Review: Henry's Crime

There is a moment in Henry's Crime when Vera Farmiga is teaching Keanu Reeves how to act. He delivers a line from Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, terribly, and after some gentle coaching from her repeats the line... with exactly the same delivery. A smile breaks out over Famigo's face as she realises that her struggling play has found it's lead. "Wow" she gasps "You're a natural" leaving Keanu smiling and the audience puzzled over what exactly happened.

This may give you an idea of why Henry's Crime doesn't work.

The premise of this baffling mess is that Henry (Reeves), having been sent to prison for a bank robbery he didn't commit, decides that if he "did the time he may as well do the crime". After discovering an old tunnel running from the bank to the next door playhouse, he enlists the help of fellow jailbird Max (James Caan) and the two decide the only way to access this tunnel is to get Henry the lead in The Cherry Orchard. I'm sure you can see the cracks in this already and the cracks start and stop with Reeves.

I hate the word apologist. It implies that you're embarrassed about liking something or someone. I'm a huge Keanu Reeves fan. He comes across as a dedicated, passionate individual and with the right material he has a very real star quality. He's not Lawrence Olivier but his work in films like The Matrix, Speed and, yes I'll say it Bill and Ted shows a very accessible on screen charisma. But something went very wrong here.

He plays Henry with an expressionless apathy that borders on unnerving. Based solely on what the other characters say about him, I can deduce that the script called for Henry to be a hapless screw up. A well meaning loser who, having been pushed around all his life finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time, but that's not what Reeves gives us. In place of hapless we are given vacant, instead of "down on his luck" we get... well, nothing. It's as if he's still playing Klaatu from The Day the Earth Stood Still.

It makes it impossible to work out who or what Henry is. The various press releases would have us believe he is dimwitted, but that's not it either. There's just simply nothing there. It's more "detached psychopath" than "loveable loser". I kept waiting for a twist to explain his bizarre demeanour or a reveal that his "crime" wasn't the bank robbery but the fact that he killed and ate the rest of the cast. It's not so much terrible acting, just a gross misjudgement of the character and the tone of the film, and when your leading man can't work out the tone of the film then no amount of Peter Stormare or James Caan is going to fix it.

The film gains a bit of energy with the arrival of Vera Farmiga. She plays Julie, a budding actress and Henry's love interest and to her credit she nails the tone of the film. The problem is, her performance, while well suited to the film, is turned up so much higher than the rest of the cast that it over powers everyone else and nearly renders Reeves invisible.

In fairness the film was never destined for greatness. The script is equally empty. Come the climax, the focus shifts from the robbery to Henry and Julie's relationship. A relationship that seemingly happens off screen because we are only treated to two bedroom encounters and a play rehearsal. The big emotional moment of the film comes towards the end when Julie (who is fully aware of Henry's scheme by the way) is horrified to learn that this ex-convict she has been courting won't be sticking around after rinsing out a major city bank. Well... yeah of course he won't be... what's that? You're in love with him? Really? When did that happen?

There is a movie here that could have worked. The premise is a screwball heist caper, (the Coens and William H. Macy could have had a lot of fun with this) but it's played as a drama. It's an intentionally silly story and had the film embraced that and pushed that tongue in cheek tone it could have come together. My wife made the point that, had Henry been played as a real oddball who just so happens to be a brilliant actor, the transformation from weirdo to Brando would have been entertaining. But again Reeves plays the whole thing one note, so not only is it rubbish, it's boring rubbish.

Keanu has done comedy before, I've seen it. If there is any justice Henry's Crime will be the last one he attempts for a while. In fact, I don't want to see Reeves near a comedy ever again unless it has the word Bill at the front of it and Ted at the end of it.

Maybe it's time I take that Speed postcard off my office cubicle wall...