Writer: Syahida Kamarudin

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Watch this if you liked: “An Innocent Man", "A Scanner Darkly"

There is something that cannot be fathomed when it comes to Malcolm Venville's "Henry's Crime". One realises that it has the nuance of a French black comedy at first, then a bank-heist comedy, later a surrealistic rom-com. But 45 minutes into the movie, it starts to be almost a confusing bunch of genres.

Henry is supposedly a cliched nice guy who finally takes a risk in his life. However the casting of Keanu Reeves as the character seems to make Henry mundane and uninteresting. Roger Ebert believed that a chameleon like Steve Buscemi might have been a better pick and one would agree.

The movie is filled with symbolism, like the use of Anton Checkhov's "The Cherry Orchard" as Henry and Julie's back and forth discussion about life, or the fact that Henry's former job as a toll-gate guy is an ironic notion of him watching people going somewhere while his static life brought him nowhere.

However, the decision to rob a bank? The loopholes like all the ruckus they make while digging a tunnel while people are rehearsing on stage and yet nobody can hear them? Those small details might seem trivial. However, those little things that they failed to (at least) do properly are the banes of this movie. "Henry's Crime" is difficult to be taken seriously yet is not really funny for it to be called a comedy. Not even "sad funny" - like the character Julie in this movie would say.

This movie is not those you would call a "snooze-fest", and yet it is not something you would call mind-blowing. It makes you think, but it will not make you thoughtful. It's a hit-and-miss, conveniently thought of movie. And other than the quirky Peter Stormare playing stage director Darek, and James Caan as the conman who loves living in prison more than anything, nobody else is worthy of attention.

But then, if you have always been a Keanu Reeves' fan, you can just ignore this review and go watch it just for the sake of it.

Cinema Online, 07 June 2011