Film Review: Crimewave (1985)

There are some great film makers that owe their careers as much to great film as to mere ability to survive disasters that would permanently wreck most of their colleagues. At least this is the impression you might get from the aftermath of Crimewave, 1985 comedy directed by Sam Raimi and co-writen by Joel and Ethan Coen.

The plot begins with the protagonist Victor Ajax (played by Reed Birney), former employee of security company, about to be executed for the series of gruesome murders. He claims that is innocent and desperately tries to tell his story to anyone willing to listen. In the flashback we see how the series of events began when his boss Ernest Trend (played by Edward R. Pressman) found that his partner wanted to sell company behind his back. In order to prevent it, Trend hired two rat catchers/exterminators – Faron Crush (played by Paul L. Smith) and Arthur Coddish (played by Brion James) – to kill him. Both men do that, but they in the process they murder Trend too and try to eliminate every potential witness they stumble into. The protagonist would interfere in their rampage due to circumstances related to his attempts to woo beautiful Nancy (played by Sheree J. Wilson).

Sam Raimi directed this film after his debut, extremely low budget but surprisingly successful horror film Evil Dead, which was partially edited by Joel Coen. Raimi called the Coens to re-write the original script and the general concept was combination of film noir, Hitchcockian thriller about ordinary man in extraordinary situation, screwball comedy and scenes resembling live action version of Tex Avery’s cartoons. Ambitious concept didn’t work, mostly because the humour wasn’t up to high standards. Many gags don’t work for not being funny, played too long or being repetitive. Production of the film later became legendary for series of problems, which included going over the budget, some of Raimi’s questionable creative decisions and constant interference by the studio which, among other things, stopped Raimi from casting his friend Bruce Campbell in the starring role (he instead played supporting role of Victor’s slimy romantic rival, as well as working as producer and 2nd unit director). Another set of problems was rampant cocaine abuse on the set, which affected Brion James, as well as Louise Lasser who played Trend’s wife Helen. Although there are few decent scenes and Birney delivers more than solid performance in the only starring film role of his career, general impression of Crimewave is negative. This is the view shared by Raimi and Coens which disowned their own film. Despite its short running time, the film might be challenging for many viewers and it could be recommended only to fans of Raimi and Coens willing to catch glimpses of their future triumphs in this flawed and disappointing work.

RATING: 4/10 (++)

Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com
Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/
Leofinance blog https://leofinance.io/@drax.leo
Cent profile https://beta.cent.co/@drax
Minds profile https://www.minds.com/drax_rp_nc
Uptrennd profile https://www.uptrennd.com/user/MTYzNA

Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax
Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax
1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e

BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG
ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7

Movie URL: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/21627-crimewave
Critic: AA