Woody Allen’s inventively hilarious mockumentary depicts the life and times of an inept career criminal, from boyhood to an eventual 400-year prison sentence (which, with good behaviour, he’s confident of cutting in half!) Forever in and out of jail, he seldom even flirts with going straight. Even marrying a beautiful laundress fails to temper his unlawful ways. In fact, with a wife and baby on the way, he becomes ever more determined to commit crime and, when necessary, escape prison in order to continue doing so. It’s just a pity, then, that he is so bad at it. Though its humour is somewhat hit and miss, several brilliant comic set-pieces, a fantastically funny central performance, and a number of memorably entertaining supporting turns combine to generally trouser-soilingly funny effect, making it decidedly easy to overlook some of its weaker gags.
