you
missed watching a
movie with James
Caan or Keanu Reeves
over the past couple
of years then it’s
worth checking out.
A decent 85% of this
movie is ruined with
a terrible 15% at
its completion.
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