Woody Allen gets back into prime form with this tale of a small time robber with dreams of striking it rich with one big heist. Tracey Ullman gives a brilliant performance as his wise cracking wife who yearns for the good life. Hugh Grant is a conniving money seeker and Jon Lovitz and Michael Rapaport are crooks in with Allen. The film is very funny and Allen shows he can still write a great script with surprises and fun.

Allen plays a small time burglar who wants to invest his savings in a bank robbery plan against his wife's wishes. He finally convinces her to come in on the plan by fronting a tunnel dig into a bank using her cookie restaurant as a front. What happens to plot is both hilarious and unexpected, as Allen digs the wrong way (no surprise here) but Ullman's cookie shop becomes a huge success. A year later, the would be bandits are all very rich and trying to hob nob with he rich and famous. Allen is not all that thrilled about his new "friends", but Ullman wants to be refined. They proceed to become friends with Hugh Grant, an art dealer, who believes he can move in on Ullman and take her for her new found wealth. Elaine May is hilarious as Ullman's slow yet lovable cousin who they hire to help out in the cookie restaurant and later becomes a partner to Woody in a jewelry heist.

Picture-The anamorphic transfer was a bit busy with artifacts, which is a real surprise for a Dreamworks release. I turned the sharpness down all the way on my set and still got a lot of jaggies in profile shots. It is possible that my aging Toshiba player had a hard time with this one. I did find it refreshing that Allen did do an anamorphic widescreen DVD. Colors were bright and focus was sharp. Production values are always high in Allen films. Sound-If you are an Allen fan, you know that Allen loves the old jazz and swing music of the thirties and this soundtrack is no exception, as he uses Benny Goodman tunes throughout. However, somebody needs to tell Woody about a new technology called stereo. What a surprise to find a film made in the year 2000 using mono sound. While the sound is adequate for the film (it's good full mono), it seems a bit odd that Allen would continue to use this in his films. However, he is the director. Nothing is lost by the mono sound.

NADA. English captioning and that's it. Commentary by cast members would have been refreshing, even if Woody passed on it. However, the disc is very bare bones.

A good Woody Allen film; his best in years with remarkable performances from the entire cast. Awards are already being talked about for Ullman and May, who are tremendous in their roles. A bare bones disc is a disappointment for what could be a very significant film for Woody and a highlight of the cinema for the year 2000. A refreshing comedy, without Allen looking at his belly button all the way through the picture.