Chase_Witherspoon So much promise, yet so little achievement was the enduring impression left on me after watching this comedy. A group of ageing ex-con artists conjure an imaginative, yet flawed plot to save their Miami retirement home from soaring rents by using the body of a dead neighbour to scare away potential residents. When the dead man's son (Sandoval) emerges to take vengeance on those responsible for his death, they use their collective criminal experience to dodge the attempted retributions.Dreyfuss, Reynolds, Cassel and Hedaya probably weren't quite old enough to convince me that they were geriatrics, relying on props to affect the age (hearing aids etc) although Reynolds did a great impression of someone who'd lost his marbles. His near-death epiphanies lead to several hair-brained schemes while Dreyfuss' main angle is assisting the local police investigating the death, the female detective (Moss) unaware the she is his daughter. She mistakes his kindly advances as those of a dirty old man, while Dreyfuss is trying to work out how to confess to the ruse, and still reconcile with the daughter neither knew existed. Moss is stunning and it's almost inconceivable that the Pivster (Piven) is both her detective partner and boyfriend from whom she's estranged. Must be low self esteem...Slapstick, sentimental comedy has its moments and an appealing cast but never quite hit the notes I was expecting, all things considered. Easy, lightweight viewing.

Elswet I was delighted with the casting choices here, but in all honesty, they just don't work. Dreyfus and Reynolds are bumping heads, dramatically speaking. The gags don't work. You have four greats (Dan Hedaya, Seymour Cassel, Richard Dreyfus, and Burt Reynolds), who are all funny and they are all straight/serious, but at all the wrong times, which throw the timing off so badly that you don't get a single good laugh out of it.It tries to feel like the camaraderie experienced in Cocoon, but it comes off more like an extended version of Johnny Skidmarks, and not in a good way! Not that there could BE a good way, I hated that movie! Honestly, it's okay for a light chuckle, but if you're looking for substance of ANY kind, you won't find it here.It rates a 5.5/10 from...the Fiend :.

Christopher Smith I saw this movie a couple years ago and I just saw it again when it was on television recently. Back when this movie was released, the mafia theme was hotter than ever for movies and television shows thanks to the success of the HBO show THE SOPRANOS. Several movies about or involving the mob were released, none of which were particulary good. THE CREW was one of those movies. It was a box office dud, earning just $13 million on a budget of $38 million. The movie was pretty much forgotten after disappearing from theaters, yet it continues to be shown on cable constantly. The movie has its moments and Jeremy Piven is great as always, but other than that, there is nothing recommendable about THE CREW. I expected better considering the screenplay was done by one of the guys who wrote KINGPIN. **

mattymatt4ever Let me see...old retirees/former gangsters decide to reform the crew. Sounds great to me. What doesn't sound great is the way they handled this potentially hilarious premise. I can't say I hated this movie, because I did get quite a few chuckles, but no real laughs. And when you see a cast including Burt Reynolds and Richard Dreyfuss you can't help but feel cheated when it doesn't live up to the hype. First of all, the trailers are misleading. And the poster of the whole crew--Dreyfuss, Reynolds, Seymour Cassel and Dan Hedaya--in gangster suits and hats is as well. Because we hardly ever get to see them get into action, mob-wise. In the first act, we're bombarded with senior citizen stereotypes: getting to a restaurant in time for free soup, ogling young women, having weak bladders, playing Bingo, etc. In other words, it goes for pretty cheap pay-offs. The four leads look more like caricatures of senior citizens than actual senior citizens. Everything in this movie is mediocre, except the acting. Some critics felt the movie was trying too hard; I felt it was trying too little. The plot, however, is overwrought. We're stuck with one preposterous situation after another, and they all somehow interlock. In a funnier movie, I would've excused that--but in this one...the plot was a distraction. Just like how we're stuck with old people stereotypes, we're stuck with Cuban stereotypes, with a bunch of "Scarface" wannabes. That didn't work out too well either. Despite the great cast, I would not suggest renting this movie. Though it's not bad, there's so much unocovered potential that you just want to yell out your ideas to the director. The cast deserves better and we deserve better.