Perpetrators of the Crime (1999) User Reviews

Not enough Tori Spelling

[Karma-15 · 3/10 · 15 August 2001]

Geesh, I never, ever, ever thought I'd write the above four words. But, actually, she's the high point of this little flick.

As the movie was packaged when I rented it, it supposedly is a comedy about a girl who is kidnapped but doesn't have her medication, which is what keeps her stable. It sounded like a cute concept. For years, all we ever saw of Spelling was as Donna Martin in 90210 and an endless parade of dull, lifeless TV movies. It sounded like a chance for her to stretch a little, and considering that with her TV success and her rich daddy, she couldn't have any financial reason to do this movie, I figured she took the part because this must be a low-budget jewel.

Wrong.

Instead, Spelling's part is small, and the bit about the mentally unbalanced kidnap victim is just one of several story lines. When she's not on the screen, the movie crawls so badly, I could've sworn it was longer than the 85 minutes that were listed on the tape. This would've worked so much better if Spelling's storyline had dominated, and it had been changed into a romantic comedy with her and Phil, the least irritating kidnapper.

Pretty good flick!

[Sarina · 7/10 · 29 November 2000]

This was a good movie, well-written and pretty well-acted! I'm not a big Tori Spelling fan, but luckily she didn't have to do much, and her face was covered for most of the movie. Anyway, plot-wise it's like Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. I was glad to see someone finally addressed the issue of "feminine needs" in a movie. Usually women in movies never have periods! Very strange phenomenon.

"Dumb and Dumber" clone

[Bob7 · 13 August 2001]

This is another movie in the dumb-crook genre, and to be honest this is a review of half the movie, because we turned it off halfway through. We just couldn't take any more tedious arguing and bickering between these 3 morons. We were expecting something like "A Simple Plan", or maybe even "Fargo", but instead it was shallow, irritating, and boring. But if you just loved "Dumb and Dumber" you'll probably like this one. -Bob

the worst film i've ever seen

[pchpie · 1/10 · 16 February 2003]

i bought this rental return for $1.99 at hollywood and overpaid. i didn't expect much, but thought it would be something to fall asleep by at least. i quickly noted the very weak storyline, the gross overacting by everyone (no one talks like that except in cartoons), and the seemingly let's-make-it-up-as-we-go-along direction. i know that the participants in this mess must be very embarrassed by it, and i feel certain that it did not help any careers. as for this movie buff of 35 years, it has now provided a ready answer for the worst-film-you've-ever-seen question.

Actually pretty good

[d0bby · 7/10 · 26 February 2002]

After watching the first few minutes, one correctly concludes that all these Canadian actors are trying too hard to be cool, edgy or crazy, but ultimately the film becomes more and more engrossing until a level of satisfaction is reached.

Good job everyone

Unexpectedly superb, see it now!

[spooky-61 · 9/10 · 31 January 2000]

At the time this video was released where I work (in the Isle of Man) all the excitement was about the recent video rental releases of big name titles such as The Matrix and Austin Powers The Spy Who Shagged Me. There was nothing much else I fancied watching so I thought I would give it a spin because quite a few people had rented it already. I was not expecting much from the film, a straight to video black comedy about some students involved in a bungled kidnapping, doesn't sound very promising? You would be wrong. There are no big names in the film but Mark Burgess, Sean Devine and Danny Strong give incredibly funny performances as the confused kidnappers. Perpetrators of the crime is classed as a black comedy and the latter certainly does not fail to deliver, Ed is one of the funniest characters I have seen in any film for a very long time. The seen where he is fishing is absolute genius, you really must see this film!

Not even bad enough to make fun of

[funfun · 2 September 2002]

As age-old fans of laughing at Tori Spelling, we were looking forward to a poorly-written, poorly-acted film that we could laugh at. True to expectation, it was poorly-written and poorly-acted. However, while her few moments were incredibly terrible, there wasn't much Tori; and the rest of the film dragged on a made-for-TV storyline that wasn't even laughable.

When you see a straight-to-video piece of trash like this, you should be able to walk away with at least a few one-liners to chuckle about. Hardly the case here. Don't waste your time.