DVD Review: Henry’s Crime

I have always appreciated Keanu Reeves’ eclectic film choices. By no means is his collective works gold, but I’d sooner sit through back-to-back Bill & Ted movies along with any movie where he utters the word “whoa,” than sit through the 108 minutes of Henry’s Crime again.

Directed by Malcolm Venville, Reeves plays Henry Torne, who is falsely  accused of robbing a bank and finds himself jail. After being released from prison, Henry decides to rob the bank he already served time for robbing.

Caan plays con man, Max Saltzman, who befriends Henry in prison. Max is a lifer who enjoys his caged existence. Henry ends up recruiting him to help rob the bank. And Farmiga plays Julie Ivanova, an actress starring in the local Buffalo, NY production of Cherry Orchard, who wants nothing more than to make it big in Hollywood. Julie and Henry become involved throughout the course of the movie.

Of the two supporting characters, Caan proves to be the silver lining of the film. I felt like his performance in Henry’s Crime was the only believable one.

There’s a scene where Max is being given a tour of the theatre, and he is able to get all the info he and Henry need to plan their bank robbery from the stage hand without really even needing to ask. He was able to pull of being confident and charming without a hitch.

I must say that I did like the pairing of Caan with Reeves. I felt like he was able to pull a little bit more personality out of Reeves’ performance when they were sharing screen time.

I was really rooting for Henry’s Crime. I had been looking forward to seeing it for quite awhile. I just feel like the performances from Reeves and Farmiga are sub-par, at best.

However, the biggest issue for me was that this film that’s supposed to be about Henry robbing this bank fluctuated too much with the budding romance between Henry and Julie. At times, it felt like I was watching two separate movies. I think if this film had been edited differently, it would have been a decently funny and quirky crime caper.

The DVD of the film doesn’t contain any special features. Even though the film wasn’t my favorite thing ever to watch, I wouldn’t have minded hearing from the director, producers, and the screenwriter. I think it would have been interesting to know their thoughts about the story, the characters, and why scenes were shot and edited the way they were. 

Henry’s Crime is available on DVD now.