Overview
A tale of moral dilemmas and personal crises unfolds in the bustling streets of New York City.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Moderate
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Mild
- mordant
- witty
- philosophical
- cinephile movie night
- woody allen retrospective
What critics said
Critics broadly regard it as one of Woody Allen's strongest films, successfully fusing sophisticated comedy and serious drama around moral choice and existential guilt.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Judah maintains his status as a respected ophthalmologist while arranging a solution to his affair and concealing it from his community.
Judah's profession as an ophthalmologist and the film's recurring concern with moral vision connect literal sight to ethical awareness.
Judah's increasingly grave crisis is interwoven with Cliff's comic and humiliating struggles in documentary filmmaking and love.
Cliff is forced to make a documentary about producer Lester, whom he despises as an egotistical and manipulative professional figure.
Films like Crimes and Misdemeanors, and why
Hannah and Her Sisters
shared mordant comedy, moral anxiety, adultery, and interwoven upper-middle-class relationship drama
Annie Hall
shared urban intellectual milieu, romantic dissatisfaction, witty dialogue, and emotionally complicated comedy-drama
Match Point
shared crime-driven moral dilemma, existential themes, and tension between public respectability and private wrongdoing
The Ice Storm
shared darkly comic treatment of guilt, infidelity, and affluent social circles under ethical pressure
Movie Details
- Director
- Woody Allen
- Release Date
- 1989-10-13
- Runtime
- 104 min
- Rating
- 7.4 / 10 (977)
Cast
- Woody Allen
- Martin Landau
- Mia Farrow
- Alan Alda
- Anjelica Huston
- Joanna Gleason
- Sam Waterston
- Jerry Orbach
- Jenny Nichols
- Caroline Aaron
Where to watch in United States
- Rent
- Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Crimes and Misdemeanors about?
- A respected New York ophthalmologist and a frustrated documentary filmmaker confront adultery, ambition, and the unsettling consequences of moral compromise.
- What is Crimes and Misdemeanors like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Crimes and Misdemeanors as measured, its intensity as moderate and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Crimes and Misdemeanors violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in Crimes and Misdemeanors as mild.
- What did critics think of Crimes and Misdemeanors?
- Critics broadly regard it as one of Woody Allen's strongest films, successfully fusing sophisticated comedy and serious drama around moral choice and existential guilt.
- Which films are like Crimes and Misdemeanors?
- Films with a similar feel include Hannah and Her Sisters, Annie Hall, Match Point, and The Ice Storm.
- How long is Crimes and Misdemeanors?
- Crimes and Misdemeanors runs 104 minutes.
- Where can I watch Crimes and Misdemeanors?
- In United States, Crimes and Misdemeanors is available to rent or buy from Fandango At Home.
