Crime and Punishment

Rating: 7/10 (31 January 2008)

This seems so dissimilar to every other Woody Allen film I've seen that I probably wouldn't have realised it was one if I hadn't known before the start.
This may be due to the London setting and the rather stiff upper middle class dialogue and the lack of a put upon loser acting in the Woody Allen mode. However, examine the themes and some of WA's obsessions are apparent. In particular, as I'm sure has been commented on before, I see a number of allusions to Dostoyevsky; the main character (hardly a hero) has something of Raskolnikov about him, happy to commit murder if it suits a 'higher' purpose. The murder itself echoes the elements of the murder in C & P. Even the cop (James Nesbitt) is a little like Porfiry in his attitude, although this cop seems a whole lot more incompetent than Porfiry!
It's not C & P however, and events turn it differently. It makes for an interesting film, even it does have a few flaws, as others have pointed out. Performances are good all round; I actually began to dislike the Scarlett Johannsson character which, given her pulchritudinous, is quite an achievement.
It's good to see WA still making thoughtful films...