On the couch

Henry’s Crime
***
Directed by: Malcolm Venville
Starring: Keanu Reeves, James Caan, Vera Farmiga, Peter Stormare, Judy Greer
Henry’s Crime is like a charming house guest who you discover has stolen a bunch of sppons and done something unspeakable in a pillowcase when they leave.
Yes, they were lovely to spend time with throughout dinner and coffee but when the night comes to an end, they exit on something of an obnoxious note.
Which is a shame because, in nearly every other way, Henry’s Crime is a very nice film.
Not “nice” in a terrifying Nanette Newman in the Stepford Housewives sort of way, more nice like a comfortable pair of shoes that might not be good for a wedding but are certainly suitable for dinner at the third most expensive restaurant in town.
Henry (Keanus Reeves) is a grand sort of a fella just drifting through life. He works as a toll booth operator and has a girlfriend (Judy Greer) he seems to tolerate.
He’s barely there though, sleepwalking through a life he barely seems to have an interest in.
After getting roped into giving a lift to two old highschool “friends” who show up out of the blue, Henry gets arrested for unwittingly participating in a failed bank robbery and gets locked up for a few years as a result.
Instead of doing what anyone else would – cry “foul” and point fingers at the schoolmates who landed him in the chokey – Henry views his incarceration as a way to escape his rut of a life and serves his time without giving up his alleged co-conspirators.
When he gets out he decides that, since he’s already done the time, he might as well do the crime and puts together a plan to rob the bank that got him in trouble in the first place.
Central to his plan is Max (James Caan) an elderly con man he shared a cell with. In order to secure his help, however, he’s got to convince his old mate that there’s more to life than his comfortable life in lock-up.
Matters get complicated somewhat by Henry’s burgeoning relationship with actress, Julie (Vera Farmiga), who is rehearsing a play in the theatre opposite the bank.
Henry’s Crime takes place in that whimsical, pretty “other” America where everyone is surprisingly good looking (but not freakishly so) and eccentric characters happen along as regularly as bizarrely beneficial coincidences – the lunatic fringe of the world the Beautiful Girls and Groundhog Day took place in.
Reeves is a perfect fit for both Henry and this odd world. Always best when cast as a character that is aloof (The Matrix), otherworldly (The Day the Earth Stood Still) or just plain odd (A Scanner Darkly), he’s strangely believable as a character that is, quite obviously, not.
In other hands Henry’s disconnection with the world could’ve been very hard to take but, with Reeves in the role, he’s a peculiarly enjoyable hero.
Farmiga and Caan, meanwhile, are their usual dependable selves, adding a bit of reality to the cast. While both could have played their roles in their sleep, it’s still nice to see that the ditsy actress is actually kind of a mean old cow and the charming old con has just enough of the criminal in him to make him believably scary when he gets angry.
Peter Stormare also shows up as a hilariously obnoxious theatre director, stealing every scene he’s in.
Amusing, entertaining and fairly clever in its own way, the only problem with Henry’s Crime is the ending.
Abrupt and entirely dissatisfying, the finale seems horribly out of character with the rest of the film and manages to erase all the warm fuzzy enjoyment the rest of the flick so carefully conjures.
Which, given how bloody pleasant the rest of the film, is a crime unto itself.