Review of 'Take the Money and Run'

take_the_money_and_run.jpg Told in the form of a documentary, we follow the story of Virgil Starkwell (Woody Allen) whose inability to be good at anything leads him to crime…which he is also not very good at. He spends a lot of his life in jail which he attempts (mostly unsuccessfully) to escape. Outside of jail he inevitably is drawn back to a life of crime despite the pleading of his adoring wife Louise (Janet Margolin) who is now mother with the birth of their child…though this does not appear to be slowing down Virgil's continuing unsuccessful attempts at robbing banks.

Told in the ironic tone of most of Allen's films the flat, dry humour does grate after a while. This definitely does not merit laughs-out-loud but rather small chuckles from the viewer. There is the occasional use of slapstick but it is the complete straight way that Allen plays the completely hapless Virgil which forms the humour of the film. The rest of the cast simply react to the insanity of Virgil (so have little to do) and as such it often feels a bit awkward and extremely silly though there are the occasional glimpse of genius such as the two gangs attempting to hold up a bank at the same time or when Virgil is not told an escape is cancelled, only to find out half-way through the escape attempt and fully committed…

I suppose to watch “Take the Money and Run” you just have to be in the mood for silly but for me it is more of the same from Allen. It was fun to watch but not something I would want to see again.

Rating: “A bit better than average”

Review Date: 2020-04-26


Directed by: Woody Allen

Studio: ABC Pictures

Year: 1969

Length: 85 minutes

Genre: Comedy

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065063/